Top 10 Pieces of 20th Century Classical Music

[@thesupremenecroticdakimakura]

As someone who is coming from a metal background and wishing to get into that style of classical music, this is a godsend. I'd really appreciate some other videos about 20th century classical.

[@charlielookerNYC]

That's the best feedback I could hope for :) I'm going to try to mix it up subject matter-wise on the channel, but I will definitely return to the classical realm. Maybe I'll focus on a specific musical issue rather than a list

[@mrhenu]

Thank you for another amazing video! You always make me want to listen to everything you mention and help me find new amazing music

[@PJGRAND]

Thanks for this list some of the Composers i haven't even heard of I like that your list didnt include famous pieces that we all know already I want to add that some Truely Great films scores are really in my opinion great classical music there are many but some of my favorite scores are Patch of Blue score by Jerry Goldsmith Vertigo and Psycho Bernard Herman and On The Water Front by Leonard Bernstein.These are really great scores worth checking out if you haven't heard them.

[@MLamarmusic]

This is my favorite of your videos!!!! So so good!!!!

[@charlielookerNYC]

[@MLamarmusic]

Charlie Looker that’s true for most things in life!!!

[@charlielookerNYC]

I'm still going to do some more 5 minute slap-dash ones though

[@vgguru39]

Curious what you make of Scelsi. Really enjoy your takes on modern classical. I love modern classical on a very deep level and am always looking for more channels that talk about it.

[@charlielookerNYC]

I LOVE Scelsi. Definite precursor to Grisey and the spectralists. I just didn't have one particular piece of his that hit me in a path-altering way. But yeah he's a colossus

[@juanborjas6416]

Check out Samuel Andreyev and the Classical Nerd.

[@jimwinters3986]

Solid list. Re: Musical Forming, etc. Stockhausen's British lectures are a worthy view.

[@charlielookerNYC]

He was so deep. I almost put Klavierstucke 8 on the list because it opened me up a lot when I heard it and checked the score, but it just isn't a top 10 fave. Maybe I could have put Stimmung on there. But yeah his lectures and essays are amazing

[@reversecowboy]

Thoughts on Conlon Nancarrow? I always admired him as a visionary composer and appreciated how meticulous his works were. Definitely not nearly as dark as many of the other composers but he brushed elbows with a lot of them.

[@juanborjas6416]

I'm really glad I watched this, even though I should have done it way before. Great selection. I knew most of the composers except for Lachenman and Grisey. I was already familiar with the pieces by Bartok, Webern, and Messiaen, but it's nice to have some pieces new to me to listen to from the other composers I knew of. Very deep and underrated music.

[@sonder152]

Xenakis is one of the greatest composers of all time, alongside Webern and Varese. Also the mentions of Messiaen Ligeti were awesome. My favorite Xenakis in a single piece is Lichens (another orchestral work), my favorite Webern is Symphony OP 21. My favorite Messiaen is Eclairs sur'dela, my favorite Ligeti is either the chamber concerto or his opera Le Grand Macabre. I agree on the Grisey one, not much to say beyond that it's one of the greatest cycle of music ever. Also Feldman is gold, I see him as closely related to Webern's music but on the opposite side of time (super long instead of super short).

[@BrieGoblin]

Great video, excellent picks. Xenakis is the man. I'd like to give a nod to Nancarrow too. I also remember Trey's suggestion list, and also recall a lot of good leads from things Weasel had posted, some of which intersected. However, down another path, my favorite living composer: Paul Dolden. Incredible density, and no one works with microtonality like him. Just endlessly interesting, and also he's an expert producer that creates soundworlds unlike anyone.

[@sonder152]

Is the list still online? I'm very pleasantly surprised that Trey Spruance is either a fan of Xenakis like I have been since a teen, or that he appreciates some of Xenakis. I shouldn't be surprised though as all of Bungle were art guys and I know of Trevor Dunn's love of contemporary classical.

[@BrieGoblin]

@@sonder152 Can't find it after some quick googling, but I'm sure I have it saved somewhere. One funny detail I remember: Trey comments on Xenakis's work in general: "Electronic - check it out. Computer - blow it off", haha.

[@jeffwhite3625]

Been listening to a lot of Ligeti, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Penderecki, Xenakis etc of late. I love this music. I was raised around the earlier classics, The Classical and Romantic era, so I came late to the newer classical music world. I was wondering if there is a Listeners Guide to 20th Century Music you recommend ? I am pretty familiar with Bartok , Shostakovich etc but am afraid I am missing out on some incredible sounds. There has to be a book or books on recommended classical pieces and preferred recordings. Thanks in advance and btw, great channel.

[@williamscerbo458]

Alex Mincek's "Lift-Tilt-Filter-Split" string quartet is super Lachenmann. Great list!

[@charlielookerNYC]

Bigtime Lachenmann vibes. So good

[@torgersontravis]

That thumbnail though

[@charlielookerNYC]

production value increasing. Photoshop layer chops increasing

[@joshuapocalypse]

Lark' tongue seemed like an influence on DEP but this must go further back as influences for sure

[@marcuskane3579]

Great list! Surprised no Louis Andreissan! "Workers Union" by him is probably my favorite. Which Andreissan pieces do you recommend?

[@charlielookerNYC]

I actually don't know his whole oeuvre well at all. I know Hoketus and De Tidj, both of which I love (super different pieces of course).

[@alexdebling1564]

Great video. Keep the top tens coming! I'm still a relative noob when it comes to 20th century classical, so I'm only familiar with about half of these, though the ones I haven't I have heard their names in passing. I'm a big fan of Charles Ive's piano concertos. They remind me of Bill Evans but with some tastier harmony. On a somewhat related note... 1) Have you ever played with Anthony Braxton? I seem to recall seeing a video, but might just be confusing this with the fact you've played with Mary Halvorson 2) Perhaps a video of favourite and/or top visual artists, painters, film makers, etc.

[@charlielookerNYC]

Charles Ives is so important! But he just never connected with me on a personal level. It's funny I just realized the only American composer on here is Feldman, but he's number one. And yes I studied with Braxton at Wesleyan as an undergrad. We did some playing on campus but I never did gigs with him outside there. Playing with him was a trip though. Braxton was the one who turned me onto Stockhausen. Mary H and I were the same year there, although I actually knew Mary from high school when we were at the same music summer program.

[@sonder152]

Like you mention about Schoenberg and Berg, well Xenakis had extreme creative liberty with how he utilized it when he did. Xenakis's music is built upon the same structural foundations as the lineage of composers before him (reverse chronology): Messiaen, Varese then Stravinsky. He utilizes block form like a lot of composers influenced by Varese and Stravinsky. Xenakis's music is also not about maths, most of his music is about Greek mythology and philosophy.

[@mrhenu]

I feel like John Cage is underrated as an actual composer. I think many of his number pieces are on the same level as Feldman

[@brackencory]

arvo is still alive lol

[@charlielookerNYC]

Apparently!! oof . I'm actually pretty sure I'm going to do a 2 minute follow-up video saying that

[@hitglenwithmycar]

I hadn’t heard of Helmut Lachenmann. I’m going to have to check out his work in earnest. Thanks. Also I think Schoenberg would object to calling serialism ‘musical communism’.

[@charlielookerNYC]

I actually don't know about Schoenberg's politics. But I think serialism and communism absolutely share a core impulse and method (and maybe even aesthetic??) . Equality, enforced from above by a totalizing system. But the guy to read for that topic is probably Adorno, and it's been so long since I've read his writings on Schoenberg that I honestly forget what he said. I should return to that. And yeah Lachenmann is so nuts. The piece in the list is great, and also "Mouvement" is incredible. His cello piece "Pression" is regarded highly but I'm personally not as into it as his ensemble stuff

[@hitglenwithmycar]

Maybe you can say that about serialism after Schoenberg, but I think his objectives was the ‘liberation of dissonance’ rather than making all pitch classes equal. Interesting stuff though.

[@johnnyfx82]

Thank you so much for this video. Although - ahem - containing some foul language like the infamous f*word (why tho ... ?) I appreciate your video work quite a lot! (oh well, I know that Feldman himself sometimes LOVED to swear cause of his raucous character. Especially when it has to do with a composer called H.J. Hespos rofl) Can't say why I love the music of Feldman while disliking Scelsi's ^^

[@charlielookerNYC]

Very glad you like the video Johannes. Do you actually not use curse words? That's definitely impressive. Most normal people do LOL. I have said to myself in the past that completely cutting them out would lend a certain gravitas to my speech, so it's a cool goal :) As for Scelsi, I could understand not loving him, while loving Feldman. There's something kind of obsessive about Scelsi's music, almost neurotic. Feldman has a far more gentle touch

[@novo_ephemera]

You might like Arve Henriksen. I've been listening to him a lot lately. It's not classical though. It's like ECM style Ambient / Avantgarde Jazz that sounds like Japanese shakuhachi music. Similar to Jon Hassell but I like it Arve Henriksen's music more

[@jamesscottvideos]

Xenakis is interesting and groundbreaking, but to me sounds more like maths than music, like a complex machine rather than art. I much prefer Penderecki, which has dramatic power and is expressive.

[@bernhardfbuttner5694]

There is some Xenakis out there, far away of math and machine music. Maybe try this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWTVnneefp6Aptk

[@sonder152]

Xenakis's music is about Greek mythology and Greek philosophy, it's high drama. Yes there are some early works which are particularly architecture-inspired, but a large majority of his work is influenced directly by ancient epic poems and philosophical treaties.