# What is your favorite quarter of a century of classical music?



## Aries (Nov 29, 2012)

Which quarter of a century do you like the most regarding the classical music composed in that time?

Write your reasons in a comment if you like.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Too narrow an interval.


----------



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Not narrow for me.

I consider 1959 through 1964 as my favorite period.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Prodromides said:


> Not narrow for me.
> 
> I consider 1959 through 1964 as my favorite period.


'59 to '64? What's your passion in that five year period? There was the Poulenc Gloria, Shostakovich wrote the first cello concerto, Kodaly wrote his only symphony, Walton his second, Ligeti wrote Atmospheres, Shostakovich the Babi Yar symphony, Bernstein came out with Kaddish symphony. There was so much more - works by W. Schuman, Sessions, Stockhausen, Diamond, Henze and so many others. And so little of it is known, played or even recorded.

I voted 1875-1899. All the symphonies of Brahms, most of Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. The early Mahler and the best Bruckner. The Russian Nationalists in full bloom. An enormous part of the standard repertoire came from these 25 years.


----------



## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

Voted for 1900-1925.


----------



## sibylla (Jun 13, 2021)

I'm in two minds.. WTC I (1721) / Beethoven's late style (1820-1827)


----------



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

mbhaub said:


> I voted 1875-1899. All the symphonies of Brahms, most of Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. The early Mahler and the best Bruckner.


My thought was just "all that Brahms, and all that everything else." Kind of unfair when history tends to diversify from Bach and thus each period is equally good, except Brahms had to show up and make the 1880s a jolly old time. Probably got a lot of chicks. But alas, I merely took a blind shot at it.

It also wonders me what Brahms' music would be if switched eras with one of the Big 3. To me the greatest hero of music.


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I went with 1950 - 1974. 

1975- 1999 was close.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

mbhaub said:


> I voted 1875-1899. All the symphonies of Brahms, most of Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. The early Mahler and the best Bruckner. The Russian Nationalists in full bloom. An enormous part of the standard repertoire came from these 25 years.


All of that, plus the last operas of Wagner - the Bayreuth premieres of the _Ring_ (1876) and _Parsifal_ (1882) - and Verdi's final masterpieces, _Otello_ (1887) and _Falstaff_ (1893).

My second choice would have been the 25 years after that.


----------



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

mbhaub said:


> '59 to '64? What's your passion in that five year period?


'Sonorism' is my passion.

I did a thread specifically on 1959 during February 2019: https://www.talkclassical.com/59630-compositions-attaining-age-60-a.html?highlight=1959

*1959*

the first opera set in outer space, "Aniara" by Karl-Birger Blomdahl
Friedrich Cerha commences work on his monumental _Spiegel_ series
"Le rendez-vous manqué" ballet by Michel Magne
Giacinto Scelsi's musical aesthetic matures with "Quattro pezzi per orchestra"
Gunther Schuller offers "7 Studies on Themes of Paul Klee"
"Movements for Piano & Orchestra" is late-period Stravinsky at its zenith

*1960*

Luciano Berio's "Circles"
Luigi Dallapiccola opens up "Dialoghi"
"Symphony No.3" by Roberto Gerhard with magnetic tape
Olivier Messiaen's "Chronochromie"
"Anaklasis" + "Threnody" by Penderecki
"3 Movements for Orchestra" by George Perle
Goffredo Petrassi's "Flute Concerto"
"The Bird Saw It All" by Henri Sauguet
Humphrey Searle's "Symphony No.3"

*1961*

the 7-part _Spiegel_ is completed by Cerha
"Turner - 3 Essays for Orchestra" by Marius Constant
Morton Feldman's "Durations 3"
the first two (out of 4) tone poems by Leifs are done - "Geysir" & "Hekla" Rank these 4 tone poems by Jón Leifs in order of preference
television oratorio "Les perses" by Jean Prodromidès (the LP of which is my TC avatar icon)
Scelsi's "Aion"
"Nocturnal" by Varèse Verify valuable Varèse via vote!
"Violinkonzert" by Egon Wellesz

*1962*

Copland's "Connotations" (this is the facet of Aaron that I like)
"3 Questions with 2 Answers" by Dallapiccola
Benjamin Frankel's "Symphony No.2"
"Concert for 8" by Gerhard
André Jolivet's "Missa Uxor tua"
G.F. Malipiero's "Sinfonia per Antigenida"
"Samsara" by Toshiro Mayuzumi
Maurice Ohana's "Tombeau de Claude Debussy"
"Symphony No.4" by Searle
Toru Takemitsu's "Coral Island"

*1963*

an award-winning "Requiem" is issued forth by Wilfred Josephs
Maurice Karkoff's "Symphony No.4"
Marcel Landowski's "Piano Concerto"
"Epitaffio" by Arne Nordheim (with magnetic tape)
"Jefta" - the 5th symphony of Ernst Toch

*1964*

Richard Rodney Bennett's "Aubade"
"Folk Songs" by Berio
Henri Dutilleux's "Metaboles"
"Symphony No.3" by Frankel
"The Plague" oratorio by Gerhard
Vagn Holmboe's "Requiem for Nietzsche"
Jolivet's 3rd symphonie
"Infinities Projections" by Meyer Kupferman
"Dettifoss" by Leifs
the 5th symphonies of both Searle and Roger Sessions
B.A. Zimmermann's "Monolgue"
Stravinsky's "Elegy for J.F.K."

+

the first season (1963/'64) of THE OUTER LIMITS whose music scores by Dominic Frontiere started it all for me!


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I'm obsessed by Beethoven's Ninth and each year that passes I love this great work even more. So, 1800-1824.


----------



## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

I do not know. There are desert island works in every period from 1700 on.


----------



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

You divided Beethoven's late period in two quarters. *How dare you!* Okay, I'll choose 1825-1849, for the late string quartets, many of Schubert's best works, and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah.


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

If at all, I'd probably pick either 1781-1805 to get most of mature Haydn and Mozart (and even the latest CPE Bach) and a good chunk of middle period Beethoven. 
Or 1818-1842 for most/all of late Beethoven+Schubert+ most of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, some Berlioz.


----------



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Livly_Station said:


> Voted for 1900-1925.


Russian period Stravinsky, Debussy, Sibelius, Mahler's later symphonies, Bartok's first two string quartets, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and Five Pieces for Orchestra?


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

1875-1899 from the choice available. The final Wagner, some of the best music from Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak, and early gems by Mahler and R Strauss.

A custom made preference would be 1887-1911. It would lose Parsifal, but gain all of Mahler, and a substantial part Of Sibelius.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Kreisler jr said:


> (and even the latest CPE Bach)


The C.P.E. Bach of 1781~1788? What works do you have in mind, aside from


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

The "quartets" for flute, viola, keyboard Wq 93-95 and the double harpsichord/fortepiano concerto Wq 47 are from 1788, the last year of CPE Bach's life. 
The quartets were among the first pieces of the composer I heard and I like them a lot, the double concerto is maybe a bit overrated because of the odd combination but it's still a nice piece.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

What I've found memorable about that work is that it is essentially "C.P.E. Bach's final tribute to Mozart" 



(I'm just joking; inclined to think the "similarity" is coincidental)


----------



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

*1875-1899* Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Verdi, Bruckner, Saint-Saens, Borodin, Alkan, J. Strauss II, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Rimsky, Rubinstein, Massenet, Franck, Widor, Raff, Bizet, Delibes, Lalo, Sibelius, Puccini, plus young Debussy, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Holst, Vaughan Williams, and many more, whether established, working, or as students.

The spread of the model of a standard symphony orchestra (also beyond Europe), the beginning of professional conducting and other enduring concert hall traditions, explosion of piano makers for middle class home use, and the invention of recording.

Many of the highest regarded conductors of the 20th century have been born, educated, and even made first professional steps at this time:
Toscanini, Furtwängler, Beecham, Barbirolli, Klemperer, Walter, Reiner, Boult, Monteux, Koussevitzky, Stokowski, Szell, Böhm, E. Kleiber, Mengelberg, Mitropulous, Munch, Ormandy, Knappertsbusch, Busch, de Sabata, Krauss, Ansermet, Weingartner, Scherchen, Serafin, Muck, Wood, Horenstein, Sargent...

A significant chunk of the regular performance canon and public image of classical music as we know it 120 years later comes from this period, not for nothing called _La Belle Epoque_.


----------



## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

arpeggio said:


> I do not know. There are desert island works in every period from 1700 on.


I agree, and I would also say that also holds true for any period from the late medieval/early renaissance period onwards. But forced to choose between these, it'd either be 1875-1899 or 1950-1974


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

The simple breaking up the centuries along 25 year lines does not match my own preferences, which usually tend to straddle the turn of centuries, e.g. 1885-1910 or other periods which are not so cleanly articulated. Also, there is really no single 25 year period which contains most of the music I love.

So no vote from me.


----------



## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

1775-1799

Mozart's best operas, piano concerti, string quartets, clarinet concerto, etc.
Haydn's Paris, Channel, and London Symphonies, along with all those great string quartets.
Beethoven has already come out with 10 piano sonatas, a piano concerto, and is composing his 1st symphony and Op 18 quartets

Josephine Vienna in the 1780s is the one place I would time travel to if I could.


----------



## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

I would pick the entire 19th century, where the vast majority of my favorite compositions lay. However, if forced to pick only one quarter century it would be 1801 to 1825, thanks to one composer, Beethoven, although I probably have more favorite compositions in the 1876-1900 thanks to Tchaikovsky and numerous other Romantics.


----------



## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Very narrow and a very tough one, but I voted 1825-1849 ... 

But this is such a hard one . I voted because I like Schubert and he composed some of his finest works in this timeframe...


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I'm thinking 1500-1524.


----------



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> '59 to '64? What's your passion in that five year period? There was the Poulenc Gloria, Shostakovich wrote the first cello concerto, Kodaly wrote his only symphony, Walton his second, Ligeti wrote Atmospheres, Shostakovich the Babi Yar symphony, Bernstein came out with Kaddish symphony. There was so much more - works by W. Schuman, Sessions, Stockhausen, Diamond, Henze and so many others. And so little of it is known, played or even recorded.
> 
> I voted 1875-1899. All the symphonies of Brahms, most of Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. The early Mahler and the best Bruckner. The Russian Nationalists in full bloom. An enormous part of the standard repertoire came from these 25 years.


Plus the French: Franck, Saint-Saens, Faure, Massenet, D'Indy, Chausson, Chaminade, early Debussy and Satie.


----------



## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

1925-49. That was the peak for non-opera Italians Casella, Respighi and Pizzetti. As well as my favorite English composers like Bax, Walton, Vaughan Williams, etc.


----------

