modern classical recommendations

[Dustin Hurt]

Morton Feldman, String Quartet II (1983)

...coming soon to a Philadelphia near you...

[barry]

My browser (Safari) really doesn't like that Neos site. Every time I open a page it shrinks to a tiny box in the corner of the screen!

I only own one Neos disc I think, the Spahlinger piece Farben der Fruhe for seven pianos, which is OK but tough to get into and I prefer other Spahlinger pieces elsewhere. The Liebner recordings of Cage piano pieces looks interesting though, I have a lot of time for her Feldman.

Regarding the opening request for strings music with a darker edge, well I'm not really sure what a darker edge means, but I'd certainly second the two Nono pieces mentioned above by Joe and add the Fragmente:Stille string quartet as well. If Lachenmann counts as darker then the Arditti release on Kairos of his quartets is fantastic, and I'd look up a recording of his Pression piece for cello as well.

Both of the Cage discs on Neos are really good Richard. The Music for Piano & Seven / Quartets I-VIII. Also the new Carter disc is very good as well. Oh, and the site works fine on my Mac! very strange...

[free math]

Morton Feldman, String Quartet II (1983)

...coming soon to a Philadelphia near you...

what's the story on this? didn't see it on bowerbird or the morton feldman page

[hatta]

Morton Feldman, String Quartet II (1983)

...coming soon to a Philadelphia near you...

what's the story on this? didn't see it on bowerbird or the morton feldman page

Yeah I was going to ask too. I really want to get to Philly to see the Duchamps and this might make for a nice trip. Of course if it's too soon I couldn't do it, but in the spring, maybe. Is it the Flux String Quartet? They seem to be the only group actively playing it right now, though I suppose a group who has played it in the past could be practicing it up.

[RFKorp]

Yes, it is the Flux quartet. Don't know what the date is but I was just talking to a couple of them at a party last week and this came up.

[cdeupree]

looking for recommendations in the field of modern classical music, more specific, compositions for string instruments with a darker edge.

Following on Jon's suggestion of Xenakis' chamber music would be any of his music for orchestra, a lot of which is heavy on the strings. I'd also recommend Peteris Vasks' Musica Adventus, an arrangement for string orchestra of his 3rd string quartet. You might also like some of Frances White's pieces on her recent Mode CD, Centre Bridge, particularly Like a Lily for viola, double bass, and electronics; and A Veil Barely Seen, for viola and electronics.

[Dustin Hurt]

what's the story on this? didn't see it on bowerbird or the morton feldman page

Yeah I was going to ask too. I really want to get to Philly to see the Duchamps and this might make for a nice trip. Of course if it's too soon I couldn't do it, but in the spring, maybe. Is it the Flux String Quartet? They seem to be the only group actively playing it right now, though I suppose a group who has played it in the past could be practicing it up.

2009 - 10 Season. stay tuned.

[the_mission]

thanx for all the suggestions.

i didn't have the time yet to check everything out. but i did cover some already

as expected (because i was familiar with other works from both) i liked feldman's 'string quartet II' & cage's ' the fives' a lot. a nice discovery is klaus lang. someone suggested his "trauermusiken" (to be more specific - 'the sea of despair') and i was spot on. exactly the kind of works i was looking for. i checked out Klaus' "einfalt still" as well, and it's along the same lines, except with the use of voice (which works very nicely). i'll definitely dig into more of klaus his works.

i wasn't that much into brian ferneyhough's "works for string quartet". too jumpy, but i'll give it some more listens.
elliot carter's "chamber music" is comparable to what i heard from ferneyhough, but i like this more. i'm not sure why that is though.
galina ustvolskaya's "compositions i, ii & ii" needs some more time maybe, some tracks i liked a lot, some i didn't like at all.

so there's still a lot on my to-listen-to list .

[J.F.]

some [Ustvolskaya] tracks i liked a lot, some i didn't like at all.

Exactly my sentiments as well with not much between, regarding her complete (relatively small) oeuvre.
My Ustvolskaya-favorite is her Octet - probably among my top 10 composition from that era around 1950. But about half of her works keep making my eyes roll.

[bedouin]

If Lachenmann counts as darker then the Arditti release on Kairos of his quartets is fantastic, and I'd look up a recording of his Pression piece for cello as well.

Pression is fantastic! As is the rest of the music on "Allegro Sostenuto; Pression" (Col Legno).
Didn't dig the Arditti on Kairos though. Maybe I need to listen again. Sounds more Arditti than Lachenmann to me, if that makes any sense.

[Richard Pinnell]

. a nice discovery is klaus lang. someone suggested his "trauermusiken" (to be more specific - 'the sea of despair') and i was spot on. exactly the kind of works i was looking for. i checked out Klaus' "einfalt still" as well, and it's along the same lines, except with the use of voice (which works very nicely). i'll definitely dig into more of klaus his works.t .

Trauermusiken is one of my favourites too. His Die überwinterung der mollusken on Durian is in a similar style and certainly one you should check out if you haven't already. Probably hard to find though.

I really like his Missa beati pauperes spiritu from 2007 on Col Legno as well, although it is somewhat different, essentially his take on the religious mass form.

If you like Lang and you haven't already I'd check out Jakob Ullmann as well, A Catalogue of sounds in particular.

[MRS]

Not sure where to put this, I found there's been released another recording of Grisey's Vortex Temporum by an Italian ensemble (Tito Ceccherini, Ensemble Risognanze). The earlier Ensemble Recherche recording which took me forever to track down I value maybe even more than his Les Espaces Acoustiques off Kairos. Looking forward to picking this up.

[Mitty]

is Gorecki's Symphony no.3 'sorrowful songs' ''dark'' ? or just ''Beautiful'' ?

[fearandpanic]

Neither, I'd say.

[jeirich]

How about Lutoslawski's Third Symphony? The version from eclassical.com, conducted by Otaka, is quite good.

Also, Rautavaara's Piano Concerto and Symphony No. 3, available on Naxos on a disc with Cantus Arcticus.

[orangettecoleman]

i recently got a CD of Per Norgard's string quartets and enjoyed it very much. It kind of walks the line between tonality and dissonance (well to me it does, it's a lot more dissonant than anything most people have ever heard), and incorporates some ideas from spectral/overtone music. It reminds me of Ligeti in some ways... I definitely recommend it.

Also I found out about a lot of interesting current stuff by browsing the Kairos website. http://www.kairos-music.com/

[simon reynell]

One of the recent Kairos discs that I'd recommend very highly is:
Mark Andre: durch, ...zu..., ...in, & ...als...II

All four are chamber works in a soundworld not far removed from much of my favourite improvised music: restrained and fairly minimal, but with a tension and edginess that just occasionally erupts into spikiness.
The string trio (...zu...) is particularly good, as well as '...als...II', which uses a lot of inside piano & live electronics and is particularly close to contemporary improv.
All beautifully played by the ensemble recherche & Trio Accanto.

[J.F.]

The Marc André-CD is a good tip!

I so far heard only a few works by him spread over several compilations (I recall a Donaueschingen-box on collegno), and I liked them all (though I didn't connect what I heard to improv stuff).

[simon reynell]

Yeah, I first came across Mark Andre through the Donaueschingen documentation discs too, and was very impressed. He was a pupil of Lachenmann, and there's certainly a connection there too.

I'm pretty sure the Kairos disc is the only portrait cd of his music, but other pieces have appeared on:
Donaueschniger Musiktage 1996 - Un-Fini (cymbalon, harp, 2 pianos, 2 percussion - and excellent imo)
Donaueschniger Musiktage 2000 - Modell (a large orchestral piece)
Donaueschinger Musiktage 2007 - ...auf...III (orchestra & electronics - also pretty strong)
25 years Experimental Studio Freiburg (1998) - Ab II (contrabass clarinet, cello, cymbalon, percussion, piano & electronics - and another beauty)
and Internationale Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik 1998 - Un-Fini IIIa (piano solo, and the least interesting imo)
Unfortunately most of the above are on 2/3 cd sets, so work out pretty pricey, especially as much of the music on the rest of the discs is pretty ordinary.
But he's definitely one to watch out for.

[javier4w]

You can also get André´s compositions in Wittener Tage compilations 2005 (durch) and 2008 (... es...).

BTW, Wittener Tage 2004 2CD is very nice. Includes Klaus Lang's berge.träume for violoncello and choir, performed by Michael Moser, Klaus Huber's À l’âme de marcher sur ses pieds de soi, performed by Walter Grimmer on violoncello, Wolfgang Rihm's Fetzen for accordion and string quartet, performed by T. Ancellotti and Arditti Qt, ...... and Ortlaut by Andrea Neumann & Sabine Ercklentz.