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Pierre Boulez - Prelude, Toccata et Scherzo, [withdrawn] for solo piano (1944-45)
Performed by Ralph van Raat
Prelude - 0:00
Toccata - 8:40
Scherzo - 19:11
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bx1wlecmAI
Brian Ferneyhough - Sonata for 2 Pianos (1966)
Performed by Nicolas Hodges and Rolf Hind
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAjoqTkXB84
Iannis Xenakis - Horos, for large orchestra of 89 musicians (1986)
Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor - Arturo Tamayo
A monumental orchestra piece reknown in Xenakis theory circles as being the first extensive usage of cellular automata. According to Makis Solomos, the opening harmonies derive from self-developing algorithms taken directly from an issue of Scientific American and used on Xenakis' hand computer - the strange numbering at m. 10 (4200410) is an example of this. The work is massive as befits its title - horos = landmark - and its focus is with rare exception on harmony. I'm not sure again if it can be called harmony becuase for the most part the entire chromatic gamut is in play often in varying registrations - this is almsot an organ piece in its orchestration. So the strings play shifting colors of the chromatic complement over which the winds play the chromatic complement at a different speed with interjections from the brass - the entire pitch spectrum is so saturated that we don't hear it as such. Only when the winds come in with a high Lutoslawski-esque usage of a pelog-like scale do we get a reprieve before it happens again. By the end of the piece - a massive solid sonority with quicker interjections by various groups at quarter = 15 - we feel like we are hearing the whole spectrum when I don't believe we are. This is perhaps the most Messiaen-ic of the Xenakis works I've heard until now and seems to be pointing in a different direction - though its my belief that Xenakis didn't use the automata very much more owing to the difficulty of calculating out the pitches.
- Todd Tarantino
"Another approach to the mystery of sounds is the use of cellular automata which I have employed in several instrumental compositions these past few years. This can be explained by an observation which I made: scales of pitch (sieves) automatically establish a kind of global musical style, a sort of macroscopic "synthesis" of musical works, much like a spectrum of frequencies, or iterations, of the physics of particles. Internal symmetries or their dissymmetries are the reason behind this. Therefore, through a discerning logico-aesthetic choice of "non-octave" scales, we can obtain very rich simultaneities (chords) or linear successions which revive and generalize tonal, modal or serial aspects. It is on this basis of sieves that cellular automata can be useful in harmonic progressions which create new and rich timbric fusions with orchestral instruments. Examples of this can be found in works of mine such as Ata, Horos."
- Iannis Xenakis, 1992
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aYsh8SRB-c
Jean Barraqué - Séquence for voice, percussion and chamber ensemble (1950–55)
Klangforum Wien
Conductor - Jurg Wyttenbach
Soprano - Rosemary Hardy
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6BgIzH-tl4
Pierre Boulez - Structures Livre 2, for two pianos (1956/61)
Performed by Pierre Boulez and Yvonne Loriod
Chapitre 1 - 0:00
Chapitre 2 - 8:53
Structures I (1952) and Structures II (1961) are two related works for two pianos, composed by the French composer Pierre Boulez. The first of the second book's two "chapters" was composed in 1956, but chapter 2 was not written until 1961. The second chapter includes three sets of variable elements, which are to be arranged to make a performing version. A partial premiere of book 2 was performed by the composer and Yvonne Loriod at the Wigmore Hall, London, in March 1957. This was Boulez's first appearance in the UK as a performer. The same performers gave the premiere of the complete second book, with two different versions of chapter 2, in a chamber-music concert of the Donaueschinger Musiktage on Saturday, 21 October 1961. The first version is used in this video.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GiJ53_BVbE
Iannis Xenakis - Pléïades, for 6 percussionists (1978)
Performed by Percussions de Strasbourg
Mélanges - 0:00
Métaux - 8:30
Claviers - 21:57
Peaux - 32:00
Pléïades is a composition for six percussionists composed in 1978 by Greek composer Iannis Xenakis, originally commissioned by the percussion ensemble Les Percussions de Strasbourg. It is notable for its use of the sixxen, an instrument Xenakis had constructed specifically for the piece. The title of this work is intentionally ambiguous: on one hand, the term comes from a word meaning "many", and which alludes to all of the instruments used by the six percussionists along the four movements; on the other hand, it refers to a myth in Greek mythology: the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Pleione and Atlas even though the greatest part of his inspiration may come from the astronomy, as the Pleiades were thought to be the stars from Taurus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pl%C3%A9%C3%AFades
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj53JZB7njs
Boris Tishchenko - Symphony No. 5, Op.67 (1976)
Dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich
USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
I. Prelude - 0:00
II. Dedication - 8:17
III. Sonata - 15:20
IV. Interlude - 21:41
V. Rondo - 32:02
The relationship between Tishchenko and Shostakovich was not one-sided; it was one of mutual respect. They corresponded, debated, and shared their music and impressions. In a rare gesture of esteem, Shostakovich re-orchestrated one of Tishchenko’s works and presented it to him as a gift. In 1966, Tishchenko dedicated his Third Symphony to Shostakovich. Tishchenko’s Fifth Symphony, completed in 1976, was his musical reaction to the older composer’s death. It, too, is dedicated to Shostakovich.
Tishchenko’s Fifth Symphony is in five movements, played without pause. In scale, in the dramatic contrast of movements, in rhetoric, in raw emotive force, it inhabits the familiar sound world of a Shostakovich symphony. There are a number of quotations from and allusions to Shostakovich’s music, most notably his musical monogram “DSCH” (D—Eb—C—B). But these are balanced by references to Tishchenko’s own works, including his Third Symphony, Concerto for Flute, Piano and Strings (1972) and Fifth Piano Sonata (1973). From this perspective, the symphony can be regarded as an imagined musical dialogue between two composers in close creative rapport.
Plaintive solos for woodwind instruments in the opening movement are offset by stentorian orchestral chords, eventually disintegrating into chaos. In the second, “Dedication,” grief expends itself in chromatic dissonance. The nervous, mechanical propulsion of the third movement builds to a terrifying climax; references to passages in Shostakovich’s Eighth and Tenth symphonies can be heard. The roiling trills and glissandi of the fourth movement contain hints of a passacaglia. The theme of the rondo finale has the quality of a stylized dance; in the penultimate episode reminders of earlier movements, including the pensive monologues and intertwined quotations, reappear.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0iuYPZl6NQ
Tōru Takemitsu - Stanza II, for solo harp and tape (1971)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri2vQUi__Fo
Edgard Varèse - Amériques, for orchestra (1929), revised and edited by Chou Wen-Chung
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Conductor - Ludovic Morlot
Amériques is an orchestral composition by Edgard Varèse, scored for a very large, romantic orchestra with additional percussion (for eleven performers) including sirens. Written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it was the first work Varèse composed after he moved to the United States. Although it was not his first work, he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, effectively making Amériques his opus one (although he never used that designation).
The work is in one movement which lasts around 23 minutes, with full orchestral involvement almost throughout. Although it opens quietly, with "Debussy-like musing", it quickly builds in dynamic power and is punctuated by massive crescendos which are similar in style to those found in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring but on a much larger scale. The work is marked by its fiercely dissonant chords and rhythmically complex polyphonies for percussion and winds. It develops in continuous evolution with recurring short motifs, which are juxtaposed without development.
Structurally, the work is assembled by placing a number of self-contained 'blocks' of music against one another in the manner of Stravinsky. The blocks are marked primarily by texture and timbre with melody and rhythm being much more malleable. This remained common practice for Varèse throughout his career. A number of these blocks are built out of direct quotations from other works, including the Peripetie from Arnold Schoenberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke Op. 16, the first movement of Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony, and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, along with references to the big band sound of the 1920s.
Commentary on Amériques has focused on its elemental power, and its vivid representation of New York City, not failing to incorporate its howling police car sirens. Varèse used the sirens for structural importance, as representations of a continuum pitch beyond twelve-tone equal temperament. Varèse intended the title Amériques to symbolize "discoveries – new worlds on earth, in the sky, or in the minds of men."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9riques
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZwps2iQAnM