10 pieces to introduce 20th Century music

If you were introducing 20th century music to a friend, a class, or a to any just interested in 20th century music and only had ten pieces to show a spectrum or shows a evolutionary time line of music from 1900-1999.

Pick ten pieces (operas, symphonies, chamber music, any complete pieces) that you think best represent the 20th century or that you think are the best ten pieces to introduce some one who isn't familiar with music of the 20th century, and why.

side note; this could really actually help me now, in that I am in this predicament with a friend that has expressed great interest into knowing more about 20th century.

Yikes. We're talking seminal pieces here... I'm not sure about ten right now but I have two. You have to have something by Schoenberg to demonstrate the emancipation of dissonance, probably Five Orchestral Pieces (1909). And of course you need John Cage's 4'33" (1952) because it covers aleatoric music, the use of silence, and makes most people question the meaning of music. 4'33" is the epitome of the emancipation of sound.

Maybe throw in Michael Jackson's Thriller while we're at it :hmmm:

Seminal works of the 20th century....

1. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (One of the most adventurous ballets of its time...)

2. Barber's Adagio for Strings (A piece that has become standard fare for many different functions)

3. Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (this album in many ways ushered in the age of popular music)

My top 3 list. I wouldn't really add Schoenberg... considering that for the most part, the emancipation of dissonance really had a profound effect on classical music - and in many ways, was responsible for the fall of interest in classical music as a form of entertainment to many, many, many people. So not really seminal in the way that the above works were - at least in my opinion.

1. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (One of the most adventurous ballets of its time...)

I'll second that. It's not often that people riot over music.

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

Holst: The Planets

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra

Pärt: Cantum in memory of Benjamin Britten

Barber: Adagio for Strings

Vaughan-Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe

Debussy: La Mer

Davis: Kind of Blue

Jarrett: Köln Concert

considering that for the most part, the emancipation of dissonance really had a profound effect on classical music

Yeah, exactly.

Whether the masses -liked it- or not is a non-issue in terms of whether or not it was important.

Although I'd probably substitute his op. 11 piano pieces for the orchestral pieces. There's also the issue of late 20th century composers like Ligeti, Messiaen, Schnittke, Nancarrow, Berio, Nono, Boulez etc. who all represent different developments that are very important.

And pop music which is huge.

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

Holst: The Planets

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra

Pärt: Cantum in memory of Benjamin Britten

Barber: Adagio for Strings

Vaughan-Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe

Debussy: La Mer

Davis: Kind of Blue

Jarrett: Köln Concert

Yes, I second all of this list.

VOCE: Yes, it did have an effect - but the effect we've seen from it is that classical music was moved to be an intellectual genre, understandable only by those who can read into the theory of it. There was a lot in the 20th century that had a profound impact: the expansion on harmony, the emancipation of dissonance, the use of electronic, etc. Not all of these had as deep an impact as the complete dissintegration (theoretically) of the tonal system. Despite being overly negative for classical performance organizations worldwide, for composers it is positive. I just didn't include it cause I was trying to think of pieces that would bring someone not familiar with modern classical music to its liking - and let's face.. .the above list really does do that.

This is my list that I developed with notes as to why:

Le Mer; Debussy

I would start off with this piece because it displays Impressionism as it enters the 20th century, and shows how composers were looking at other cultures for musical inspiration.

Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") ; Mahler

I choose this piece to show that music from the romantic period was still present and thriving in the early 20th century.

Le sacre du printemps ("The Rite of Spring") ; Stravinsky

I choose this piece to demonstrate the dramatic shift in music and to demonstrate new compositional techniques.

Pierrot Lunaire ("Moonstruck Pierrot") ; Schoenberg

I choose this piece because it demonstrates atonality, Sprechstimme, and several other compositional techniques.

Quatuor pour la fin du temps ; Olivier Messiaen

I choose this for the compositional technique used, but mainly for its history and its the circumstances that surround the creation of this piece.

4′33″; John Cage

This piece I choose to demonstrate Aleatoric music and experimental music. It is used to also show how music was changing and what people began to consider music.

Appalachian Spring ; Aaron Copland

I choose this piece to demonstrate what became known as the "American Sound".

Different Trains ; Steve Reich

I choose this piece to demonstrate minimalism and tape music.

Sunday in the Park with George ; Stephen Sondheim

This piece is to show has Broadway had developed with the times.

Empreintes for 15 instruments and live electronics ; Joshua Fineberg

This piece as an example of acoustic instruments playing with live electronics.

Hmm -

I'd choose

1) Sacre Du Printemps - Stravinsky. For the culmination of use of folk material elements integrated novel harmonic ways/novel counterpoint and revolutionary orchestration. Plus the last gasps of writing for the Mahlerian sized Symphony.

2) Piano Concerto in F - George Gershwin. structurally far stronger than Rhapsody In Blue and one of the best synthesis of Romanticism with Tin Pan Ally Jazz.

3) Philomel (or a Vision and A Prayer) - Babbit - the first experiments in acoustics and electronics and one of the most beautiful despite the electronics used were primitive.

4) Debussy - Mirroirs or Isle of Joy from his piano works. Full blossoming of Impressioniosm and the mix bag of new scales and timbres. Plus the piano offers a great introduction due to its scale and constant timbre.

5) Faure - Any of his late songs. This time to highlight the synthesis of old and new - church modes with current harmonic materials and unusual development of material. Also a good snapshot of especially beautiful song writing in an Impressionistic style.

6) Any of Scelsi's compositions - the rise in stature of the self taught/outsider composer

7) Conlon Nancarrow - Player Piano Studies. Humanly impossible music - at least considered so for decades until recently - though you can never achieve the accuracy of a player piano. Really put into the question of the need for a performer and a precursor to electronic music.

8) Dutilleux - Violin Concerto. Excellent reflection of late 20th century orchestration and novel use form

9) Ligeti - Ramifications - cyclical/minimalistic procedures,very novel use of scordatura (one group is a 1/4 tone off from the other throughout the piece which creates beats and micropolyphony - the latter being central to Ligeti's earlier work and quite revolutionary)

10) Schoenberg - Variations for Orchestra - a great illustration of klangfarben and his tonal system. This time the contrasting timbres and Schoenberg's fantastic orchestration serve as a great educator on his methods (well I have to add Gurrelieder and Pierrot - small portions just to show how he came to Variations)

11) And IF they are into club music/techno ect, a great primer on minimalism tinged with neo-romanticism is one of the movements from Glass' Violin Concerto. It isn't that it is the best work of the 20th century work but a good one to open the door to more literature.

A ton of stuff I left out ... a ton. But if you want intro to more mainstream classical music, this is pretty good. In fact I am on the fence about Gershwin as Nancarrow syn thesized jazz and blues elements in a far more radical fashion.... then I'd have room for Ives or messaien ..... ravel ... oh goodness and tristano and of course Kind of Blue ....

1. Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring

2. Schoenberg, Five Pieces for Orchestra

3. Berg, Wozzeck

4. Ligeti, Atmosphéres

5. Bartók, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta

6. Crumb, Black Angels

7. Glass, Einstein on the Beach

8. Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time

9. Lutoslawski, Symphony no. 3

10. Schwitters, Die Sonata in Urlauten (Ursonate)

This list stands in concordance with, and supplemental to, previous lists. I absolutely concur with the Nancarrow, the Babbitt, and quite a bit of pop music.

In addition to what has been mentioned. As an introduction, I might start with some of the more accessible choices:

Claude Debussy: String Quartet mvt 3 or Fete from Images, or Iberia

Eric Ewazen: Ballade, Pastorale, and Dance

Steve Reich: Tehilim

John Mackey: Redline Tango or Strange Humors for Sax quartet and djembe

John Adams: Short Ride on a Fast Machine

Eric Whitacre: Anything, they are all the same..(kidding) Perhaps Sleep

Aaron Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man

Bartok: Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, String Quartet 4, Concerto for Orchestra, or Music for strings percussion and celeste.

Russell Peck: Drastic Measures for saxophone quartet, simply because of its extreme catchiness and screaming Americana

Astor Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango, Libertango

oh, and my favorite 20th century music:

Leonard Bernstein West Side Story Suite, Mass, or Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs.

Those are all rather accessible works for someone being introduced to the 20th (and 21st) century.

This is my list that I developed with notes as to why:

Le Mer; Debussy

Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") ; Mahler

Le sacre du printemps ("The Rite of Spring") ; Stravinsky

Pierrot Lunaire ("Moonstruck Pierrot") ; Schoenberg

Quatuor pour la fin du temps ; Olivier Messiaen

4′33″; John Cage

Appalachian Spring ; Aaron Copland

Different Trains ; Steve Reich

Sunday in the Park with George ; Stephen Sondheim

Empreintes for 15 instruments and live electronics ; Joshua Fineberg

and

1. Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring

2. Schoenberg, Five Pieces for Orchestra

3. Berg, Wozzeck

4. Ligeti, Atmosphéres

5. Bartók, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta

6. Crumb, Black Angels

7. Glass, Einstein on the Beach

8. Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time

9. Lutoslawski, Symphony no. 3

10. Schwitters, Die Sonata in Urlauten (Ursonate)

Two good lists right there.

When I do seminars on modern music, I usually take Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Debussy. Then boulez or stockhausen, then penderecki and ligeti (or xenakis,) then Reich/Glass and then Schnitte. Maybe pierre henry in between to show music concrete/electronic music.

Honestly as for pieces, the ones that show up the most are:

Webern's 5 pieces for orchestra.

Debussy afternoon of the fawn.

Varese's ionizations

Cage's prepared piano pieces. Curiously even if 4'33'' shows up as tema I've never really done one on the work itself.

Messiaen's quartet.

Ligeti's Atmospheres.

Penderecki's threnody.

Henry/Schaeffer symphonie pour un homme seul

Reich different trains

Schnittke Concerto grosso no.1 (or any)

Which covers the most important stuff, though since the seminars go for semesters, there's plenty of time to look at other things. Notice I leave out the entire neoclassical composers (Hindemith, Bartok, etc) and the les six, but well, only ten is only ten. Also no stockhausen even if there's often at least one piece by him included and no nono or boulez, again even if they'll show up anyway later. Xenakis also shows up (Nuits is pretty popular to show) but not on the list.

The list is often like 20-30 pieces, really (including stuff like hindemith's chamber pieces, antheil's futurism stuff and murail/la monte young, etc.) Otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to do something like that since there's just too many composers/pieces that are important.

Ignoring any kind of non-classical music, and in no particular order:

1. Webern - Concerto, Op. 24

2. Stockhausen - Klavierstuck XI

3. Scelsi - Quattro Pezzi

4. Barber - Piano Sonata

5. Riley - In C

6. Cage - Freeman Etudes (any of them)

7. Carter - String Quartet No. 2

8. Debussy - La Mer

9. Berio - Sinfonia

10. Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5

Darn it, I need an 11th:

11. Corigliano - Symphony No. 1

And if I had a 12th:

12. Messiaen - Turangalila Symphony

And I still don't have any Varese. :( I need at least 50 or so...