KVR Audio

Km7 · Post by **Km7** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:39 pm

Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel, Hindemith, Stockhausen, Bernstein, Glass ...

And special respect to those who managed to remain tonal.

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:14 pm

In that case, Slade.

HelgeG · Post by **HelgeG** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:23 pm

pärt
gorecki
ligeti
glass
stockhausen
nordheim
rypdal

Hovmod · Post by **Hovmod** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:25 pm

Aulis Sallinen. John Zorn.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:31 pm

Edgard Varese.

there are a couple moments in Deserts, for instance, where you think it's the percussion section of the orchestra and you realize that it's the tape of the factory, and the transition was just that seamless between the sound worlds. that he accomplished this with little more than a razor blade to tape is just massive to me, considering.

lotus2035 · Post by **lotus2035** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:06 pm

Napalm Death,
Cannibal Corpse,
Kylie Minogue.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:11 pm

mommy, what's a 'composer'?

sonicfire · Post by **sonicfire** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:15 pm

digitalstasis · Post by **digitalstasis** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:49 pm

Debussy is maybe just a little off mark for the OP's query but there are no many occasions to promote his music so here are a few specific recordings that I like, and bits of reviews that sum up my feelings for those better than I could do:

Orchestral works, conducted by Bernard Haitink
http://www.amazon.com/Debussy-Orchestra ... 602&sr=8-1

Whatever you may say about Haitink's approach to other composers — and I say that he has always been a very uneven conductor, even in his glory days with the Concertgebouw — there is no denying that he has a true affinity for the music of Claude Debussy. For one thing, Haitink's tempos are so natural, so graceful, so effortlessly right, that the music hardly seems to be conducted at all. His ability to balance transparency and warmth, so crucial in this music, is exemplary. Though Haitink can sometimes seem emotionally distant, here he is very responsive to the wide range of contrasting moods Debussy evokes; the mysterious hush that opens La Mer, the lilting playfulness of the second movement, and the mounting terror of the closing storm are all convincingly sounded.
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/m ... ubussy.htm

Piano works, played by Francois Samson
http://www.amazon.com/Debussy-Works-Pia ... 614&sr=8-1

Certainly, François was among the coolest pianists (not in the jazz sense!) to record this music, and his interpretations can be so aristocratic as to merit the adjective "haughty." He can be wayward and offhand. Take, for example, the first of the Deux Arabesques, which almost reeks with condescension. (Yes, this isn't Debussy's best piano work, but still … !) Sometimes the music's technical demands aren't even fully realized. For the most part, though, François's playing is remarkable for its bejeweled precision and restraint. And then there's that imagination. Try the Forlane from Le Tombeau de Couperin, and you'll hear a little of the other side of François: the pianist who loved jazz, and who stayed up when most of the world was asleep.
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/rev ... 6019a.html

Cello sonata, played by Casadesus and Marechal
(apparently almost only available here http://www.amazon.de/Casadesus-Bartok-D ... B00005KKNP or with soulseek; reference of the disc is http://www.robertcasadesus.com/disques_details.php?a=39)

These special moments of music and fraternity offered welcome relief during these terrible years. In 1917 Maréchal met Debussy. With Caplet he played for the composer what was probably only the second performance of his cello sonata, thus learning Debussy's precise intentions. In gratitude and admiration Debussy dedicated the score to Maréchal.
http://www.coupdarchet.com/ORVII.asp

Also, my favorite Shostakovich recordings to this day

String Quartets 1-13, played by the Borodin quartet (1967-71)
http://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Stri ... 353&sr=1-6

Symphony No. 8, conducted by Haitink
http://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Symp ... 690&sr=8-9

I've not listened to much atonal music (bits of Shoenberg, Penderecki), but I've promised myself to explore it very soon. Like many I enjoy the records of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich; and also the works of Pierre Schaeffer, but concrete music isn't maybe exactly part of the classical tradition ( http://www.amazon.com/L-Oeuvre-Musicale ... 278&sr=1-1 ).

edit: maybe a few last names of modern composers that I'd like to add; Terry Riley ("In C"), Brian Eno, Arvo Pärt (Tabula Rasa, 1977 recording,) and Boards of Canada (especially in their first releases such as the early mix tapes, or Closes Vol.1, or even Boc Maxima, damn good music that is, and partially relevant to aspects of some composers cited above such as Debussy or Schaeffer.) There seem to be such a natural link between impressionism, early concrete or electronic music, and ambient. Mostly tonal (modal) music (or at least not atonal by principle, it just happens sometime), that's what I prefer I think.

jay440 · Post by **jay440** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:26 am

ZAPPA!

Conlon Nancarrow - WOW.....I have his "Studies for Player Piano". It is absolutely insane!

Who digs Weasel Walter of the Flying Luttenbachers?

They actually just quit 2 months ago after a 16 year run and many personnel configurations, but a few years ago was an album called "Systems Emerge From Complete Disorder", completely programmed/played by Weasel Walter himself, who is now working in the Free Jazz scene these days.

Imagine an extremely abrasive, noise-prog-metal distillation of Varese, Messaien, Nancarrow, etc.

ztutz · Post by **ztutz** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:51 am

In addition to all of the others,

Luciano Berio
Pauline Oliveros
Alvin Lucier
Ryoji Ikeda
Toru Takemitsu

and of course

Captain Beefheart

koalaboy · Post by **koalaboy** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:26 pm

Craig Armstrong

Ludovico Einaudi

Joe Hisaishi

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:07 pm

digitalstasis wrote: There seem to be such a natural link between impressionism, early concrete or electronic music, and ambient. Mostly tonal (modal) music (or at least not atonal by principle, it just happens sometime), that's what I prefer I think.

I think what happened with Debussy, and with Ravel to some extent, is the most significant development in european music, in that there was finally some investigation into music of the east (via the Paris Exposition, where gamelan music and some other things, chinese opera, were brought into play)

a line can also be drawn from debussy et al through stravinsky, to varese, boulez, zappa as well as the less articulated sound which derives from the so-called impressionism...

all down to weighing sounds as objects and (albeit in dribs and drabs at first) eschewing strict functional consideration, sonorities versus chordal tensions demanding 'resolution'.
which had an ancillary effect of emancipating rhythm from 'harmonic rhythm' ->

m0j0byrd · Post by **m0j0byrd** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:58 pm

The 'avant garde' ECM music label has released many interesting works by several artists and composers: Some albums I have enjoyed:

Terje Rypdal
Miroslav Vitous
Oregon - Oregon
Jan Garbarek
Keith Jarret
Pat Metheny
Nils Petter Molvaer: Khmer
Jack DeJohnette

xBONESstyle · Post by **xBONESstyle** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:14 am

Charles Mingus = king of the 20th century.

Best Modern Composers