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Classical music works of the 21st century

theguardian.com

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Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#31

Post by tunesmith »

raptorraver wrote: post #15
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xenakis and Stockhausen definitely count as contemporary classical. It's actually about lineage. Contemporary classical sells itself on the basis that there's a direct academic - sometimes historical - link to Beethoven, who was the prototypical Genius Composer. Which is why you usually get all the stock tropes - concert halls, serious audiences in seats listening very intently, serious clothes for the players, a ser…

Former classical music composer here. Your analysis is quite spot on. Some people in classical music scene even call it ”serious music”.

There are other distinctions, though. For instance, classical music, aside from some forms of minimalism, is very definitely not about loops and layers. Classical music is more about long form narrative and has a lot more in common with long form fiction, with development, surprises, and entirely new contexts. The way a classical work is cohesive within itself is very different than how a pop song or jazz or electronica is.

Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#32

Post by tunesmith »

dwd wrote: post #9
sammorrowdrums wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your confusion is completely right. The genre classical has an almost insanely wide meaning. It originally only meant music from the Classical Period of 1720 to 1820, then Romantic music after that, and thus everything you describe above ought to be termed contemporary music (and is usually called something like that as a sub-genre). There is a marketing explanation which is often the easiest definition to use, which…

Personally I listen to the likes of Hans Zimmer, Jesper Kyd, Garath Coker, Ramin Djawadi, Michael Giacchino, etc when I'm looking for orchestral/symphonic instrumental music. I don't think you could call them studio musicians - which was how John Williams started out (working for Mancini) but I can't imagine them fitting what is considered "classical" at the Guardian.

With those composers, I think it depends on if you are listening to music that is intended to stand alone, or if it was originally intended to support a film work. Even there the line can get a little blurry. There is music by John Williams that is definitely on the classical concert circuit, like the Emperor Theme, but even then the form is different than what you hear in the film. I believe Zimmer has some music lifted out that stands alone. But even then, music still might only make it to Pops concerts rather than the standard repertoire. Another example, I used to listen to Elfman's original Batman soundtrack a lot - but you can tell it's much more wandering and moody than standard classical music.

But just because a piece of music is programmatic doesn't mean it's not classical. Beethoven's 6th symphony is a great example.

If you go back and watch Disney's original Fantasia, that's a good example of the difference between music that supports film, versus music that stands alone - in Fantasia's case, the film was structured to support the music.

There's definitely good classical music out there that has a pleasing "sweep" to it like film music. Maybe sometime get out the headphones, sit back, and listen to the first movement of Sibelius' 5th symphony. I like the Bernstein version most.

Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#33

Post by Jeff_Brown »

antognini wrote: post #10

This is a great list! For anyone who's interested in a few more recommendations: * For my money, John Adams's best composition this century is El Niño ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2IUdBLVkOQ ), though Doctor Atomic is also amazing ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUHKHLk_VU ). The former is a nativity oratorio and the latter is an opera about Oppenheimer and the Manhatten Project. On the Transmigration of Sou…

I've wanted more music like Lowell Liebermann's piano compositions ever since I discovered them. Somehow extremely melodic and natural, while harboring the most absurdly strange harmonies.

Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#34

Post by Jeff_Brown »

mhh__ wrote: post #14
antognini wrote: post #10

This is a great list! For anyone who's interested in a few more recommendations: * For my money, John Adams's best composition this century is El Niño ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2IUdBLVkOQ ), though Doctor Atomic is also amazing ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUHKHLk_VU ). The former is a nativity oratorio and the latter is an opera about Oppenheimer and the Manhatten Project. On the Transmigration of Sou…

Ben Johnston's compositions scratch my microtonal itch

+1. Also Wendy Carlos made at least two wonderful microtonal albums -- Beauty in the Beast and Tales from Heaven and Hell.

Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#35

Post by dwd »

tunesmith wrote: post #31
raptorraver wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Former classical music composer here. Your analysis is quite spot on. Some people in classical music scene even call it ”serious music”.

There are other distinctions, though. For instance, classical music, aside from some forms of minimalism, is very definitely not about loops and layers. Classical music is more about long form narrative and has a lot more in common with long form fiction, with development, surprises, and entirely new contexts. The way a classical work is cohesive within itself is very different than how a pop song or jazz or electron…

Funny enough a lot of film scores and more recently TV and video game soundtracks also follow that formula with specific motifs for different characters with variations depending on the scene.

It's particularly noticable where you have a long running series that allow for the motifs to mature over time.

Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#36

Post by dwd »

tunesmith wrote: post #32
dwd wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I listen to the likes of Hans Zimmer, Jesper Kyd, Garath Coker, Ramin Djawadi, Michael Giacchino, etc when I'm looking for orchestral/symphonic instrumental music. I don't think you could call them studio musicians - which was how John Williams started out (working for Mancini) but I can't imagine them fitting what is considered "classical" at the Guardian.

With those composers, I think it depends on if you are listening to music that is intended to stand alone, or if it was originally intended to support a film work. Even there the line can get a little blurry. There is music by John Williams that is definitely on the classical concert circuit, like the Emperor Theme, but even then the form is different than what you hear in the film. I believe Zimmer has some music li…

I think were Prokofiev, Dvorak, Wagner, etc around thee days they would probably be writing film soundtracks.

I find William's The Asteroid Field to be the pinnacle of musical storytelling. It hooks into the action (tight and fast through the chase scenes and then soars with the escape) but is also interleaved with each character's motif. The soundtrack version stands alone very well.

On the video game side: Garath Coker's Ori and the Blind Forest is quite cohesive and listenable without knowing anything about the game.

Spotify can take you down some interesting rabbit holes of discovery.

Re: Classical music works of the 21st century

#37

Post by Jeff_Brown »

suchoudh wrote: post #27

seems like noise to me. How can it be classical if it's not even pleasing to ears?

I thought it was pretty but gratuitously sad. Got fed up and didn't finish the list.

Artists and philosophers both, I think, sometimes mistake sadness for import.

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