# Can you recommend music that is more highly motive dirven than melodic?



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

This may be a long shot question.

I am bored with a lot of the music I hear lately. I think I'm looking for something more rhythmic or motive driven. I'd love to hear completely new genre of music in which the various fragments fit together like sections of an M.C. Escher drawing, but _not minimalism_. Or something that would give me the mental image of molecules breaking up and reforming. For those of you familiar with the 70s group Gentle Giant, I think I'm looking for the classical equivalent. They were highly motivic.

Of course a lot of baroque is broken down into little motives, especially D. Scarlatti. And though Beethoven is melodic, ultimately his music becomes motivic in the development sections. Can you recommend something more modern where this effect is exaggerated?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Weston said:


> Can you recommend something more modern where this effect is exaggerated?


If you mean constant motivic development and variation, the Second Viennese School.

But if you mean something more contemporary and perhaps more Escher-like, how about Takemitsu? His music (the later music especially) is built out of small motifs that change more by context than content in the course of a piece.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Some possibilities on top of my head; maybe some of this is relevant for your taste too ;-)

*Pawel Szymanski* in general. Unfortunately there isn´t much on you-tube. The Partita for Harpsichord & Orchestra is an example, also the Piano Etudes here 




Also *Laszlo Sary*, not much on you-tube, but here a "Magnificat" for soprano & flutes 




*Giselher Klebe*: Die Zwitschermaschine for orchestra 




*Pawel Mykietyn*, "Kleine Herbstmusik" 




*Tristan Keuris* in general, including the Piano Concerto (there are 4 major sections, different from each other) 



, Chamber Concerto for Accordion & Ensemble 



 2nd String Quartet 




Some *Kaija Saariaho*, including "Cendres" http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=saariaho+cendres and the Flute Concerto, "L´Aile du Songe" 




*Boris Blacher*: Piano concerto 1 



 Piano Concerto 2 




*George Perle*: Piano Concerto 1 




Some *Per Nørgård*, including "Grooving" & "Et Rosenblad" 



 and the Percussion Concerto "For A Change".

*Iannis Xenakis*: Komboi


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Haydn relied more on theme and variations than his greatest contemporary, Mozart. Beethoven too.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Brahms' Piano Quartet in G minor op. 25 has a first movement that takes its opening four-bar motif and develops it with amazing dramatic intensity.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Schnittke, Berio, Nono, Szymanowski, Lutoslawski.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Wagner, of course, is all about the motives. But if that is too melodic, try the Shostakovich 4th symphony.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've finally got back around to this thread. There's a lot of great suggestions to explore -- later this week I hope. Much appreciated.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Edgard Varèse, Amériques


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Pierre Bastien's music is literally motor-driven.


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

For something with a different rhythm, why not some Villa-Lobos?


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

A Motive to me is simply a different kind of melody, it's still a characterful idea which is used within the drama of a piece, just shorter than what people normally think of as melodic.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

joen_cph said:


> *Pawel Mykietyn*, "Kleine Herbstmusik"


There are many good suggestions in this thread. After taking a few weeks to explore the possibilities, I'm finding this Mykietyn piece exactly the sort of thing I was seeking at the time. However I am very frustrated that one cannot find recordings of it or anything else by him through the usual channels. We need to get his works recorded more somehow!

Addendum: I have just found an album of nice piano preludes featuring Mykietyn, and also one of my favorites, Wojciech Kilar! So I can at least support him, in that way.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Late Ligeti (Piano etudes, Piano concerto and Violin concerto) are exactly like that, but I think you already know Ligeti.
Unsuk Chin's piano etudes perhaps?: 



, 



You can try some integral serialism also: 



, 



Takemitsu: 



, 



This fantastic piece by Cage, which is constructed in a cell like manner:


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