From: Paul Walker <paul@pwjw.com>
Date: October 8, 2014 at 21:48:00 EDT
To: 
Subject: An approach to 20th century composed music

So I'm going to go out way on a limb and say there are two key things in 20th century composed music people find confusing - the disonnance or atonality and the minimalist or non-traditional structure. And there's a hard path from AC/DC to, say, the threnody.

Given that those two themes exist, I've decided to approach a listening list this way. I'm going to give you a few major works in each vein in "increasing hardness" and you tell me as you listen to them when you get stuck and what inspires you.

But first, lets go back a bit. I have the view, and lots agree, that the first 20th century composer was Beethoven, much in the "clinton was the first black president" sense. So I really think its important to start with just a refresher of what he was doing in the early 19th century. I would strongly recommend starting with the seventh symphony. I actually think B7 is my favorite piece of music in the world, and I also think that, perhaps, it is the best in an absolute sense. Yup, I went there.

Karajan is the canonical recording. Here's 4 & 7: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/beethoven-symphonies-nos.-4-7/id4568514

OK so you've listened to 7 a couple of times? You realize it's actually the root of pop music? Got it? Good.

So now lets jump ahead a bit. Still not in the 20th c quite, but Mahler's second symphony (resurrection) is where a lot of people think it all starts going a bit you know, pear shaped and fun. So that's next.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mahler-symphony-no.-2-resurrection/id81847968

And wow, that's a lot of orchestras. But you have it, right?

So OK we will come back to that in a minute or two. But while we are ramping up the start of the 20th century, lets jump to one of the endpoints which sort of emerged from a different tradition - minimalism. Lots going on here, and in a way in a totally different tradition than Mahler or Beethoven. But worth a listen to start. I think the most accessible place to start is Steve Reich. Since you are a guitarist, let me suggest you start with Pat Metheney playing "Electric Counterpoint". https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/reich-different-trains-electric/id155903334

This is very meditative and structural music. If you liked it you will also love music for 18 musicians: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/music-for-18-musicians/id79577274

Hmm. So that's really different than the symphonies. So how should we approach this?

Well lets go back into the 20th century orchestral and land on Shostakovich Symphony #4. He actually pulled the performance of this piece, since Stalin had called it bourgois and corrupt, and was going to, basically, kill Shostakovich. So there's that. I don't know this recording but it seems ok. But listen to the start. That screech. Hmm. That's not in the beethoven. And it's only hinted at in the Mahler, right?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shostakovich-symphony-no.-4/id717431457

So what had happened? Well what had happened is a group of people - schoenberg, webern, berg - had decided in the early 20th c to completely throw out traditional music theory. And they ended up writing some amazingly lovely music. To give you an idea, he started mahleresqe. String quartet number two, for instance, is amazing: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/schoenberg-string-quartet/id322916483

but then wow. He tossed all that. Listen, just a short time later, to Five Piano Pieces, Op 23 https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/schoenberg-piano-music-piano/id203939737

So what happened? Well structurally Schoenberg was trying to communicate musical ideas without traditional key. He invented a new music theory. And he made some amazing music. And some rather crap followers in his wake. Because - and here's the trick - it's easy to get "emperor has no clothes" with this stuff. Music connects with humans on an emotional level. Being as free and formal as schoenberg was led to others skipping that critical step. I will leave out all of, say, Morton Feldman for this reason. But if you like this, Berg and Webern are really fun. Like check out this nutso reimagining of a bach fugue by webern: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fuga-no.-2-ricercata-6-voci/id401536226?i=401537819

Gnugh now your head is exploding right? OK so go listen to abbey road for a bit. I'll be waiting. Because we are going to get to some harder stuff.

Hey great. Can we go back to some minimalists again for a bit? One of the canonical works is Terry Riiley's "In C". https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/t.-riley-in-c/id307564987 This is really the minimalism which gripped the back of 20C. Cage, Reich, Reilley. These guys were dominant. And it had that structural sound. You get things like piano phase and the swinging mics over amps for pulsing feedback. Some amazing music. But a theme. Piano Phase is key because it is 10 notes on two pianos and one is a teensy bit faster than the other. Really worth a listen. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/piano-phase-single/id401273221

But where did these minimalists emerge from? It seems like we are missing something. Somewhere between Shostakovich (sort of "Beethoven on Steroids"), Schoenberg and crew ("A new music theory") and the Reich/Riley crew (change the length scale of music in time), there's a missing link.

And that missing link is the hard stuff.

It's hard for two reasons. First a lot of it is crap. Real crap. Impossible to listen to.

But second, some of it isn't, but it is still really really hard. Really hard because it is active listening. You need to think about the tradition and structure of the music as presented.

And I see it in three composers worth your time: Xenakis. Ligeti. Penderecki. This is where the real fear starts kicking in.

Lets just jump to the punch line. Penderecki wrote this bit "Threnody for the victims of hiroshima". It is terrifying. It is haunting. I can't listen to it often. But I do listen to it more than you'd think.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/threnody-for-victims-hiroshima/id19296165?i=19296147

Before you say it is unadulterated shit, listen three times.

And if you can get through that, try and find the ligeti requiem - which I can't find on itunes.

But its not all just noise walls. There's still music in that structure. Listen to the ligeti piano etudes. (They are etudes in only the most insane sense that they do require study).

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ligeti-etudes-musica-ricercata/id263084597

listen to #13, L'Escalier de whatzit. See. No more standard rythm or tone or structure and music comes differently.

OK this wacky edge of the 20th C is basically unlistenable at scale. Only a total dickhead would put this on his party mix at christmas. And no, i didn't. Everyone would rather hear exile on main street with a beer and a few friends. This is different.

But some of it is remarkable, so let me leave you with one of my other favorite bits of music. Which is sort of the culmination of a lot of these themes into a modern chamber music which in many ways un-rejects the things the 20th century was rejecting, and develops a new music. The album "Road Movies" by John Adams has some amazing Piano/Violin, Two Piano, and Solo Piano work. I listen to this album all the time. Love it. It is music come out of the back of the intellectual ringer and interesting. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/road-movies/id327047360

So let me know what you like and hate. And I'll offer more guides.