I'm a fledgling into the genre, but a friend from CA was kind enough to give me 25 compilations on CD of various shooms. Right now I've just listened to some mind-blowing Iannis Xenakis, describing pure devastation. I'm also partial to Arvo Part; Igor Stravinsky; Gyorgy Ligeti; Jean Sibelius; Johann Sebastien Bach; Ludwig Van Beethoven; Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky; Steve Reich; and Thomas Ades, a relatively young chap at 40 or so, but his Asyla I've heard, is pretty dramatic stuff.

.............

I cannot believe I forgot Ligeti. Amazing composer.
Have listened to Electronic music by Xenakis a while ago, but didn't manage to really get into.
What about Varèse? I've read about Déserts, is it worth the listening?

Two words
Glenn Branca

two words

Beeth Oven

I find Varése a bit troublesome, but I when it comes to the more difficult perimeters of contemporary stuff, it's mostly well worth keeping on with it. On a slightly quieter note, Toru Takimitsu or Morton Feldman are both absurdly prolific and absurdly, unerringly brilliant. And, for the more conceptual silliness, head for a bit of Luigi Nono or Stockhausen's helicopter quartet. It's pretty much impossible to recommend things for people in this area of music - as I say, nearly all of it merits several listens, and a lot of it is entirely perplexing on first listen.

Schnittke. Everyone must adore Schnittke by the end of the year. It's the law.

Two words: Sub-Wagner.

[I jest of course, Branca's great, but he's by no means outstandingly so, unlike the Beef Oven, as Messr Instigator mentions]

I would reccomend any Wagner recordings that Daniel Barenboihm is the conductor on, he has complete control over how a crescendo works, the man is a genius.

I'm no Wagnerian, but the ones I know say Furtwangler is the man for Wagner.

as far as i am aware baerenboihm learnt under furtwangler

Furtwangler was the man because he studied scores with Schenker himself. Can you imagine that? Having Schenker sit in on your rehearsals and studying scores with him? Jesus.

Another composer that everyone should check out is Shulamit Ran. She's Israeli-American and everything she writes is neat-o and keen.

http://www.presser.com/composers/inf...me=SHULAMITRAN

Many thanks for this thread.I'm taking note of the stuff that i've never heard and at one point i'll be heading off to this little classical music record shop that i've found and start searching some records.Keep it up.

I don't know jack about classical, but Edgar Varese's "The Complete Works" is pretty awesome. Any recommendations for some chaotic contemporary composers? (a little consonance there for ya)

Listening some Schnittke right now (symphony no.1, 1st movement). Sounds great !

BUMP

Today I was listening to Naive and Sentimental Music by John Adams and was entertained. Not everybody's cup o' tea, I know.

I also got some Cembalo music by Lou Harrison and it is pretty intoxicating.

I saw a performance of the two Brahms string sextets in Madison over the weekend and I recommend those. The adagio of the G major one made me think of spinning planets and solar systems and space fairies.

Anybody have any M. Kagel recordings that are good?

Recently moved in with a chap with a substantially larger collection of classical than myself. He works in a classical record store. Been listening to Bruckner Motets, Messian's organ works and quartet for the end of time(sublime), The Takacs doing Bartok, Bach's well-tempered clavier, Walton (forgot the name - Balshuzzar's something?), Lloyd (shite) and other things. Greatness itself.

fucking nice Glice!

I have gotten lucky and purchased a box set of Mozart's concertos, performed by the berlin philharmonic. It is amazing stuff.

I LOVE symphonies, but in the last 5 years I have found that my true admiration and love go to concertos, especially violin or piano concertos. a master musican playing with a world class orchestra can blow my fucking mind.

I have various Yo Yo ma recordings (love the cello), and Itzhak Perlman. man they are amazing. they truly transport me away.

Livre D'orgue: I. Reprises Par Interversion is a brilliant little work - I wrote a paper on it not long ago. There's an interesting article by Allen Forte about it. Anyway, it's as close as Messiaen got to serialism, but he fucks the serial process through interversion, which scrambles to order. Awesome.

The Quartet for the End of Time is one of my favorite pieces. I had the privilege of performing it a few years ago with some friends and playing the piano/cello movement was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life.

Carry on.

Recommendation: Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony. I saw the Nashville Symphony perform this and more people walked out in the middle of the concert than I have ever seen. Fools.