10 short MUST-HEAR 20th century masterworks
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- Опубликовано: 5 июн 2024
- Composer Samuel Andreyev presents a biased, unfair, incomplete and arbitrary list of 10 SHORT must-hear twentienth-century pieces to get you started. Links to all pieces are below
==
1. Charles IVES
Central Park in the Dark (1906)
• Charles Ives - Central...
2. Arnold SCHOENBERG
Herzgewächse op. 20 (1911)
• Arnold Schoenberg - He...
3. Igor STRAVINSKY
Symphones of Wind Instruments (1920)
• Igor Stravinsky - Sym...
4. Ruth CRAWFORD SEEGER
Three Songs to Poems by Carl Sandberg (1930-32)
1. Rat Riddles
• Crawford Seeger: Three...
2. Prayers of Steel
• Crawford Seeger: Three...
3. In Tall Grass
• Crawford Seeger: Three...
5. Anton WEBERN
Variations op. 30 (1940)
• Anton Webern - Variati...
6. Karlheinz STOCKHAUSEN
Klavierstücke I-IV (1952)
• Stockhausen - Klaviers...
7. Pierre BOULEZ
Éclat (1964-5)
• Éclat - Pierre Boulez
8. Morton FELDMAN
The Viola in My Life 3 (1970)
• Morton Feldman - The V...
9. Brian FERNEYHOUGH
Second String Quartet (1980)
• Brian Ferneyhough - St...
10. Kaija SAARIAHO
Die Aussicht (1996/98)
• BRuCH: Kaija Saariaho ...
==
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Please note, for those who need to hear it: this list is arbitrary, biased, unfair and incomplete. Float your amendments below!
I agree with maybe two of your choices.
Help make it better
Nice List.
For my personal taste I would add:
-Béla Bártok's Night Music of the five piano pieces Out of Doors (1926) It's odd this music even though Bartok will go deep in this way of sensation and conception of music across many works, this piano pieces feel kind of abstract both in time and about the whole Bartok night music production. A glimpse of a feeling to come later by Morton Feldman on his latest piano works.
-Giacinto Scelsi's "Okanagon" (1968) for Harp, Tam Tam and Double bass. I find the instrumentation singular with an amazing compositional work and sound result, as well as the whole force of this music.
-Iannis Xenakis "Ikhoor" (1978) for string quartet (It maybe passes the 10 min by some seconds). I find the string trio a quite singular instrumentation, I guess because of the unique but same instrumental family three individuals. This piece is amazingly solid and it surprise me how rich in terms of gesture, vibe, harmony and energy it is besides this "short scale" length of work.
-Luigi Nono's "Donde estás hermano" (1982) for four part female choir Well, There's so much to say about Luigi Nono, at least in my opinion I think this composer have put the bar not high but far away in another place, speaking aesthetically, socially and politically. It results me curious about the fragile and cautious of this music regarding how affects the listening, how immediately attracts and focus the attention in a powerful way.
I would like to know more female composers, especially from the beginning of the 20th century to mid century (50`s/60`s) besides all the electronic female artist that came up around the 60's and 70's (Daphne Oram, Eliane Radige, Suzanne Cianni, Delia Derbyshire, Pauline Oliveros, Wendy Carlos, just to name a few) Also it would be nice to know non western female composers. Any recommendations?
Kind regards from Mexico City, Samuel. I really like your videos and podcasts.
I ve got many alternatives, just spontaneosly:
- Strauss Salome
- Strawinsky Histoire du Soldat
- Ravel Sonata for vl+vc
- Berg Violin concerto
- Bartok Concerto for orchestra
- Bernstein West Side Story
- Lutoslawsky Livre pour Orchestra (or Sgt.Pepper)
- Ligeti Le Grand Macabre
- Ivan Eröd 2nd violin sonata
- Kurt Schwertsik Sinfonia-Sinfonietta
🥰
Bach the WTC Book 2 for sure
Let's see what I can come up with!
1. Debussy - reflets dans l'eau
2. Ravel - Jeux d'eau
3. Scriabin - Vers la flamme
4. Messiaen - le banquet céleste
5. Wyschnegradsky - arc-en-ciel
6. Scelsi - tre canti sacri
7. Xenakis - mists
8. Ligeti - Lux eterna
9. Haas - second string quartet
10. Finnissy - the history of photography in sound
I'm obviously a pianist
(Last one is a joke, yes)
Those Scelsi, Ligeti, Xenakis and Haas pieces are fire. love 'em!
Despite what some commenters have said, I appreciate that you don’t patronize your subscribers by spoon-feeding them. We are here because we are hungry to learn and want to be challenged. I look forward to listening to these pieces with open ears and thank you for introducing them to me-your contextualization really helps. Keep it up!
Really appreciate that :-)
Autechre is also a must listen!
@@flyingsteaksseconded! Especially Confield, Untitled, and NTS sessions 1-4
@@flyingsteaksthey are inspired by Stockhausen too!
Same!!
Even if it might not suit everyone’s tastes, these are indeed “must-hear” pieces. Thank you for this list, Samuel!
This is a beautiful list. It’s compact, and it hits all the main points in 20th century without resorting to “the hits”.
the viola of my life is actually a series where i think Morton FELDMAN was totally vulnerable, and i was surprised to get that out of him. the "viola of my life iv" is my favourite piece of all time.. it is just so truthful, delicate and bare.
Just wanted you to know that I enjoyed this video a lot! It contains both artworks which I personally enjoy and others which I’ll take to in the right moment. Thank you, Samuel.
All of the pieces you mentioned are my favorites. Wonderfully selected choices! Thank you for sharing them with the world.
Congratulations! A fantastic list of music; a great introduction to the music of all these composers.
Next tell us the 21st century list (so far) 😊
This!
Thank you Mr Andreyev! I'm a total newbie to modern classical music. I think these are absolute gems. I love discovering new music, getting out of my comfort zone and you are helping in a massive way!
So happy to hear that
Same for myself. I have some listening to do. While I know some composers from other works, I have never come upon these compositions. I love all music from Russian sacred music, Persian, Indian, African and so on, I do get blasé with Western classical music at times. So a new listening challenge is always welcome. Like the character says : "Make my day."
Thanks for this video. It's been years since I studied this music in college. Good to go back for a listen. Nice explanations for each one too!
Symphonies Of Wind Instruments is my favorite Stravinsky piece not for large Orchestra. It's timbral and harmonic colours are unmatched.
What a genius new idea to offer us the chance to listen to these unknown by many masterworks. I will dive in in each one of them and come back and share my impressions! Way to go!
I now have a great listening list to renew my love of music and expose me to new 20th century works. Thank you.
Thank you for offering great suggestions to us not so well versed in modern music ... appreciated... 😊
What a wonderful list! These are great works to start with.
This is a great list of works to listen to; thanks so much! This video also made me listen again to Ruth Crawford's piano works. I find the preludes especially amazing; they're so beautifully crafted and she had such an extraordinary understanding of how a piano works.
Thank you! Your video excites and urges one to start listening!☝
Excellent choices. I'd also consider: Birtwistle Ritual Fragment, Donatoni Lumen, Lili Boulanger Psaume 129, Kurtág Grabstein für Stephan, John Cage First Construction, Penderecki De Natura Sonoris 2, Takemitsu Rain Spell, Ustvolskaya Sonata 6, Varèse Ionisation
Thank you for introducing me to music and composers I have never heard.
John Cage - In A Landscape
Terry Riley - In C (original CBS recording)
Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon
Micheal Nyman - Bell Set No.1
Gavin Bryars - The Squirrel And The Ricketty-Racketty Bridge
Julius Eastman - Feminine
John Zorn - Lacrosse
Absolutely!!! Great list!! And a great list for my teen psych patients!!
thank you so much for sharing such amazing music!
Thank you, Samuel.
This is inspiring, thank you very much.
I was so fortunate to had some lessons on composing for voices and orchestra with Kaija Saariaho back in 2022...She really had a love for for composing and for the human voice. Really amazing!
I don't know if it's a masterwork but last night on a radio program I was introduced to George Crumb, particularly his work Ancient Voices of Children. I thought it was wonderful!
That's how I was introduced to Crumb - my friend and I picked up a score from the university library. Still one of my favorite 20th century composers!
I was very much impressed by the Ruth Crawford Seeger songs. The only piece of hers I'd heard before is the string quartet, and that was a long time ago. I'm definitely going to start listening to her again.
Very sensible choices. Thanks!
I've never really known how to approach listening to 20th century classical music. This seems like just what I needed :D
There's a vast array of styles and composers to dig into from totally loopy avant garde to easily accessible Neo-Romanticism. Something for everyone.
Excellent selection. Not what I expected.
Can we get 10 masterpieces from the 21st century? I think there is so much for people to discover right now.
Excellent suggestion. I would be fascinated to hear that.
Thank you! Short parts would be lovely for teasers
I like this list.
Here's mine. 13 must hear pieces since 1900, seeing as we're in the 21st century:
Sibelius: Symphony no.2 1903
Ives: Three Places in New England 1903-29
Varese: Integrales 1925
Crawford Seeger: String Quartet 1931
Shostakovitch: Piano Trio No 2 1945
Stockhausen: Gesange der Junglinge 1956
Ligeti: String Quartet no 2 1968
Ustvolskaya: Composition no.2 Dies Irae 1973
Xenakis: Tetras 1983
Birtwistle: Ritual Fragment 1993
Holt: A Table of Noises 2007
Adamek: Kameny 2012
Feshareki: Aetherworld 2021
I'm really happy that you mentioned Boulez's Éclat, which is a really wonderful and - dare I say? - accessible piece of his. Now, there are tons of works of his that I love even more, but it warms my heart to see something else pop up in the discussions than the obligatory 2nd sonata, Marteau sans maître, Répons etc etc... =) Great list, with several pieces I've never heard. Ferneyhough is a composer I've sort of unintentionally avoided until now, maybe it's time to finally dive in!
Amazing video !
nice content as always
Yep doing that soon
Great list. I *have* to add one that literally changed my life. It was Yves Klein monochrome (part 1). I walked into it knowing nothing at a live concert, which I think is the best way to approach it. I don't want to reveal much details, but the premise, the journey and the lived experience of it was nothing short of life changing. It happened when I was a young man over 30 years ago, and I talk about it still as the most profound, beautiful and surprising thing that ever happened to me. Ps. Open mind required.
Thank you! I’ve been wondering what that piece by Schoenberg was called for the best part of forty years. I used to have it on an amazing record that also included Pierrot Lunaire and a cabaret song of his. I didn’t remember the name and I haven’t heard it for all these years but I’ve been haunted by the memory of it. So good to actually hear it again!
Wonderful video, Sam! Many pieces I couldn't be without in that list. Knussen's Coursing would be a good addition - as could some Berio - it's a shame the Violin Sequenza is too long to count, but O King is a total gem 💎 and fits nicely. Lovely stuff!
Outstanding list. For some fun, I would add Short Ride in a Fast Machine by John Adams.
Great list! My personal addition would be Messiaen’s Quator
Yeah, but it had to be less than 10 minutes, which excludes most of Messaien’s output
One could say any of the individual movements of Quartet for the End of Time would be a good candidate for this list!
Thanks for your very interesting, inspiring, and informative videos, as always, Samuel! Here is my incomplete and arbitrary list:
Arnold Schönberg - Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16 (1909)
Edgar Varèse - Amériques (1918-1921)
Sergei Prokofiev - Symphony 2 in D minor, Op. 40 (1925)
Ruth Crawford Seeger - Four Diaphonic Suites (1930)
Olivier Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941)
Galina Ustvolskaya - Symphony No.1 (1955)
György Ligeti - Requiem (1965)
Louis Andriessen - De Staat (1976)
Claude Vivier - Lonely Child (1980)
Wolfgang Rihm - Vers un Symphonie Fleuve IV (1998)
Edward Top
thanks ❤ for sharing
I love you included Seeger
All wonderful works, Samuel! I think in my list I'd include Scriabin's 10th Sonata (1913), probably some Sofia Gubaidulina (her Bassoon Concerto is amazing) or Edison Denisov (esp. his Chamber Symphony #1), Maderno (his Oboe Concerto #2), from Feldman I especially love his "Piano and Orchestra". Really, there's so much to choose from. I don't think I could fault any list.
I would also mention Webern's Cantata Opus 29. It's like walking through a pristine desert environment, with everything in its proper place.
It's a really challenging parameter that excludes a lot of major composers and certainly their major works, though you have done it! The first 3 could possibly remain with wider parameters, and we would surely see Bartok, Messian, Britten, appearing later on. A contender for under 10 mins might be Ligeti's Lux Aeterna.
Such lists will always be subjective and incomplete, of course but I would have to query the complete absence of any electronic pieces.
Love the video like all of yours (although always a bias for the longer forms!). Personally I would have to include Varèse but I don't see who you would be taking out for that.
(Also for a future video, would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on Philip Glass and John Cage as just realizing I don't think you've ever talked about them...)
Do more videos like this every once in a while!
Thanks!!! 🙂🙂
Just to include Messiaen, we can add his choral masterpiece O Sacrum Convivium. it is quite special...
Oh good idea, I actually don’t know that piece. Must listen!
Wonderful list!!
Wonderful selections!
I am just a casual fan..
.Not an academic or professional by any means but I would have added Varese. Perhaps Poem Electronique. His approach to composition and sound was so ground breaking and radical that it still feels contemporary today.
Totally agree. Great suggestion!
Varese is like Webern, in that his smallest pieces are often his biggest pieces. Octandre is far and away my favorite Varese piece, and it clocks in at less than seven minutes for three movments!
As you said, biased, unfair and incomplete, however excellent list! Thank you for this list! ...Cage, Zappa and Xenakis would easily fit in that list imho! Once again, thank you so much, I love your work here (YT) !!!
Thank you!
Nice. Some of my favorites and many that are completely new to me. Looking forward to them.
Excellent list! Though my personal addition to the list would be Helmut Lachenmann’s Pression for cello.
I would add Olga Neuwirth - a great late 20th/early 21st century composer who is still living but my God the caliber of her works is astoundingly high. She covers and synthesizes in her works many of trends going from WW2 to present. Her opera "Lost Highway" is so worth listening to and a modern opera that I think will have performances 100 or more years from now.
Other omissions - Schnittke for his use of he mosaic style with disparate styles. You didn't cover any electronic composers which is a serious omission - I would start with Vladmir Ussachevsky and move from there.
I would displace Ferneyhough and have instead Xenakis who was doing many of the things Ferneyhough did in the 70's a decade before him.
The challenge you did set for yoruself was "short" masterworks so I could understand the composers I mentioned likely being omitted.
However I can offer a few masterworks that are short :
Dallapiccolla - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera, a series of short pieces for solo piano
Ruth Crawford Seeger - 2 nd mvmt of her String Quartet (it anticipates to some degree serialization of many musical elements with the employment of canonic devices with dynamics -- successfully!)
Bartok - Mikrokosmos Bk 6 any of the last few pieces in this book
Petrassi (Italian neo-classist that then took on the 12-tone and serialism trends of the mid 20th century with his last period starting in the late 60's showing an idiosyncratic blend of his former influences and representing some of his best works) - Kyrie for choir, his last work.
Vaughn Williams - choose any of his hymn settings for the Church of England in the early 20th century - they are masterworks from a composer with his own personal and unique language (although somewhat conservative to many of his peers). Why masterworks? They are very singable and beautiful settings of hymn tunes (many that were in need of renewal). To start I suggest "Come Down Oh Love Divine" (ruclips.net/video/Z8QPCnpb8AM/видео.html). Trust me as a composer myself and also a church organist, I know how difficult this is to do and how hard it is to find modern settings of hymn tunes that are attractive and amenable to amateur singers. .
Yes to Dallapiccola
@InfluxDecline he almost made it but my fav pieces are too long
great video and list! possible suggestions (or rather, additions, although I love your choices!): Gorecki - Elementi, Ligeti (etude n1 or Hungarian Rock), Nancarrow - Study no 7, 11 or 21...
Lovely video, I agree so much with all the inclusions
Thanks!
Thank you!
Fantastic! Thank you.
I'm not calling you wrong, but I was surprised by the lack of later century minimalists (Glass, Adams, Reich, Riley) as well as "mainstreamed" composers like Copland and Bernstein. But I will thank you for giving me 10 new pieces of music to listen to.
Also, Brian Eno and ambient Aphex Twin.
Only by trying I recognised how difficult it is to do such list. Here's mine...
'00s Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit -Ondine
'10s Debussy: Sonata for flute viola and harp -I. Pastorale
'20s Stravinsky: Octet for winds -Sinfonia
'30s Varèse: Ionisation
'40s Dallapiccola: Canti di prigionia -Preghiera di Maria Stuarda
'50s Messiaen: Oiseaux Exotiques
'60s Scelsi: Canto del capricorno n1
'70s Ferneyhough: Cassandra's Dream Song
'80s Takemitsu: Rain Spell
90's Boulez ...explosante fixe... -Originel
I have to say, it is very biased by the fact that I am a flute player (too many pieces featuring the flute, sorry) and by my general taste obviously
The scheme is delightful: ten pieces, one per decade, each one under ten minutes, and described, in toto, in barely *over* ten minutes. I hoped that Cage's 4'33", which certainly fits the bill, would represent the 1950s: halfway through the century, we are exhorted to sit still and just listen, and it's a piece that is performed by the audience as much as by the performers. It is an important, revolutionary, essential piece of music.
5:34 Webern looks a bit like Stockhausen there, and vice-versa ;)
Wrong name on right photo. ;-)
I dig your draig goch. Nice one
You're the Man.
You are correct
Long time Harvard professor Mario Davidovsky short collections called "Synchronisms" would be good on the list. In particular #1 for Flute and Electronic tape.
Bravo.
Thanks for your selections Samuel, all great and hadn't heard of the last composer on the list. How about Busoni Sonatinas, Varese Octandre, a Nancarrow study, Ligeti Etude. One day I'd like to create an accessible programme of shortish 20th cent. works for my local volunteer radio station.
All good ideas, Brian. Thanks for watching.
LIKE no 1000 - I think you for this fine list
Can you rate the best among YOUR OWN works? That sounds like a challenge to me :)
There is only one correct answer and it's Verifications, but I'm a biased low-register-piccolo enthusiast and my opinion doesn't count 😂
Much appreciated. Please consider doing one, two, three more such lists on the same theme?
Planning to!
You left out Ives' "Unanswered Question" one of my favorites.
Beautiful presentation as always ... sometimes too convincing as any objectivity i might have had goes out the window, I find myself swooning before the first note of a piece announces itself..such refined but passionate criticism is inspiring and cumulatively sexy...
I’m not seeing the link! Aaargh! I’ll go to your channel. Really enjoy your work.
I just realized that Samuel has a taste for the extreme.
Igor Stravinsky - Feu d'Artifice (1908)
Arnold Schoenberg - Six Little Piano Pieces (1911)
Carl Ruggles - Portals (1925)
John Cage - Bacchanale (1939)
Aaron Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man (1942)
Wallingford Riegger - Music for Orchestra (1953)
Olivier Messiaen - Monodie (1963)
Frank Zappa - Black Page (1976)
Steve Reich - Vermont Counterpoint (1982)
Iannis Xenakis - Zythos (1997)
Maybe not the best, but some good tunes nonetheless.
It's an excellent video considering the reactions it gets.
I thought about what alternative list I could propose and it's quite difficult to make a selection.
For example, when I thought about _Mode de valeurs et d'intensités_, I realized that it was a MUST-ANALYSIS and not a MUST-HEAR.
And the more your list differs from the one I made, the more interesting it is. For example, it is therefore very good to have chosen SCHOENBERG op. 20 or _Symphony for Winds_ rather than WEBERN op.7 or _Ionisation_
excelent ¡
Excellent, more stuff for my listening list.
Oliver Knussen - Ophelia Dances, Book 1!!!!!!! (1975, 8’)
I think you need a Debussy prelude like Des pas sur la neige, or Jeux since Boulez loved it. Likewise Ligeti's Chamber Concerto, still shorter than Haydn's Hornsignal or Mercury symphonies, which are pretty concise!
No Lachenmann? Come on, you can easily replace Ferneyhough with some Lach to make it a fair list! 😜
ps: two more, which I think have been influential and continue to be sl: Cage - 4'33'' (50s), Ligeti - Continuum
So you really mean I should LISTEN to 4'33 ?
😂
Genuine question about Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke, what makes you appreciate and find musical value in something like that? Is there a point in a complex compositional process if the end result is indistinguishable from an improvised sequence of random notes? Would you be able to tell the difference between a piece like this and random notes? Love the content, keep up the great work!
Put one of the short pieces on infinite repeat on cd player and listen for awhile. The patterns will connect eventually and evey piece will stand out clear as a Chopin prelude.
Wonderful video!
My only major disagreement was that I definitely prefer Ligeti to Boulez, would’ve maybe put Atmosphéres…
On another note, I would be interested to know your opinion on late era Scott Walker. He’d be an interesting person for you to do a video about.
I like the list, given the 10-minute rule. If you stretched it to 12 minutes and opened another spot, I would add Berio's "Points on the Curve to Find".
many thanks once again to add my personal bias I would have included Ligeti's Atmoshpheres : that period in which he produced unique and magical work (and then actually managed to have a career full of highest quality works which moved away from the techniques of that period)
I think you have to include Helmut Lachenmann's Pression. He changed the whole horizon of awareness of 'instrumental' sound. Personally, after Lachenmann, I thinck that the contemporary instrumental music developed enormously.
And some short pieces that head in other directions:
Ravel: Une barque sur l'océan (orchestrated version)
Pärt: Summa
Lilburn: Drysdale Overture
Lili Boulanger: D'un soir triste
Bernstein: Candide Overture
Honegger: Pacific 231
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Sibelius: Tulen synty (The Origin of Fire)
Rautavaara: Isle of Bliss
Milhaud: La Cheminée du Roi René
I am going through the list. I absolutely adored the Schoenberg’s piece. Did you say “coloratura soprano”? How so? I think I disagree with that. Nonetheless, I am quite impressed by the vocal range going from a low G# below middle C to the high F you mentioned. Amazing writing!
Oh, and Samuel, I adore your channel. Please keep it up!
In my head I immediately heard “Scorefolio” in the voice of Beavis and Butt-head, and I’m not quite sure why
Minimalism had such an impact on all forms of later music that its absence makes this list incomplete for me. But thanks for the list!
I wasn’t aiming for completeness
@@samuel_andreyev I know, but you asked for comments!
True :-)
Can you perhaps make video about 10 short MUST-HEAR 20th century slaveworks?
Challenging music! But excellent!
I think it's a great list. Bit embarrassing for me to note that I hadn't heard of the two women composers yet, so I'm definitely going to give them a listen. Some other composers on my personal favorite list are Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti, Steve Reich, John Cage, Edgar Varèse, Erik Satie.
I'm an avid consumer of Score Follower here on YT, but admittedly, I have a bit of a gap in my knowledge of the past 2 decades. Do you have any suggestions for composers/compositions from between 2000 and 2020?
Yes - that will be another video (coming soon)
my personal list would be:
Ravel - Introduction et Allegro (1906)
Boulanger - Vieille priere bouddhique (1917)
Webern - Sinfonie op.21 (1927)
Hindemith - Harp Sonata (1939)
Henze - Apollo et Hyacinthus (1948)
Cage - Six Melodies (1950)
Becerra-Schmidt - Canciones de Altacopa (1962)
Eastman - Joy Boy (1974)
Monk - "Biography" from "Education of the Girlchild" (1981)
Hosokawa - Landscape I (1992)