a 3-CD survey of 20th century classical music

[calimac]

Made for Mistress L of Toronto, inspired by a conversation we had last year. If you'd like to hear it too, let me know.

The rules:

1. One work by each composer. Individual movements from longer works. Prefer shorter works, to fit more stuff in.
2. Only music that I like. This is not a history, forcing disagreeable music down the listener's ear. It's a demonstration that Modern Music Can Be Fun. And because it's my tastes, that means lots of neoclassical, lots of minimalism.
3. Orchestral works only, no chamber or vocal. (Why? To prevent invidious decisions about who's to be represented by what.)
4. The Oxford rule: Don't be afraid of the obvious.
5. Chronological order, mostly.

The contents:

CD 1, Music of 1901-1933
1. Carl Nielsen: Allegro collerico, from The Four Temperaments (Symphony No. 2) (1902)
2. Jean Sibelius: Andantino, from Symphony No. 3 (1907)
3. Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 (1907)
4. Claude Debussy: Golliwog's Cake-Walk (1908)
5. Igor Stravinsky: Berceuse and Finale, from The Firebird (1910)
6. Paul Dukas: Fanfare, from La Peri (1912)
7. Ralph Vaughan Williams: Scherzo Nocturne, from A London Symphony (1913)
8. Gustav Holst: Jupiter, from The Planets (1916)
9. Serge Prokofiev: Larghetto, from Classical Symphony (1917)
10. Percy Grainger: Country Gardens (1918)
11. Ernest Bloch: Prelude, from Concerto Grosso No. 1 (1925)
12. Leos Janacek: Fanfare, from Sinfonietta (1926)
13. Maurice Ravel: Bolero (abridged) (1928)
14. Ottorino Respighi: La Gallina, from The Birds (1928)
15. Heitor Villa-Lobos: Little Train of the Caipira (1930)

CD 2, Music of 1934-1966
1. Benjamin Britten: Boisterous Bouree, from Simple Symphony (1934)
2. Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings (1936)
3. Dag Wiren: Preludium, from Serenade for Strings (1937)
4. Lars-Erik Larsson: Siciliana, from The Winter's Tale (1938)
5. Henry Cowell: Comallye, from Old American Country Set (1939)
6. Joaquin Rodrigo: Allegro gentile, from Concierto de Aranjuez (1939)
7. Dmitri Kabalevsky: Galop, from The Comedians (1940)
8. Aaron Copland: Hoe-Down, from Rodeo (1942)
9. Bela Bartok: Game of Pairs, from Concerto for Orchestra (1943)
10. Paul Hindemith: March, from Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1943)
11. Alan Hovhaness: Prayer of St. Gregory (1946)
12. Joly Braga Santos: Allegretto pastorale, from Symphony No. 2 (1948)
13. Dmitri Shostakovich: Allegro, from Symphony No. 10 (1953)
14. Leonard Bernstein: Candide Overture (1956)
15. Malcolm Arnold: Four Scottish Dances (1957)
16. Henryk Gorecki: Three Pieces in Olden Style (1963)

CD 3, Music of 1967-1999
1. Carey Blyton: The Hobbit (1967)
2. Morton Feldman: Madame Press Died Last Week at Ninety (1970)
3. Arvo Pärt: Cantus (1977)
4. Philip Glass: second movement, from Violin Concerto (1987)
5. Michael Nyman: Time Lapse (1985)
6. John Adams: The Chairman Dances (1985)
7. Michael Torke: Ash (1989)
8. Stefania de Kenessey: Wintersong (1995)
9. Conni Ellisor: first movement, from Blackberry Winter (1996)
10. Jennifer Higdon: Blue Cathedral (1999)

Comments

[rwl.livejournal.com]

It appears that you're not a fan of Rachmaninoff.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

That would be a rash assumption. I only got about half of the composers I like on here, and the first to go were those whom I didn't have any appropriate-length works on CD. My biggest regrets of exclusion include Rachmaninoff, Khachaturian, Hanson, Messiaen, Korngold ...