Been on vacation for a while and just catching up>

Someone was posting some classical music recomends:

1. A composer worth checking out is Alfred Schnitke.  His concerto for 2 
violins, harpsichorad and prepared piano (with nails and tacks) is one of the 
most mind-bending accessible things you're likely to hear. His violin concerti 
are also highly recommended. His recordings on BIS and done by CBS/SONY are 
quite nice.  The Cto. No. 2 is on a BIS and is hard to come by, but worth the 
quest. Last I heard this Russian composer was still alive but very, very sick. 
 He had suffered some political severities prior to the thawing in Russia and 
has always been preceived as a maverick.

2. Some poeple were talking about Dvorak #9.  Can't really recommend that one. 
 I find it a snooze. But, his Quartet for Harmonium and Strings is interesting. 
 One of the few peieces for this small manual pump organs which used to be 
found in rural well-to-do homes around the turn of the century.

3. Glenn Gould's 1955 (not 1982) recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations.  It 
simply doesn't get any better...

4. Beethoven's Op. 132 String Quartet.  The Middle movement: Heiliger 
Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit in der Lydischen Tonart, is 
transcendent.

5. Anything by Michael Torke.  He's (about) 33 and one of the up & coming names 
in classical music.  Kinda like a maximal minimalist.

6. Ellen Taffe Zwillich is one of this country's most renowned contemporary 
composers.  She does some great stuff.

7. Anything by Lou Harrison, especially his drumming ensemble works, and his 
material for gammelon trios/quartets, etc.

8. George Crumbs' Ancient Voices of Children is an unforgettable experience.  
There's a great Nonesuch recording.

9. Charles Ives was mentioned.  I think the symphony that has the 4th of July 
thingie is the second, but I didn't double check that.  Ives is very 
interesting.  His ideas about music are some of the most complex ever and his 
later work is very difficult and challenging.  Music was a release for him from 
the taxing work as an insurance execuative.  His Sym. No. 1 is perhaps the only 
truely "accessible" thing he did: it's based on New England hymns and chorus 
that he played repeatedly as a church organist....

10. J. F. Rebel's "Les Elements" from about 1711 is one of the first 
effective uses of total dissonance in music.  The opening, Order from Chaos, is 
incredible for the time.  It's still somewhat jarring today.

11. Stockhausen's worth checking out. One of the first composers to use ALOT of 
samples, tape loops, electronic gagetry, etc...

12. Bartok's Viola Concerto, which was composed while he resided as a guest 
of the Vanderbilts at the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.

13. Philips Glass's "Facades".  Great and trippy.

14. PDQ Bach's Concerto for 2 groups of unfriendly instruments.  Hilarious.

15. Michel Legrand's Concerto for 2 Pianos based on Themes from the Go-Between 
(a 1971 film).  This is a rather hypnotic piece and isn't as challenging as the 
ones I've mentioned above.  It's out of print and very rare, but you can hear a 
version of it with the composer at one of the pianos tonight (1/8/96) on WUNC, 
91.5 at approx. 11:25 p.m.  It's a bit like Rachmaninoff cum Glass cum Bach. 
Tune in if you can... 

If anyone wants to talk classical, off this list, feel free to email me at:

jkweston@email.unc.edu

Now, back to topics of alt.music.chapel-hill....



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