# 21st century orchestral works



## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

The power of twitter brings you reputable recommendations of 21st orchestral work - plenty to enjoy here so tuck in!

https://storify.com/willrobin/the-21st-century-orchestral-canon


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

I don't get the fuss about Andrew Norman's "Play" at all. And there's no point talking about "best" until the dust has settled and we can take the long view (if even then).

Plenty of nice stuff further down that exchange, though.


----------



## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

SimonNZ said:


> I don't get the fuss about Andrew Norman's "Play" at all. And there's no point talking about "best" until the dust has settled and we can take the long view (if even then).
> 
> Plenty of nice stuff further down that exchange, though.


I quite enjoyed a second go at "Play" (the faster music better than the slow tho!) and fully agree on best, but I quite like how it's twitter sourced. The Birtwistle was the first really good find for me on there - slowly working my way through

Note: Andrew Norman has really captured hearts and minds in the US and is being touted as a BIG THING - don't quite see it myself but there's certainly some exciting moments in Play and you can hear how he works together modernism with post-minimalism (yuk - hate using that term) to get a distinct sound


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm afraid I can't agree with the John Luther Adams choice. Another genre of music doesn't become classical simply by referring to it as such. What's wrong with calling it ambient? If this is classical then all my favorite progressive rock bands are.

However the page is a great resource I have bookmarked. (Actually my first time looking at a Twitter page.  )


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Weston said:


> I'm afraid I can't agree with the John Luther Adams choice. Another genre of music doesn't become classical simply by referring to it as such. What's wrong with calling it ambient? If this is classical then all my favorite progressive rock bands are.


Having seen/heard "Become Ocean" performed by a symphony orchestra, I'm certain that "classical" is a very reasonable label for it.


----------



## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks for the link. My "to hear" list just grew by a large amount.


----------



## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

A 21st Century orchestral work that I really enjoy is the piece 'No Doubt' by Graham Fitkin. It's a concerto for midi-harp and orchestra and (imvho) it's inventive, exciting and fun to listen to.


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I'm really liking this Andrew Norman "Play"


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

SimonNZ said:


> And there's no point talking about "best" until the dust has settled and we can take the long view (if even then).


So, on a forum of Classical Music nerds, there is no point in discussing the best music currently available in the 21st century? How long should we wait 'til the dust settles? 2099?


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

20centrfuge said:


> So, on a forum of Classical Music nerds, there is no point in discussing the best music currently available in the 21st century? How long should we wait 'til the dust settles? 2099?


"Best" as in the large number of works we feel to be particularly well crafted and exciting - yes, absolutely.

"Best" as in the single work which stands above all others (as it was being used re:Norman)- no, that's silly.


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

SimonNZ said:


> "Best" as in the large number of works we feel to be particularly well crafted and exciting - yes, absolutely.
> 
> "Best" as in the single work which stands above all others (as it was being used re:Norman)- no, that's silly.


Agreed, my friend.


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Weston said:


> I'm afraid I can't agree with the John Luther Adams choice.


Agreed. I honestly don't understand the fascination with this piece of music.


----------



## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Great find! A lot of pieces and composers to listen to.


----------



## Guest (Apr 4, 2015)

Damn. Does this mean I need a twitter account??


----------



## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Weston said:


> I'm afraid I can't agree with the John Luther Adams choice. Another genre of music doesn't become classical simply by referring to it as such. What's wrong with calling it ambient? If this is classical then all my favorite progressive rock bands are.


I think ambient music is not an exclusive genre alongside classical music or others. Certain works of classical, rock, jazz, etc. could be used as ambient music, and _Become Ocean_ sounds a bit too dynamic and too rich in texture for that purpose. I feel that it belongs to impressionism, tone poem, minimalism, drones and soundscape, yet the sonority is unique and original.


----------



## Guest (Apr 6, 2015)

I'm not sure what the guys are fussing about. There are tons of 21st century orchestral works.


----------



## Guest (Apr 30, 2015)

A possible bump for the post 1950s thread.

Like there's a shortage!


----------



## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Actually I am more familiar with concert band works. If anyone is interested?


----------



## Guest (Apr 30, 2015)

arpeggio said:


> concert band works


I don't know what that means.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I am surprised at the lack of 21st century nominations on the post-1950's thread. With the explosion of fabulous classical music this is a wonderful time to live in for great music!


----------



## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

dogen said:


> I don't know what that means.


These are classical style works composed for the concert band. Two of the most famous are the suites for band that were composed by Gustav Holst.


----------



## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Albert7 said:


> I am surprised at the lack of 21st century nominations on the post-1950's thread. With the explosion of fabulous classical music this is a wonderful time to live in for great music!











This should keep you going for a while.


----------



## Guest (Apr 30, 2015)

arpeggio said:


> These are classical style works composed for the concert band. Two of the most famous are the suites for band that were composed by Gustav Holst.


Ahh, military band. Gotcha.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

dogen said:


> Ahh, military band. Gotcha.


Not quite ... concert/wind band tends to be a different makeup from military.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I think the terms may be used loosely sometimes. Some of Holst's music, the two Suites and Hammersmith for instance, are scored for "military band" but are always played by concert bands. Bands of the Sousa and Bagley type are sometimes called "street bands." The major bands of the various branches of our armed forces are definitely more what we think of as "concert bands," even though they're 100% military. This is my impression, at least!


----------



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Polyphemus said:


> View attachment 68996
> 
> 
> This should keep you going for a while.


Bearing in mind that only one of those symphonies (No. 8, 2005) is actually from the 21st century.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

A good place to hear the latest in "classical" music is at the Donaueschinger Musiktage (Music Festival) that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. New music is the main course.

If you can't attend the festival, you can access the music on discs published by the NEOS label. The latest collection, from the 2013 Festival, features 4 SACDs with music largely dating from the year 2013.

It includes Enno Poppe's "Speicher" (71 minutes) for large ensemble (2008-2013) on disc one, Bernard Lang's "Monadologie XIII 'The Saucy Maid'" (70 minutes) for two orchestras one quartertone apart (2013) on disc two, Georges Aperghis's "Situations" for 23 soloists (2013) and Alberto Posadas's "Kerguelen" Triple concerto for amplified woodwind trie and orchestra (2013), these two works totally 78 minutes of Disc 3, and Walter Zimmermann's "Suave Mari Magno - Clinamen I-VI" for six orchestral groups (1996-1998/2010-2013) and Philippe Manoury's "In situ" for orchestra and ensemble (2013) completing Disc 4 (64 minutes).

So there is no dearth of lengthy orchestral works happening in contemporary music.

And this is just the latest incarnation from Donaueschinger on NEOS. There are collections dating back to the initial box set (a great collection, that one, by the way) titled _40 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage 1950-1990 _(on the Col legno label, which published the concert works prior to NEOS which took over around 2000 or so). On that initial collection of works one finds several that are already considered classics of modern music, including Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Second Symphony (1950), Pierre Boulez's "Polyphonie X" (1951), Luigi Nono's "Due Espressioni" (1953), Iannis Xenakis's "Metastaseis" (1955), Krzysztof Penderecki's "Anaklasis" (1960), and Gyorgy Ligeti's "Atmospheres" (1961). And those are the works listed on disc one of the 4 CD set that makes up the first offering from Donaueschingen.

I've managed to collect most of the collection from the first box onward through the 1990s and into the collections from 2000 through 2013. I'm awaiting the 2014 collection with anticipation.

So, for those who want to begin exploring what is currently happening in "classical" music, take a listen to the Donaueschinger Musiktage collections, and enjoy. The discs are published with copious notes.










There's also this set for the adventurous:









See: http://radiomelasudas-beaumarchais....75-jahre-donaueschinger-musiktage-12-cds.html


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^I am a big fan of those releases on NEOS, however they can be a bit tricky to come across at a reasonable price.


----------



## Guest (Apr 30, 2015)

Becca said:


> Not quite ... concert/wind band tends to be a different makeup from military.


Well I clicked on the first of Arpeggio's links and I got:
"Holst - First Suite in E-flat for Military Band"


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

SONNET CLV said:


> A good place to hear the latest in "classical" music is at the Donaueschinger Musiktage (Music Festival) that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany.


Another seems to be the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Have any of the Brits here on TC been?

I only know it from the broadcasts that turn up, thankfully, on the fiveagainstfour chanel on YT, but they're consistently exciting - and if I was planning a trip over that way I'd want to try and incorporate it.


----------



## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

dogen said:


> Well I clicked on the first of Arpeggio's links and I got:
> "Holst - First Suite in E-flat for Military Band"


And if you check the link you will see that it is performed by the North Texas Wind Symphony, which is a university ensemble that is not affiliated with any military institution.

This is really a rather silly issue concerning semantics.

150 years ago 99% of bands were military bands. When Sousa started his band it basically used the instrumentation of military bands but it was a civilian music organization that was not affiliated with the military.

In the early 20th century many civilian bands were organized in the United States. Most of them were affiliated with educational institutions like colleges and high schools. Even though they used the same instrumentation of military bands they started calling themselves Concert Bands or Wind Ensembles or Wind Symphonies or whatever to delineate themselves from those bands that were actually attached to the military. In the United States 99.99% of the concert bands are civilian or educational. There are a few professional civilian bands like the Dallas Wind Symphony and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds.

See:
http://www.dws.org/
http://clevelandwinds.org/about/

Because of the many civilian concert bands there has been a whole subgenre of classical music that has developed repertory for concert bands. Many of Americas leading composers have compose music for concert band including Aaron Copeland, William Schuman, Norman Dello Joio, Morton Gould and many others. Many British composers have composed music for concert bands like the late John McCabe composed an awesome work call _Canyons_.

Even the real military bands in the United States are called concert bands. Even though they evolved from military bands the modern concert band is really not a military band. Although we play an occasional Sousa March most of the music we play does not sound anything like a Sousa March.

I play with the National Concert Band of America. We are playing a concert this weekend. One of the works we will be performing is the _Paris Sketches_ by the living British composer Martin Ellerby. There is nothing military about it and there is not a single march in any of the movements.


----------



## Guest (May 1, 2015)

@arpeggio.

Thanks for the explanation. I did give the first one a listen. Now I need to find out what sousa is.


----------



## Guest (May 1, 2015)

Sousa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sousa may refer to:

Sousa (surname)
Sousa, the genus making up the humpback dolphins

Places

Sousa, Paraíba, in Brazil
John Philip Sousa Bridge, in the United States
Sousa District, Chiba, Japan
Aguiar de Sousa, a parish in Paredes municipio, Portugal
Paço de Sousa, a parish in Penafiel, Portugal

See also

Sousaphone, a wearable tuba associated with John Philip Sousa
Sousa Esporte Clube, Brazilian football (soccer) club


----------

