# What are the weirdest Composers?



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Looking for composers that write stuff that make you go wtf was that? That's so random. Most likely late 20th Century/Early 21st Century stuff obviously fits this title the most. Adding electronics to it is ok.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Weird to your ears may not be weird to mine. Even if I do encounter some "weird" sounding music, I'd never think of it as random. No need for a composer if that were the case.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

You can't tell me that Avant-Garde music sounds normal. Part of the joy of listening to that type music is the randomness of it. But I'm thinking more extreme Avant-Garde. Going further out than the norm.


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## Toddlertoddy (Sep 17, 2011)

John Cage's 4'33"

HA! I said it first


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't know what you mean by randomness? If a piece of music is composed (organized sound structures) how can it be random?
Just because it's atonal or dissonant doesn't mean the notes are randomly chosen.

Cage's 4:33 is not a composition in my mind. It's an allotment of time for the audience to listen to unorganized sounds around them. If Cage wants to call that his composition, that's fine, but he didn't organize the sounds. He just sort of staged a scenario.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

starthrower said:


> I don't know what you mean by randomness? If a piece of music is composed (organized sound structures) how can it be random?
> Just because it's atonal or dissonant doesn't mean the notes are randomly chosen.
> 
> Cage's 4:33 is not a composition in my mind. It's an allotment of time for the audience to listen to unorganized sounds around them. If Cage wants to call that his composition, that's fine, but he didn't organize the sounds. He just sort of staged a scenario.


I didn't say there were randomly playing notes. I said that I think it sounds random to the listener. Obviously, they were organized in a way to get that kind of sound. Atonal in itself sounds chaotic. Atonal music has been around awhile now. But obviously some make atonal sound weirder and more surprising than others.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Georgy Dorokhov: 



 




Luigi Russolo: 




Lucia Dlugoszewski: 




Harry Partch: 




Scelsi:


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

You might try Nono.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

J Strauss II


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> J Strauss II


Yeah those tonal Composers are really weird.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

neoshredder said:


> Yeah those tonal Composers are really weird.


His music certainly makes me go "wtf was that?"


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

One from 'left field.' Florence Foster Jenkins was a singer not a composer, but the way she mangled opera songs does not speak to faithful interpretation of these scores. Its more like she was extemporising on these arias, etc. Here she is _murdering_ a Mozart aria:




Old Wolfie would be turning in his grave. & audiences in early 1900's actually flocked (& paid!) to see/hear her, she was very popular. Proves that sometimes what is 'bad' can actually be so 'bad' that its 'good' in a wierd way.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Sid James said:


> One from 'left field.' Florence Foster Jenkins was a singer not a composer, but the way she mangled opera songs does not speak to faithful interpretation of these scores. Its more like she was extemporising on these arias, etc. Here she is _murdering_ a Mozart aria:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It certainly makes this sound good.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Cornelius Cardew. I remember seeing a documentary on avant-garde music and, if I remember correctly, one piece by him featured a man shaving, closely miked so that the rasp of the razor was caught on sound. I think someone else was making noise with household articles - possibly a cup or a spoon. Cardew was also filmed responding to an interviewer's question by using a different pitch for each syllable of his reply. I have one work by him - an extract from his epic The Great Learning - but I admit that it has never really grabbed me like various contemporary works by other composers.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Pierre Boulez definitely makes me go "wtf?"


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

neoshredder said:


> Looking for composers that write stuff that make you go wtf was that? That's so random. Most likely late 20th Century/Early 21st Century stuff obviously fits this title the most. Adding electronics to it is ok.


Stuff like this. Turn the volume down.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)




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## Renaissance (Jul 10, 2012)

neoshredder said:


> Looking for composers that write stuff that make you go wtf was that? That's so random. Most likely late 20th Century/Early 21st Century stuff obviously fits this title the most. Adding electronics to it is ok.


I think Mikhail Chekalin fits very well here.  Sadly, there is not enough material on Youtube, so I myself don't know many of his works. But he is definitely "weird", with schizophrenic atmosphere


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Keith Rowe, Mr Weird ...


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Frank Zappa:


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

This is less weird:


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Zeena Parkins

Be patient for the first 30 or 40 seconds.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Vaneyes said:


> You might try Nono.


No. No.

(Message too short?)

So many composers I haven't heard of here!


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Vaneyes said:


> You might try Nono.


ABSOLUTELY... For me he's a WTF. I don't understand his music at all!!!! I feel so stupid!

Martin, stupid


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> J Strauss II


Who's that?

Martin, curious


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

My vote for weirdest composer is the little-known W.T. F. Bach, and illegitimate half brother of P.D.Q,C.P.E. and the other Bach bos .


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Marcel Duchamp. I actually have a CD of this stuff, performed by the redoubtable John Cage.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Speaking of Mr. Cage:






Actually, I think he was playing this up for laughs, which is why it fits in this topic. But the piece itself makes more sense when it's taken as a sound-composition which calls attention to everyday objects in the most commonplace setting, the home.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

What about Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett, where the members of the string quartet are flying around in separate helicopters while playing? 

There's also Rolf Wallin's 'Scratch', where the only intruments are wet balloons. I've seen it live at least a couple of times with different number of 'players'. It's the kind of thing that seems to go down well with a (relatively speaking) general audience. It's a bit of a show piece. I don't consider him a particularly weird composer, though.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Who's that?
> 
> Martin, curious


Johann Strauss Jr.?

Well for me personally, whenever I hear an orchestral work by Varese, my impression is "wtf is that a siren? That's silly." Seriously.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Last night i listened to some Ligetti pieces, i don't remeber what they were but i felt scared.
At the moment his music is too strange for me, but i bet that it will change in the future.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

jani said:


> Last night i listened to some Ligetti pieces, i don't remeber what they were but i felt scared.
> At the moment his music is too strange for me, but i bet that it will change in the future.


IT BETTER CHANGE IN THE FUTURE


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2012)

Who are the weirdest posters, more like.

With a few exceptions (and I won't reveal my picks for these).


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Re Xenakis, I think dynamics (loud/soft) is one area I like in his music, the way he worked with that. But I agree esp. on headphones I would turn the volume down. But not only on his music, but other microtonal, which goes far beyond the 'normal' range.

Re VArese, I actually like his zanyness, esp. the use of sirens (& other trademarks of his, like the 'lion's roar'). His use of them in different works/settings gives them different potential meanings. I like him as much as Beethoven, but pity Varese has a very slim catalogue of works.



Moira said:


> Pierre Boulez definitely makes me go "wtf?"


I really dig his piano sonatas and song-cycles. & also eg. the 'Derive' pieces. But even fellow composers have made comments that in some things, Pierre is way to complex, above even their heads. I agree in terms of things like 'Sur Incises,' but he says its like a labyrinth, and so yes he's kind of done that, made me feel lost (and maybe 'wtf' too) when listening to it.


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

Ives - Symphony No. 4 (1916)
Varese - Ameriques (1921)
Messiaen - Turangalila-symphonie (1948)
Stockhausen - Gesang der Junglinge (1956)
The Residents - Meet the Residents (1972)


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

MJongo said:


> Ives - Symphony No. 4 (1916)
> Varese - Ameriques (1921)
> Messiaen - Turangalila-symphonie (1948)
> Stockhausen - Gesang der Junglinge (1956)
> The Residents - Meet the Residents (1972)


This post makes me go "wtf?"


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> This post makes me go "wtf?"


Then it's perfect!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> IT BETTER CHANGE IN THE FUTURE


Wasn't there ever a time that _you _were frightened by Ligeti's music?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Wasn't there ever a time that _you _were frightened by Ligeti's music?


I have never been frightened by his music in my life.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

How can Ligeti's music frighten you?


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