This page covers both listening in class as well as assignments for listening outside of class.
In Class
| COMPOSITIONS | RECORDINGS | SCORES AND SUPPORTING MATERIALS |
|---|---|---|
| Melodic composition | ||
| Debussy, Claude. Syrinx, L. 219. (1913) | Small is Beautiful: Short Pieces for Solo Flute. Manuela Wiesler, flute. BIS CD-869, 2000. | Paris, France: Editions Jobert, 1954. [View this score at IMSLP.] |
| Britten, Benjamin. “Narcissus.” From Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op. 49. (1951) | Britten/Saunders/Jackman: Music for Solo Oboe. Gordon Hunt, oboe. BIS CD-769. | London, UK: Hawkes & Son, 1952. |
| Varèse, Edgard. Density 21.5. (1936) |
Small is Beautiful: Short Pieces for Solo Flute. Manuela Wiesler, flute. BIS CD-869, 2000. Alternate performance by John McMurtery (MP3 - 4.7 MB) |
New York, NY: G. Ricordi & Co., 1956. |
| Composition in two parts | ||
| Hakenberg, Stefan. Brücke mit Reiter. (2008 audio guide for exhibit at the Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany.) |
Das Springende Pferd. Oliver Klenk and Hans Ernst, clarinets. Horncastle Verlag, 2008. ISBN: 9783938822210. (Courtesy of Horncastle Verlag. Used with permission.) Internet Archive (MP3 - 5.2MB) |
Score (PDF) (Courtesy of Stefan Hackenberg. Used with permission.) Translations of German titles and text in the score (PDF) |
| Songs (guest instructor: James Matheson) | ||
| Harbison, John. “Mirabai Songs.” (1982 - original version with piano accompaniment) | Music of John Harbison, Vol. 1. Georgine Resick, soprano; Warren Jones, piano. Bridge Records, 2006. | |
| Salonen, Esa-Pekka. “Five Images After Sappho.” (1999) | LA Variations. Dawn Upshaw, soprano; London Sinfonietta. Sony, 2001. | [Composer notes](http://Use: https://web.archive.org/web/20151009020355/https://www.esapekkasalonen.com/compositions/five-images-after-sappho) |
| Schoenberg, Arnold. “The Book of the Hanging Gardens” Op. 15. (1908-1909) | Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire; The Book of the Hanging Gardens. Jan de Gaetani, voice; Gil Kalish, piano. Nonesuch, 1992. | |
| Kim, Earl. “Where Grief Slumbers.” (1982) | The Girl with Orange Lips. Dawn Upshaw, voice. Nonesuch, 1991. | |
| Schubert, Franz. “Der Doppelgänger.” No. 13 in Schwanengesang, D. 957 (1829) | Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin; Schwanengesang; Winterreise. Olaf Bär, baritone; Geoffrey Parsons, piano. EMI Classics, 2007. | Schwanengesang, D.957. [View this score at IMSLP.] |
| Kurtag, Gyorgy. “Kafka Fragments.” | Kafka-Fragments. Adrienne Csengery, soprano; Andras Keller, violin. Hungaroton, 1995. | |
| Percussion | ||
| Kraft, William. Divinations. (1995) | Divinations. Dean Anderson, percussion. Neuma NMA 93, 1996. | Van Nuys, CA: New Music West, 1995. |
| Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Zyklus, nr. 9 (for solo percussion). (1959) | Remedy. Morris Palter, percussion. Centuar CRC 2742, 2006. | London, UK: Universal Edition, 1961. |
| Varese, Edgard. Ionisation. (1929-1931) | Passeport pour le XXe siecle. Ensemble intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez. Auvidis Montaigne MO 780518, 1989/1994. | New York, NY: G. Ricordi & Co., 1938. |
| String quartet | ||
| Webern, Anton. Six Bagatelles, Op. 9. (1924) | Webern: Werke fuer Streichquartett. Emerson String Quartet. Deutsche Grammophon, 1995. | Sechs Bagatellen für Streichquartett, Op. 9. Vienna, Germany: Universal Edition, 1952. |
| Stravinsky, Igor. Three Pieces for String Quartet. (1914) | Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Deutsche Grammophon, 2000. | Trois Pieces pour quatuor a cordes. Minature score edition. London, UK: Boosey & Hawkes, 1983. |
Outside of Class
I ask that you immerse yourself in the music of our time on your own. As with language acquisition, immersion is a key to understanding and competence. Outside listening should include both recordings (with scores) and live concerts, with a weekly journal assignment.
Journals
To help you organize your developing familiarity with twentieth century music, I ask that you keep a journal of your listening, and hand it in to me once a week. Each journal submission should deal with at least two new works. Your writing should not exceed 1-2 pages per piece. Each entry should identify the composer, the work and its date, and it should record your impressions of the music. That’s all. This is not a tough assignment or a rigorous writing exercise; it is a means of organizing your immersion in twentieth-century music while you are in the process of writing it. In the course of your explorations you may find a score that particularly fascinates you and that you think will be interesting for the rest of the class. I encourage you to bring such scores and recordings to the seminar and share them.
Recordings and Scores
For an international perspective, check out the BBC Radio 3 Web site ‘Hear and Now.’ Concerts of contemporary music are broadcast every Saturday night (UK time) and remain on line for a week.
MIT Libraries maintains a collection of online music resources. Among these resources, many available only to the MIT user community, two are particularly recommended for our class:
You may also, of course, use the listening resources of the Lewis Music Library. Here you will frequently have the great advantage of also being able to find a score to follow. The following list is a starting point, but you need not limit yourself to it:
- John Adams, Shaker Loops, The Chairman Dances
- Milton Babbitt, Philomel
- Bela Bartok, String Quartet No. 4, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
- Alban Berg, Violin Concerto, Lyric Suite
- Luciano Berio, Circles
- Pierre Boulez, Le marteau sans maitre, Sur incises
- Benjamin Britten, Les Illuminations, War Requiem
- John Cage, Credo in US, Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
- Elliott Carter, Double Concerto for Piano and Harpsichord, String Quartet # 1
- Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2)
- Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet
- George Crumb, Ancient Voices of Children
- Mario Davidovsky, Synchronisms No. 6
- Jacob Druckman, Prisms
- Lukas Foss, Echoi
- John Harbison, Flight Into Egypt, Symphony No. 2
- Charles Ives, 3 Places In New England
- György Ligeti, Atmospheres, Piano Études
- Keeril Makan, The Noise between Thoughts
- Donald Martino, Notturno
- Oliver Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time
- Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, 8 Songs for a Mad King
- Krzysztof Penderecki, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
- Sergei Prokofiev, Violin Sonata no. 2, Lieutenant Kijé Suite
- Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians, Tehillim
- Elena Ruehr, Shimmer
- Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16, String Trio
- Joseph Schwantner, Music of Amber
- Roger Sessions, Concerto for Orchestra
- Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8
- Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mantra, Stimmung
- Igor Stravinsky, Le sacre du printemps, Symphony of Psalms, Requiem Canticles
- Edgard Varese, Octandre, Hyperprism
- Anton Webern, 5 Bagatelles for String Quartet, Symphony
- Stefan Wolpe, Piece for Trumpet and Seven Instruments
- Iannis Xenakis, Aroura
- Evan Ziporyn, Drill
Concerts
In addition to your journal, you are required to attend a minimum of 3 concerts of contemporary music during the semester. Hand in a short concert report, similar to the journal, within about a week after the concert. Some particular concerts to look out for include:
Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music, September 18-21, 2008.
Boston Musica Viva, October 4 and November 14, 2008 @ Tsai Performance Center.
Firebird Ensemble, October 6, 2008 @ Longy School of Music.
Dinosaur Annex, October 14, 2008 @ First Church in Boston.
