There was a discussion yesterday about the early serialists, about how their techniques were
interesting but the music not, I don't agree with this, I love Webern
in particular,
** oh yeah. i wouldn't want to give the idea that i didn't like webern, berg, schoenberg - - i was merely going by what might be more palatable for others. webern in particulat just kills me at times.
but those who feel that way may want to check out
Messiaen. While he often gets pegged as the "bird song composer",
transcribing bird songs was only one of the many techniques he used.
Analyzing the Quartet for the End of Time reveals a lot of
interesting uses of tone rows, rhythmic rows, rhythmic palindromes.
etc. What's most interesting is that his music never comes of as dry
or academic.
** for those into the "french school," the music of henri dutilleux and maurice ohana is pretty damn nice. a little hard to find, but worth it in my opinion. i feel that they come out of messian to a certain degree.
someone asked for recommendations of scelsi's music. i don't have this stuff in my head, but his music with orchestra and chorus is interesting. a web search for biographical info might be a good place to begin with particular piece titles - - also, you could learn a little about where he was coming from; it could inform your decision to explore his work - - or not.
all in all, there is a lot of really amazing "classical" music out there that is put out on small(ish) labels - - stuff that isn't in the top 40. it's amazing to me how many really great late-romantic/early-20th-cent composers kinda got left by the wayside - - and these people could REALLY write.
stig