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I thought I'd start up a new thread and see if people would say which composers they are most interested in. Who's at the cutting edge? I'm a big Ferneyhough fan, and for me there's no one to match in terms of the sheer quality, ambition and profundity of his music. I'm open minded though, and would love to know what other people thought.
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I am currently listening to a French violinist composer Daniel Mille. Also the Vietnamese singer Huong Thanh. These two albums came to me via a Spanish guitarist, Pepe, currently living in London - who is forever introducing me to more and more music.
My one Desert Island disc would be the overture to Don Giovanni because it makes me feel a certain way no other music can touch.
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John - what do you get out of Ferneyhough? Complicated without any real 'heart' as far as I can see. Personally I'm interested in composers like James Macmillan, who try to make an artist statement that involves human expression, rather than such an abstract composer.
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Tongy this is why I am interested in this site. I live in hope that the majority of composers who are working in isolated conditions, unsupported by commissions, contracts and performance for much of the year, are developing works that disassociate from the tortuous, instantly forgettable, can't-tell-if-there's-a-wrong- note-or-not, music that gets the publishing houses excited.
In my last posting I made reference to composers working outside the field of “new music” – composers working with ‘the heart’ you talk about, and also with courage, experimentation and innovation. Their influence will push our art form back to a place where it matters.
I don’t share your enthusiasm for Macmillan, I can’t seem to remember any of it when it’s over and never crave a second listening.
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Lola - I admire your sentiment and your passion. Macmillan does have a mixed bag - some pieces do veer towards the "tortuous" as you put it, but others - Veni, Veni Emmanuel - which strike me as amongst the finest works of the last 50 years. The Ferneyhoughs and the like though seem to me to be a real case of 'Emporers New Clothes' - with, as you say, the publishing houses being the court attendants!
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Arvo Part.. utterly sublime, emotionally complex and yet simple. Thomas Ades, for his recent Tempest, which was astoundingly confident.
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Bach and Stravinsky, as always. There's nothing to touch them, really, although there is absolutley loads of decent music out there. There's so much depth in work you may never have heard of. It doesn't seem to matter to me whether the new piece is by Macmillan or McSmith round the corner! Somebody not dead and famous - Birtwistle and Andreissen.
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From contemporary composers I'd say Arvo Part- he makes it seem so simple
FRom the 20th century my abiding passion is for Busoni- unjustly overlooked and greatly misunderstood as a romantic exponent of the big piano concerto
He was one of the unacknowledged sources of modernism.
Any views?
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Bach, Corelli and Haydn are the three most interesting classical composers to me. Their perfect balance between rigorous harmonies and very intimate, expressive melodies has always been a huge inspiration. More recent composers who have interested me are Steve Reich, Gyorgy Ligeti and, in film scoring, Michael Giacchino, composer for "The Incredibles" and the TV Shows "Lost" and "Alias."
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The composers that interest, capture and endorse me are varied. There are the usuals, Bach, Montiverdi, Debussy.
My favourite composer sould have to Paul Keenan. An absolute genius. Despite the fact that he died 4 years age, his music is beyond that of today. He made world breakthroughs e.g he was the first to notate electronics fully successfully. He made ground breaking rsearch into multiphonics.
( For more information, contact me)
I am also into George Benjamin, Ligeti, Berio etc. One composer that is not recognised even today would be Barraque. I really could go on. But as for James MacMillan. He plays for the crowd as afr as i am concerned.
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eh baroque music was the start but the apocalypse as well, to me. hey, im just a young college student studying composition. maybe you can explain to me why so many people prefer the classics? to me the new composers have the influence from everything before to make their new ideas. when i hear a vivaldi or a bach in a movie, i roll my eyes. but when i see that mark motherbaugh (singer from Devo) does the music for a movie, i am more intrigued to see the film.
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I'm a big John Adams fan and perhaps not surprisingly, a Stravinsky fan too.
Two of my fav pieces of all time are Wild Nights (John Adams) and Symphony in C (Stravinsky)
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Errikos
John Robertson
Damnthatwookie