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Yet another classical music recommendations thread...

J

James Evans

Bedroom Bodger
Sorry if I'm being a bore by starting another one of these.

I know next to nothing about classical, but know I like certain things that I hear, but never know what they are.

I'm addicted to Arvo Part and am looking for recommendations in a similar vein really - the more sombre and minimal the better (a theme throughout all the musical genres I've moved through over the past 20 years...)

Grateful for any pointers you can give.

ta

James
 
Giya Kancheli
Valentin Silvestrov
Henryk Gorecki

All Eastern European 'holy' minimalists - most of them have done more orchestral than choral music but similar slow dark sombre stuff. Not sure I like it too much myself!
 
Perhaps some Sibelius? His music became starker as time went on. The seventh symphony and the violin concerto might be worth a listen.
 
This:
B0009ML2II.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

was in my Christmas stocking, Gavin Bryars is the only one with whose work I have some familiarity but Silvestrov is the star here.
Bryars 'Jesus's Blood Never Failed Me Yet' is one of those pieces that you will always remember where you were the first time you heard it...(though it's not on this disc).

The Górecki that alan is referring to is this one:
B000005J1C.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

made famous by ClassicFM but still rather wonderful.

Perhaps someone could recommend some John Tavener?
 
Some of Messiaen's orchestral pieces may interest you - for example, Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum, Eclairs sur l'au dela, or Couleurs de la cite celeste. This is much more complex and dynamic than Part, however.

Schnittke's fourth string quartet is suitably lugubrious.
 
tones said:
Perhaps some Sibelius? His music became starker as time went on. The seventh symphony and the violin concerto might be worth a listen.
Click to expand...

Sibelius is composer of the week on R3, last prog is today at midday but repeated all next week at midnight. Still, a chance to recommend one of my all time favourite discs of song:
B000050K9B.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Not that sombre but the Nordic lands seem to do melancholy so well.
 
Taverner the protecting veil. You could try some of the minimalist, Steve Reich and Terry Riley probably have more musical content to their work than Glass, try Reich's Different Trains and Terry Rileys in C. You could also try John Adams, Shaker Loops is awesome, as is a fast ride on a machine or whatever it's called. Nielson is a precurser to Part, you could try his first 5 symphonies as well as the Sibelius. Then of course there's Shostokovitch, not the same as Part, but combine moments of fury with moments of beauty in a similair sort of way.
 
thanks for all the suggestions so far - I'll hunt some down - Gorecki I'd already stumbled across and like (although terrible recording on the copy I got from our local library)
 
I have to say I'm finding it difficult to square a request for music like Part with recommendations for Sibelius and Messiaen.

Part's earlier music - before he went all holy minimalist - is Soviet style follow on from Shostakovich with Sibelius mixed in, his third symphony shows this. But quite different from his better known stuff.
 
I have to say Part's 3rd is not my most favourite - pieces such as te deum, silouans song, litany, kanon pokajanen etc would rank higher - just suit my taste more.
 
alanbeeb said:
I have to say I'm finding it difficult to square a request for music like Part with recommendations for Sibelius and Messiaen.

Part's earlier music - before he went all holy minimalist - is Soviet style follow on from Shostakovich with Sibelius mixed in, his third symphony shows this. But quite different from his better known stuff.
Click to expand...

What I was getting at is that Part's music tries to convey ecstatic religious devotion and (to a lesser extent) the awesome power of a Creator. IMHO, it is relatively shallow and does not succeed, particularly when compared to the music of a much more complex figure such as Messiaen, who is one of the very few who can convey such ideas in music.

Kancheli's and Silvestrov's music is also very different from Part's, it has to be said. Part's music has nothing of the extreme changes in contrast that characterise Kancheli, for example.

Another avenue that might be worth exploring is James MacMillan - particularly his very lyrical and contemplative third symphony.

B0006SGEZQ.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
 
James Evans said:
Sorry if I'm being a bore by starting another one of these.

I know next to nothing about classical, but know I like certain things that I hear, but never know what they are.

I'm addicted to Arvo Part and am looking for recommendations in a similar vein really - the more sombre and minimal the better (a theme throughout all the musical genres I've moved through over the past 20 years...)

Grateful for any pointers you can give.

ta

James
Click to expand...

Warning, major thread resurrection!:D

James, how has this evolved for you over all these years? Are you still addicted to Pärt? People often suggest other "spiritual" composers whenever Pärt comes up, but I think most people who love Pärt aren't interested in the religious bit at all. The recommednations for Taverner, Macmillan, Messiaen, et al miss the mark. If you're still loving Pärt and don't know Feldman well, have a listen to the Piano and String Quarter performed by Kronos with Aki Takahashi. There's a deep connection and it's nowt to do with organised religion.:)
 
just noticed someone mentioned Gavin Bryars 14 years ago. You might like Fifth Century, which came out in 2016 (ECM too).

The avant garde American composer Harold Budd kept paring down the minimalism until eventually he stopped composing (temporarily) in the early 1970s.:D
 
tyrant said:
Warning, major thread resurrection!:D

James, how has this evolved for you over all these years? Are you still addicted to Pärt? People often suggest other "spiritual" composers whenever Pärt comes up, but I think most people who love Pärt aren't interested in the religious bit at all. The recommednations for Taverner, Macmillan, Messiaen, et al miss the mark. If you're still loving Pärt and don't know Feldman well, have a listen to the Piano and String Quarter performed by Kronos with Aki Takahashi. There's a deep connection and it's nowt to do with organised religion.:)
Click to expand...

14 years ago!

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out. I have to admit I haven't delved too deeply over all these years, tending to lean towards modern classical, with the likes of Max Richter, Johann Johannson, etc
 
Yes, although I think I overdosed all those years ago and don't listen to him regularly anymore, I'll definitely check out those suggestions though.
 
Skip Feldman. Bryars' Fifth Century may be too chorally. I'm sure you've had a Reichian phase by now.:D


The Manchester Collective is well worth checking out. They've been following in Kronos' footsteps, trying to bring new audiences to new music.
 
Try some of the choral music of:

Urmas Sisask
Veijo Tormis
erkki-Sven Tuur

Nice versions of the above on the Finlandia label.

Lepo Sumera's Concerto for piano and orchestra (very powerful and dark, my version is on the BIS label)
 
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