Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Classical Compositions of… the 1990s – Part I (1990-1994)

No honourable mentions this time because I got lazy. I also cheated a bit by gathering all of Cage's Number Pieces into a single bundle.

Ligeti brings the heavy hitters. Messiaen and Lutosławski's last orchestral gasps are both extraordinary in their own right, although neither is as violently transformative as Barrett's Vanity. But really, it's a toss-up between Holliger's Scardanelli-Zyklus and Takemitsu's From Me Flows What You Call Time for me.

The former is, I think, one of the greatest compositional achievements of the 20th century: a cycle that intersperses choral settings of Friedrich Hölderlin's late poetry, penned at a time when he was already half-mad, with a set of 'Exercises' for orchestra, as well as the light-absorbing Ostinato funebre (also for orchestra) and a flute solo that bears a most evocative title in French, '(t)air(e)' (air/keep quiet).

The latter is, to my mind, Takemitsu's most convincing essay in the post-avant-garde idiom he began adopting at the tail end of the 1970s. Just pure environmental bliss and some of the gentlest writing for percussion I have ever heard.

That takemitsu is my front runner as well but I have some listening to do

Wanted to do a re-listen of Zyklus but youtube isn't allowing me. Between that and Vanitas (the only reason this is a choice is because I will vote for the Lachenmann instead of Opening of the Mouth in the part II 90s (assuming that you will list those two works pom :)).

Also I think all my Dumitrescu is from this period: https://www.discogs.com/Iancu-Dumitrescu-Galaxy/master/1285575

Not only will I include Opening of the Mouth, chances are I’ll vote for it. And if you’re referring to Das Mädchen mit dem Schwefelhölzern, it’ll definitely be included.

Yup

While it seems the net result of having an unwell mind, I do find Carl Vine's Piano Sonata compelling.

Not familiar with it all. I'll have to check it out.

Just played "From Me Flows What You Call Time" (Pacific Symp Orch, Carl St Clair, 1998). Tremendous.

Pitch-perfect recording. I've only heard another one, a live take with Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, but I'm not sure this piece needs more urgency – it is at one with its title.

5against4 (one of my favourite contemporary classical bloggers) posted a brief write-up back in 2012 that I think deserves our attention:

http://5against4.com/2012/10/08/toru-takemitsu-from-me-flows-what-you-call-time-uk-premiere/

And speaking of contemporary classical bloggers, it's a shame Tim Rutherford-Johnson aka The Rambler doesn't post to ILM anymore (as far as I can tell). Admittedly, it's been more than a decade now.

Still on twitter, posts every now and then. Published a book on contemporary composers a while back too.

A lot of great stuff here, but the Cage number pieces are mandatory listening for me.

Not a big fan of the John Cage number pieces although I enjoy the one on Sonic Youth's Goodbye Twentieth Century album.

Will vote for John Adams' Violin Concerto.

I've done everything within my power to keep the number of American options to a minimum and they still win every time lol.

Barrett's transmission for the next poll pls. I might have suggested Saariaho's Noa Noa for this one. I really haven't heard most of the list, though. Will try to actually listen this time.

Is it alright if I leave transmission on the back burner until we hit the first half of the noughties? It's part of his DARK MATTER cycle, which I certainly plan on including.

Ah, OK, cool.

I'm not familiar with much on this list, although I think I heard "From me flows what you call time" like 20 years ago. I checked a few things out that sounded promising, and of the two Takemitsu pieces, Carter's violin concerto, Schnittke's piano sonata, Gubaidulina's quartet, the Messiaen, and the Rautavaara, I ended up voting for the last. It's like romantic dissonance? It sounds almost familiar, in terms of harmonic language, but then kind of slides into some weird chord that doesn't have a name. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, voting for the piece that sounds most like it could have been written in the 19th century.

Carter was a somewhat distant second.

They're nowhere near as Brucknerian as the Rautaavara Symphony, but if Romantic dissonance speaks to you, do check out the Sørensen 'garden' pieces if you haven't already (both are available as a single DaCapo disc).

My knowledge of art/notated music from the last few decades is pretty slanted towards this continent. These polls are a valuable corrective, or they would be if I actually listened to the nominations.

I plan on taking it to 2010. When it's over, I'll start a postmortem thread so everyone can list the stuff they would've liked to see but that I didn't include out of bias and/or shortsightedness.

Voted for Estrada before I wander off and forget for the zillionth time in a row. I shall endeavour to catch up the unfamiliar pieces some time in the future!

I missed that the Ligeti violin concerto was here - a huge piece for me and will probably get my vote but I'm listening more. Ferneyhough 4 now.

I can't really explain or analyse it yet but this piece feels really remarkable and gripping.

Listening to Negatives while looking over the score here, I am back in grad school - which idk if I like that.

Haha, this is when I realize that being musically illiterate is in fact a boon when you're a rank amateur and nothing more.

It’s all about the Benjamins

Not really- but I couldn’t resist. Might vote Boulez this time, actually.

He's been royally snubbed throughout. This is your (his) last chance!

Went with the Holliger in the end. I guess this means I won't have voted for a single Takemitsu piece, which is quite sad seeing as he's absolutely one of my favourite composers. But we're electing individual works, not oeuvres.

was not familiar with anything but the adams concerto, but i've done a bunch of listening in the past week. narrowed down to:

adams - violin concerto
sorensen - echoing garden
rautavaara - symphony no. 7
messaein - eclairs
gubaidulina - string quartet no. 4
ligeti - sonata for solo viola

last three are duking it out

All worthy picks. Btw I'm generally not very taken with Simon Rattle's conducting, but his recording of Éclairs de l'au-delà is stupendous. I waver between that one and Myung-Whun Chung's.

*sur l'au-delà, rather...

chung's is the one i listened to. last movements are exquisite, and a fitting final word from a 20th century giant

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

voted Horațiu Rădulescu – String Quartet No. 6, ‘practicing eternity’ (1992)

i like rautavaara a decent amount though this isn't my fav of his despite being the "hit"

As always, lemme know if you've got requests for the next half.

You’re including 🚁🚁🚁🚁 right?

I'm actually going to poll the entirety of Licht (of which 🚁🚁🚁🚁 is a noted part) next week, once we reach the early noughties.

Besides, it was apparently composed in 1993. So I'm just going to leave this here (for now):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ykQFrL0X74

🗓👍

xp my request is that you don’t immediately start a new poll once this poll’s results are in, for extra requesting time (if that is possible)

Sure. I’ll kick off the next poll on Friday, then.

thanks pom

I went with Toru Takemitsu's 'From me flows what you call Time' in the end.

After Enescu Schnittke might just be my other biggest discovery from these polls. I knew him, but had only barely scratched the surface. 'Piano Sonata' <3

pomenitul, do you have any Ades picked out for 95-99 yet, or were you still looking for guidance? Although the only one of his pieces I know from '95 until about 2010 is Traced Overhead from '96.

I wasn’t planning on including any yet. I don’t dislike his early material per se but none of it strikes me as essential compared to the other works I’ve set aside so far.

‘Vote’ – Barack Obama.

went with sonata for solo viola

👍

Voted for the Ligeti violin concerto ofc but I'm still listening. On Norgard 5 now.

Tbh I didn't know Messiaen was still writing this recently and I was surprised by Éclairs.

Do you have a favourite recording of the Ligeti Violin Concerto, Sund4r?

I've always listened to this one: https://www.discogs.com/fr/Ligeti-Nørgård-Christina-Åstrand-Danish-National-Radio-Symphony-Orchestra-Thomas-Dausgaard-Violin/release/2538217

Nice! I like that one and Frank Peter Zimmermann's a lot. The dedicatee's (Saschko Gawriloff), not so much.

I've always hated the violin concerto, late Ligeti is full of this zany crap. Whenever I hear about a composer's sense of humour I am filled with dread.

I tend to agree but I exempt tragicomedy from such charges and therefore enjoy late Ligeti.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Glad Takemitsu (a non-American, to boot) came out on top at long last.

If you’ve got any requests for the next half, post them here before 9 pm (EST).

Time's up, folks, so it's onwards to part II without your faves (maybe):

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Classical Compositions of… the 1990s – Part II (1995-1999)