main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Modern Day Composers

Discussion in 'Star Wars And Film Music' started by Edag88, Jun 16, 2005.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Edag88

    Edag88 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 11, 2003
    No, I'm not talking about FILM composers like the other thread is about. I'm talking about the regular kind. There are a few good ones out there, but I want to see what you guys come up with. Discuss please!!
     
  2. Awel

    Awel Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2001
    What about them specifically?

    Personally, my favorites are John Corigliano (and I know he's composed for films, but shh :p), Bright Sheng, some John Adams...there are probably too many to name.

    As a musician, I've worked with a lot of contemporary composers. Lukas Foss was my favorite; he was like a version of Yoda with a ubiquitous green sweater.
     
  3. Edag88

    Edag88 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Well, I just wanted to know who everyone liked and which pieces by them specifically.
     
  4. Awel

    Awel Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2001
    Corigliano's Second Symphony and the quartet it was based on, Edgar Meyer's violin concerto, Bright Sheng's 3rd String Quartet...I'm sure I'll find a lot more, since I work for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. We have a Festival of Contemporary Music every summer, and composers come out to perform, listen, and just hang out.

    ...now back to work, cataloguing more music. XD
     
  5. Rogue_02

    Rogue_02 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2005
    I'm personally a huge fan of Chen Yi. The Dance Suite for violin and orchestra is freakin' awesome, especially the orchestration of the 2nd movement ;) Unfortunately I'm unfamiliar with the music of Bright Sheng.
    I also really enjoy Philip Glass. You're not really listening if you think it's 'simple' or 'boring'. It may be called minimalist, but it just means you need to pay more attention to see the amazing details and art fused into the mesmerizing music. In particular I enjoy string quartet No. 5 and the violin concerto. You should definitely check out the 'qatsi' trilogy with music by glass. unlike any other films you have ever seen. I guarantee it. I feel like I'm watching God. Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. they're on DVD and should be available for rental also.
    also, anyone heard of Eric Whitacre? very new, very cool, mostly choral composer.

    exciting! music! buckAWW! [face_chicken]
     
  6. Awel

    Awel Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2001
    Rogue, are you a minimalist fan then? I'm an admirer of Steve Reich. I've played his Violin Phase more times than I care to remember.
     
  7. Rogue_02

    Rogue_02 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2005
    Hi Awel! I am definitely a fan of minimalism, though certainly not exclusively. I would say I'm more a fan of new, contemporary music in general. I definitely also enjoy Adams and Corigliano, modernists with a tinge of romantic texture and breadth but with new and exciting harmonies and rhythms. Another one of my favorites is also Arvo Part. 'Tabula Rasa' is simultaneously one of the scariest and most serene pieces of music I've ever heard.

    Reich is one of the few I have a harder time getting into. I really like the phase idea as an artistic technique, but sometimes it doesn't make for the most stimulating music. I also don't like prepared piano very much. But his 'Drumming' is really cool.

    The BSO, eh? that's pretty freakin sweet! are you a librarian or actually in the orchestra? I'm a violinist myself, a performance major, though still only a measly undergrad.

    new music is fun! violin is fun! just like rubber chickens are fun! buckcuck! [face_chicken]
     
  8. Awel

    Awel Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2001
    I love Arvo Part! And yeah, there are definitely times when Reich makes your eyes glaze over in a way. Another favorite piece that just came to mind: Crumb's Vox Balaenae.

    Right now I'm working as a librarian with the BSO. Where are you at school, Rogue? I'm two years into a BM in violin performance at Rice's Shepherd School. (Oh God, we're probably going to end up knowing each other. The music world is so small.)
     
  9. Rogue_02

    Rogue_02 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2005
    Hah ha! Well, I'm not actually going to a music school. I go to Whitman college, a small liberal arts school in Walla Walla, WA. All that basically means is that my music degree will be even more useless than normal! great. I know several other people at the Shepherd School - violist Lauren Freeman and violinist Lisa Qian? I realize it's a fairly large school so it's unlikely you will know them personally. But hey, the music world is just so much fun, isn't it!?!

    yah. I've never actually heard that piece by Crumb. My dad (yay!) took me to a concert that he gave here at the university of colorado probably over ten years ago, and at the time I thought it was totally wack. He was standing up and plucking the piano strings, and other very wierd musical effects I was not prepared for. Crumb is still a little past the line of music into avant-garde wierdness to me. Although his most famous piece (I think) 'Ancient Voices of Children' makes for interesting listening once in a while, if only for the amusement factor. every few minutes there's another 'What the HECK was that?!?!' sound. it's great.

    Have you heard much music by contemporary women composers, like Gwenyth Walker or Ellen Zwilich, or Jennifer Higdon and Libby Larsen? There's some great stuff out there. I particularly like Zwilich (very shostakovichian) and Higdon. cool! music is so fun.
     
  10. Awel

    Awel Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2001
    Do you know Andrew Warren? He's another Star Wars person I know who goes there. He helps me run my fic archive, actually. I do know Lauren! She's in my year; she's great.

    You actually saw Crumb live? That's amazing. His stuff is often weird, true, but I think Vox Balaenae, in particular, manages to transcend the weirdness. XD

    Yeah, I like Zwilich a lot. Joan Tower, as well, is another favorite of mine, as well as Augusta Read Thomas.

    Michael Gandolfi came into my library yesterday. He's here for the whole summer teaching composition, and seems like a nice guy. I hope we get to hear some of his works--if I have heard any of his stuff, I don't remember it very well.
     
  11. Rogue_02

    Rogue_02 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2005
    Wow, that's actually kind of creepy! [face_whistling] It's a small world after all! [face_whistling] Actually, I don't know Andrew, except that I recognize the name. Whitman's like that - even if you don't know someone personally you probably do know who they are.

    I'm going to have to check out that Crumb piece, upon your recommendation! I have only heard one Tower piece - the Walla Walla symphony performed her 'Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman' this spring, which, naturally, the strings don't even play in. It was the doing of my violin prof, who is also the concertmistress - she's one of those researchers crazed about getting as much music, new and old, by women composers published and recorded. It's kind of scary the motivation this woman has. She's convinced me to a thesis project of transcribing Clara Schumann's 3 violin romances for viola (i play that also, but don't worry, not as much). I liked the overture, I think it definitely holds its own next to Copland's.

    I've never heard any music by either Thomas or Gandolfi. to bad! there's so much marvelous music out there that there is simply not enough time to listen to. *sigh* geez. working in the BSO library is going to get you some sweet encounters this summer. have fun, and don't copy too much music! ;)
     
  12. Awel

    Awel Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2001
    That's a great fanfare--I heard it here a couple of years ago. That's so cool about the Schumann violin romances. Those really should be played more. I actually worked for the Rebecca Clarke Society earlier this summer, which does the same kind of thing--promotes the work of women composers, especially Clarke herself.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.