The Modern Classical Thread

Discussion in 'Music and Recordings' started by yotacowboy, May 12, 2021.

  1. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    OK, so I dug through this sub and didn't see anything here yet, so I'll get this "genre" going. I first stumbled into it through Max Richter's Blue Notebooks and have really begun to enjoy more composers/artists thanks to some multi-day deep dives using Roon's recommendation engine. Granted, many of these artists would be easily interpreted as purely "electronic" but here's some stuff that seems to share a compositional thread I've been digging within the last year or two or three:
    Who else? I'm fully aware of John Cale, Steve Reich, Arvo Part, etc., but the work from the artists above feels a bit different. It's not exactly Avant Garde in the Bang on a Can realm. But maybe it is? And how much of this is more like improvisational jazz? And even further, is the genre related more to the methods of composition than the actual musical outcome/experience?

    There's also this offshoot (maybe better for another thread? or probably just keep it to the electronic thread...) where I've been finding more artists coming from a sound design background that are catching my interest. Folks like:
    • Jon Hopkins
    • Katie Gately
    • Max Cooper
    • Reid Williams
    • Juliana Barwick
    But again, who else? Help me find some new music!
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2021
  2. Woland

    Woland Friend

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    Check out Tidal's curated playlist The Avant Garden. It's been the starting point for most of my recent explorations.
     
  3. Metro

    Metro Friend

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  4. bobboxbody

    bobboxbody Friend

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    Terry Riley and Keith Jarrett are maybe both too old and already known, but if not, I like Riley's Descending Moonshine Dervishes and Jarrett's Koln Concert. Both are in a similar vein, and probably inspiration for some of the above artists.
     
  5. Rustin Cohle

    Rustin Cohle FKA jazztherapist

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    It's good to see this. I feel like there's gonna be some sort of venn diagram emerging wherein edges of this thread overlap with edges of the electronic and drone/ambient/noise threads.
     
  6. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    I can definitely see that. It's sorta like everything can somehow be traced to something Richard James has already done!
     
  7. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    I wish I could sub this thread multiple times over! I love modern classical especially if the artists have a talent for sound design that tickles my speakers.

    Don't forget Ben Lukas Boysen (Hecq), Kip Lavie, Neil Cowley, Hauschka, Oli Horton, Anatole, Peter Gregson, Richard Houghten.
     
  8. A Child of the Jago

    A Child of the Jago Facebook Friend

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    Not sure that this is necessarily the type of modern classical that you guys have in mind but Boomkat has an entire section dedicated to it - I have mixed feelings about Boomkat - have unearthed some gems but takes an awful lot of searching. Modern classical here might swing a little electronic but perhaps worth checking out.

    https://boomkat.com/t/genre/modern-classical-slash-ambient

    Can also filter on recommended modern classical new releases:

    https://boomkat.com/new-releases?q[status]=recommended&q[genre]=44

    And the best sellers list is usually worth looking at (all genres):

    https://boomkat.com/bestsellers
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    What era / timeframe do you mean by modern classical? "Modern", depending upon how you define it, could a while back these days.
     
  10. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    Good point I think Richter Nils Frahm etc music is called contemporary classical. From last.fm:
    "Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to a period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. "
    https://www.last.fm/tag/contemporary+classical/wiki
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2021
  11. shambles

    shambles Facebook Friend

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    Great idea for a thread! I think everything I would suggest has already been mentioned - most of the stuff I listen to that others might not already know is on the edge of this genre and would be better suited to the separate ambient/drone and/or electronic music threads. However, for those of you who do not already follow it check out https://headphonecommute.com/ . I follow it mainly for the ambient and electronic stuff, but there is an insane amount of stuff posted there that fits perfectly into this genre there.
     
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    In my experience so far this runs into a tagging issue at the label/streaming service layer. "Contemporary Classical" in some catalogs/streaming services is a conglomerate of New Age, International, Adult Alternative, etc. In others, "Neo-Classical" includes Ambient, Neo-Electro, etc. Richter and Frahm, etc., (imho) don't fall into any of those categories explicitly. I've read in an interview with Nils that this is frustrating to him, too, because the attempt to squish his work into a "neo-classical" or "contemporary classical" genre really misses the point of the methods he uses to manipulate and record sound. He's certainly seeking novel sound, recorded with maximum fidelity, so there's nothing "classical" about the sounds we actually hear on his recordings. But using completely analog synthesizers/instruments to emulate entirely digital production? That's a clever ploy, and sort of represents what I mean by "modern". Not as Modernist, or "worse," Post-Modernist, but modern without falling into the Enya and Yanni "Contemporary Classical" guise. I think in the same interview with Nils he framed it kinda like this: he just wants to make honest, beautiful music. Sorry I'm using Nils as a posterboy for "Modern Classical" per my thread title, but the thread title was by choice, not due to a lack of investigation.
     
  13. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Good idea for a thread. I have thought many of these guys as doing a kind of fusion, mostly between a "classical" and an "electronic" aesthetic, particularly a techno repetitive vibe. Perhaps "contemporary electro-classical" or some other mouthful is a useful phrase. "Modern" is problematic because of what it means on the classical side of things, and the fact that these guys are usually (it seems to me) borrowing more from the (neo)Romantic side of classical...
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2021
  14. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    I started listening to Richter and Frahm. Frahm does not excite me for some reason by Richter is a different story.
    What strikes me in Richter is his "overwhelming capability" as as a composer.
    Lets take diametrically different albums like:
    [​IMG]

    with such a mix of abstract electronic music still capable of conveying strong emotions, and "traditional" pieces this is very interesting, minimalist music. Listen to Movement Study vs Origins which is as close to Chopin nocturne as it can be without imitating it.
    But Richter's real tour de force as a composer is
    [​IMG]

    Every movement is like classic sonata development section to the original Vivaldi movement.
    Listening side by side to this and Gulio Carminiola recording of Vivaldi is amazing.
    Richter "equivalent" has the same mood, melodic lines, Vivaldi's chord progression, modulation. Those are used as building blocks but do not appear like in Vivaldi's pieces, the stuff is completely rescored.
    The subs were shaking my listening chair in some of the tracks, and the ribbon tweeters of Adam A7x's really came to life.
    I think that if Vivaldi could hear Richter's take on his Le Quattro Stagioni on modern studio monitors with subs, he would strongly approve.

    EDIT: found better recording of The four seasons to listen side by side: Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque Exciting performance and once again appreciation how many things Richter got right.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2021
  15. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    @wormcycle - appreciate your input! I completely agree there's something of greater emotive power with Richter's Recomposed. I'm reminded of @k4rstar's 4 (i think?) levels of interpretation of musical perception. And, I agree Vivaldi would probably be driven to tears (of both heart-ache and ecstasy) upon hearing Richter's Recomposed - Richter has a touch that transcends "background listening" to a point where one needs to be careful about listening in public places where one might find themselves weeping on a train, quietly, solely due to his ability to connect emotionally to places we don't often get the chance to appreciate. I do, however, worry that Richter's connection to those places and times could be a bit saccharine.
     
  16. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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  17. Metro

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    I came across this on Qobuz classical new releases (also available elsewhere).
    Saw the album cover and had to click on it :p.

    [​IMG]

    I never heard of the artist/composer and couldn't find much information, but he seems to have a following and the album was crowd funded. There's enough variation between tracks to keep it interesting.

     
  18. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    What I always disliked about electronic music, even when I like the sound and the mood of some pieces is monotony, one dimensional progression of most of the recordings I encountered. So far I found that the creators of the Modern classical music offer something different. Here is almost like classic basso continuo with multiple voices coming to the picture which makes it the same time familiar and interesting
    [​IMG]
     
  19. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Yeah, Hidden Orchestra started off with Night Walks really doing the type of music that I started the thread to discuss. They've become a bit more Jazz influenced, specifically in the "remote improvisation" vein, similar to how Stars of the Lid worked for a few albums, passing individually recorded overdubs back and forth for months/years, sort of. Their most recent soundtrack for the Creaks videogame is quite nice, but falls more towards sound design than something like Night Walks.
     
  20. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    The more I hear Francisco Coll's work, the deeper I'm drawn in. This new recording with the amazing, edgy violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja on two of the compositions shows why. Coll's music is not easy or cheerful, but it has more of the chaotic layering of ideas and constantly switching emotions that we faced everyday in the last 20 years than anything else I'm listening to these days, with the exception of some of the jazz I discuss on the "Jazz nuts" thread.
     

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