# Top 10 orchestral pieces of the last 30 years



## Tomposer

That's the challenge!  I'm posting this for a number of reasons:
1) I want to find suggestions I'd not heard of.
2) Some people I've spoken to seem to think these don't exist, but I think that's a little close-minded.
3) I'm working on my own orchestral music and want to look at the best of the best.

I'm speaking specifically about orchestral music - it seems to be the bad boy of contemporary music: These days many people are doing exciting stuff with chamber groups and cross-discipline or cross-media... but the good old-fashioned orchestra is a little stigmatised when it comes to "new" music.

Criteria-wise - pretty broad. Any style! (who cares?)
* it should work for the orchestra. Maybe it needs to be played by an professional group, but nonetheless it needs to _work_.
* It should work as a piece - if it appears to have an aim, it should, in itself, fulfill it's own aim.

You can add your own criteria 

Here's my contribution. (There are better videos, but my favourite has been taken down. The audio in this one isn't too bad).


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## Art Rock

Just a quick list of the top of my head:

Aho - Clarinet Concerto (2005)
Gubaidulina - Fachwerk, concerto for bayan, percussion and strings (2009) 
Rautavaara - Symphony 7 "Angel of light" (1994)
Rorem - Flute Concerto (2002)
Rouse - Trombone Concerto (1991)
Sallinen - Symphony No. 6 From a New Zealand Diary (1990) 
Sculthorpe - Earth Cry (1986)
Silvestrov - Symphony No.5 (1982)
Takemitsu - Visions (1990)
Vasks - Cor anglais concerto (1989)


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## Sid James

I know more about the more recent music in terms of non-orchestral things (but not comprehensively). I am a bit of a chamber fanatic! Some Australian composers who have done good orchestral music during the last 30 years (among other things) are Brett Dean, Richard Mills, Elena Kats-Chernin, Barry Conyngham, Matthew Hindson, Ross Edwards & the late Richard Meale (who I think was probably one of our finest composers of all time). I am more familiar with the newer Australian music through live concerts & radio broadcasts here. I have some on disc, but not a lot, most of it I hear on a "once only" basis. Sorry I can't help you with specific works, my memory of what I've heard is not exactly great, due to that reason...



Art Rock said:


> Sculthorpe - Earth Cry (1986)


Yes, a classic of the Australian repertoire. By no mean's "groundbreaking" since he had done quite similar things in the 1960's (his four _Sun Musics_ - which he composed using "texture music" techniques similar to Penderecki, but they didn't know about eachother's music, they were doing this independently at the same time), but it does pack a punch. He's always had strong concerns for the environment, esp. in terms of our very fragile Australian continent. A great disc with that & a number of his other orch. works seems to now be out of print. It was with the Sydney Symphony Orch. under the baton of the late great Stuart Challender, one of the best conductors this country has ever produced.


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## Tomposer

Thanks Sid. Good post. I'm an Aussie too. I'm familiar with all the composers you mentioned. Actually I've been taught by Gerard Brophy who has written some decent orchestral music; and currently Rob Davidson is my teacher, who is in the midst of doing very interesting things.


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## Sid James

*@ Tomposer* - Glad you liked my post. Sorry, I didn't realise (or look at your details) that you're Aussie. Welcome to the forum! I have heard the name of Brophy, I may well have heard his music as well, but it didn't stick in my mind like the others I mentioned. I haven't heard of Davidson, I think? (This is no judgement of their quality, it's just that I'm not as up on these things as some local musicians such as yourself, it's a "work in progress" for me). Another guy of the older generation (who you probably know, but no harm mentioning him) is Nigel Butterley (I have heard a number of his chamber works, not any orchestral, but I'm sure he's done some things in that department as well)...


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## Olias

Jennifer Higdon - Blue Cathedral and her Violin Concerto


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## Aksel

Thomas Adés - Asyla


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## starthrower

Lutoslawski-Symphony No. 4


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## LordBlackudder

One Winged Angel probably the greatest use of MIDI ever.






To Zanarkand - The reason a million people can now play the piano.






In it's original form ''Theme of Love'' was much more effective. This breathtaking melody is the absolute definition of love.


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## Sid James

*@ Aksel* - Yes, Ades' "Asyla" is great - a bit of it makes me think of _The Rite of Spring _meets techno! The other works on that disc, with Simon Rattle at the helm & incl. the composer on piano playing a short chamber concerto work of his, are really interesting as well. Good you reminded me, I forgot, I've got it but haven't listened to it in a while...


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## Huilunsoittaja

I just got one for now, if you can't include movie music.

Liebermann - (1992) Flute Concerto


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## StlukesguildOhio

You may be right about the relative scarcity of contemporary orchestral works. I certainly might have come up with a list of 10 vocal/choral works far more rapidly... but then again I have a decided preference for the genre. I'm not certain I would entitle this list the "Top Ten Orchestral Works of the Last 30 Years"... but I certainly could live with calling this list "10 works from the last 30 years (give or take a few) that I feel are truly worthy of hearing":

*Dutilleux*- _Violin Concerto (L'arbre des songes)_-1985:






*Tristan Murail*- _Gondwana_-1980:











*Toru Takemitsu*- _The Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden_-1977






*Jonathan Harvey*- _Body Mandala_-2006 (can be heard on Spotify)

*Penderecki*- _Violin Concerto no. 2_-1992/95:






continued...


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## StlukesguildOhio

*Joseph Schwantner*- _Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra_- 1992/94











*Paul Moravec*- I quite like _Time Gallery_ 2000, but the _Chamber Orchestra_ (2003), which can be heard on YouTube is quite good as well.


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## StlukesguildOhio

*Kalevi Aho*- _Symphony no. 12_ (Luosto)- 2002/03 (A stunning work!!!)

*Einojuhani Rautavaara*- Symphony no. 7 (Angel of Light)-1995





















*Giacinto Scelsi*- _Pfhat_- 1974






*Henryck Gorecki*- _Symphony 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)_- 1977


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## Aksel

Sid James said:


> *@ Aksel* - Yes, Ades' "Asyla" is great - a bit of it makes me think of _The Rite of Spring _meets techno! The other works on that disc, with Simon Rattle at the helm & incl. the composer on piano playing a short chamber concerto work of his, are really interesting as well. Good you reminded me, I forgot, I've got it but haven't listened to it in a while...


Yes. It's amazing. Especially the third movement. Oh, the things one can do with a steady 4/4 beat.
Have you heard his new(ish) piece Tevot? It's really good as well.


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## Sofronitsky

The violinist's are getting their fair share of repetoire these days.


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## Aksel

Sofronitsky said:


> The violinist's are getting their fair share of repetoire these days.


Honestly, now. The violinists already have 50 % of the solo repertoire. Why can't the rest of us have some?


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## Tomposer

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I just got one for now, if you can't include movie music


I don't see why movie music shouldn't be included, if it is up to scratch. It has to stand on its own outside the context of a movie - that would be my only requirement.


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## Tomposer

> Oh, the things one can do with a steady 4/4 beat.


Too right. You can put whatever you like in 4/4, and in the end the players are probably going to be able to get it more easily anyway.


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## Aksel

Tomposer said:


> Too right. You can put whatever you like in 4/4, and in the end the players are probably going to be able to get it more easily anyway.


I agree. Although (and I'm saying this without having seen the score) I don't think the fact that the third movement of Asyla is in 4/4 makes it any easier.


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## Vazgen

Any discussion of orchestral music in the last 30 years should include Roger Reynolds. One of the sixties-era iconoclasts from the University of Michigan group, he is a truly astounding sound sculptor. He won the Pulitzer in '89 for _Whispers Out of Time _for string orchestra, but his flute concerto _Transfigured Wind _is an accomplished work as well. Here's his _Symphony (Myths), _one of the few orchestral works of Reynolds visible on youtube:






-Vaz


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## violadude

Sid James said:


> I know more about the more recent music in terms of non-orchestral things (but not comprehensively). I am a bit of a chamber fanatic! Some Australian composers who have done good orchestral music during the last 30 years (among other things) are Brett Dean, Richard Mills, Elena Kats-Chernin, Barry Conyngham, Matthew Hindson, Ross Edwards & the late Richard Meale (who I think was probably one of our finest composers of all time). I am more familiar with the newer Australian music through live concerts & radio broadcasts here. I have some on disc, but not a lot, most of it I hear on a "once only" basis. Sorry I can't help you with specific works, my memory of what I've heard is not exactly great, due to that reason...
> 
> Yes, a classic of the Australian repertoire. By no mean's "groundbreaking" since he had done quite similar things in the 1960's (his four _Sun Musics_ - which he composed using "texture music" techniques similar to Penderecki, but they didn't know about eachother's music, they were doing this independently at the same time), but it does pack a punch. He's always had strong concerns for the environment, esp. in terms of our very fragile Australian continent. A great disc with that & a number of his other orch. works seems to now be out of print. It was with the Sydney Symphony Orch. under the baton of the late great Stuart Challender, one of the best conductors this country has ever produced.


Hey Sid, speaking of contemporary Australian composers, have you heard of Carl Vine or Brenton Broadstock by any chance?


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## Guest

Boulez, _...explosante-fixe..._
Lachenmann, _Harmonica_
Ruders, _Gong_
Rihm, _Klangbeschreibung III_
Cage, _108_
Terterian, _Symphony nr. 7_
Romitelli, _Dead City Radio. Audiodrome_
Moret, _Tragiques_
Czernowin, _Shu Hai_
Nørgård, _Symphony nr. 6_


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## Sid James

violadude said:


> Hey Sid, speaking of contemporary Australian composers, have you heard of Carl Vine or Brenton Broadstock by any chance?


The former sticks in my memory more than the latter.

I remember hearing some things of Vine on air, his symphonies are amongst the most played orch. works of any Australian composer around. The only thing I own on disc is a long choral/electro-acoustic work he did for the Sydney Olympics (it was firstly a dance piece, later reworked as purely for just listening. It is called Mythologia & I like it more than his symphonies (which are also worth hearing) because it's more kind of experimental & I esp. like choral, & it kind of tells a story (ancient Greek things, I think?). He gets around a lot, not unusual to see him at concerts, esp. of new music. His violin concerto was premiered this year in this country, but I didn't get a chance to go to that.

As for Broadstock, thanks for reminding me of him, will have to think about/do something to hear his stuff...


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## HarpsichordConcerto

some guy said:


> Romitelli, _Dead City Radio. Audiodrome_


An interesting one because it is the first piece of music of any type where a voice amplifier is used as part of the orchestra. The voice amplifier comes in at about 1:45 although it seems to be amplifying the "player's" breathing. How does that fit in musically? Anybody know/care? And I don't get that "instrument" at 8:20 using a bucket of water and a tube-thing? 

Anything goes, I guess.


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Another one by Romitelli. Check out the electric cello part (I think) from 3:35. Sounded like Black Sabbath to me.

_Professor Bad Trip: Lesson III for ensemble_ (2000)


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## violadude

Sid James said:


> The former sticks in my memory more than the latter.
> 
> I remember hearing some things of Vine on air, his symphonies are amongst the most played orch. works of any Australian composer around. The only thing I own on disc is a long choral/electro-acoustic work he did for the Sydney Olympics (it was firstly a dance piece, later reworked as purely for just listening. It is called Mythologia & I like it more than his symphonies (which are also worth hearing) because it's more kind of experimental & I esp. like choral, & it kind of tells a story (ancient Greek things, I think?). He gets around a lot, not unusual to see him at concerts, esp. of new music. His violin concerto was premiered this year in this country, but I didn't get a chance to go to that.
> 
> As for Broadstock, thanks for reminding me of him, will have to think about/do something to hear his stuff...


For Broadstock, I think his symphonies are pretty good from what I've heard, although I haven't gotten a chance to listen to them closely. They sounded pretty drama-rific from what I remember. I have this recording and I would recommend it!


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## Delicious Manager

I have had to think (and listen) long and hard to narrow my list down to just 10. Here it is (in alphabetical order only - don't ask me to choose any more!):

Aho - Symphony No 7 (1988)
Corigliano - Symphony No 1 (1988)
Dutilleux - Violin Concerto _L'arbre des songes_ (1985)
Holmboe - Symphony No 12 (1988)
Lutosławski - Chain II (1985)
Rihm - Jagden un Forman (2001)
Ruders - Solar Trilogy (Gong, Zenith, Corona)(1995)
Simpson - Symphony No 9 (1987)
Tüür - Symphony No 4 (_Magma_)(2002)
Woolrich - Viola Concerto (1993)


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## Guest

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> An interesting one because it is the first piece of music of any type where a voice amplifier is used as part of the orchestra. The voice amplifier comes in at about 1:45 although it seems to be amplifying the "player's" breathing. How does that fit in musically? Anybody know/care? And I don't get that "instrument" at 8:20 using a bucket of water and a tube-thing?
> 
> Anything goes, I guess.


I've known a lot of stupid people, and I've known a lot of people who liked to pretend to be stupid. None of those enjoyed doing that quite so much as you do though, HC! (My favorite was "tube-thing." I'm still chuckling over that one!!)


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## kv466

God bless ya'll that know so much newer music...since '81, eh?...nope...maybe 1881


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## HarpsichordConcerto

some guy said:


> Ruders, _Gong_


I'm not having much luck with these pieces. They're either utterly bizzare (musicians dressed in formal attire "performing" with a voice amplifier and a water bucket plus tube-thing) or downright pretentious, such as this _Gong_ piece. The composer of the latter, some guy named Ruders, wrote some notes with the piece to help "explain" his work:-

"_The sun looks like a gong".
"The letter "O" in the written work looks like the sun".
"There is even a solar research group called GONG, Global Oscillation Network Group".
"...Gong is brought to its compositional conclusion by a "real concert-ending" a chord taken from the middle of the piece and sustained over several bars, from virtual nothingness to full force_"

These notes by the composer, some guy named Ruders, sound about as pretentious as _4'33"_, mesmerisied by a sound perversion that's gong-related, though the music might be effective for a documentary about our Sun. (To be fair, Ruders wrote a few operas, which I hope they don't disappoint me as much as _Gong_ just did).


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## Guest

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> I'm not having much luck with these pieces.


Do you need to?

Not everyone will like the same things.

Not everyone brings the same level of experience or familiarity to the table.

Your own struggles may be (certainly seem to be) very important to you, but in spite of your attempts to make them universal and universally valid pronouncements about music you obviously don't understand or appreciate, they remain merely that: your own struggles.

And you seem so eager to struggle and to document your struggles, to the extent that your hidden agenda--to invalidate contemporary music generally--isn't really very well disguised at all.

That "tube thing," just by the way, is simply a chime. You've seen chimes, right? You unhook a single chime from its frame, strike it, and lower it into water, and you alter the pitch. It's very much like how a trombonist alters pitch by moving one tube over another. And in Romitelli's piece (which is not nearly as bizarre as your feigned ignorance makes it out to be), the chime gives a musical parallel, with a different timbre, to what the trombones have already been doing in this piece. A very old, and ordinary, musical idea. Only the means are new. (And they're only newish. Composers have been dipping vibrating bodies into water to change the pitch for many decades.)


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## HarpsichordConcerto

some guy said:


> That "tube thing," just by the way, is simply a chime. You've seen chimes, right? You unhook a single chime from its frame, strike it, and lower it into water, and you alter the pitch. It's very much like how a trombonist alters pitch by moving one tube over another. And in Romitelli's piece (which is not nearly as bizarre as your feigned ignorance makes it out to be), the chime gives a musical parallel, with a different timbre, to what the trombones have already been doing in this piece.


Yes, I guessed along those lines as the perfomer was doing that in the clip, though I wasn't one hundred percentage sure of its bizzare practice in a modern orchestra, considering there were other modern gadgets in the orchestra, such as the (electronic) voice amplifier thing.



some guy said:


> Lachenmann, _Harmonica_


Continuing on, the Lachenmann piece has some interesting use of the tuba. Almost like a tuba-fart concerto, one has to be very attentive otherwise one might miss out on the amusingly farty sounds, for example at precisely 3:42 to 3:48. This is my favourite piece so far out of the few that I discussed.


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## ceadge

Howard Skempton's Lento was performed at a Late Night Prom last year, which I caught on BBC Radio 3. On hearing it for the first time I was truly mesmerised. Reminiscent of Barber's Adagio for Strings, in seeming to tap endless reserves of sadness.


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## johnfkavanagh

IMO Adams' _Short Ride In A Fast Machine_ is fun but insubstantial. _Harmonielehre_ and _Naive and Sentimental Music_ are more substantial and for me, more interesting.


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## johnfkavanagh

I bought a CD of Gong on spec several years ago. It's been played about twice.


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## Anahitaghn

How may I reach to the scores of these works? I'll be more than grateful if you could help me with that.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Bret Dean is the absolute master of orchestration these days...

Dean: The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Dean: Etüdenfest
Dean: Game Over
Dean: Beggars and Angels
Dean: Dramatis Personae
Dean: Viola Concerto
Dean: Ariel's Music
Dean: Komarov's Fall
Dean: Electric Preludes
Pintscher: 5 Pieces for Orchestra


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