Dead or Alive? Classical vs Contemporary

[sitbon09]

Whilst I love 'classical music' (according to Wikipedia anything btw 500AD - 1910AD), I must admit that I find it frustrating, esp in the year of our Lord 2009, (no..I'm not religious) that so much focus in the world of music, whether what is played on the classical radio station, to the cover of any classical CD mag or even to this site, focuses more on 'classical' rather than 'contemporary' music.  Do we love our dead composers more than the living? If so, why?

When I go into any good classical CD store, I'm amazed by the endless rows of CDs showing the newest releases by emerging pianists bringing out yet another interpretation of a Chopin Nocturne or Debussy Prelude.  How many CDs of different interpretations do we need I ask you?  Personally I'm more interested in tracking down 'contemporary' piano works but their hard to find.  I mean works written now for now, for example, the works by Australian composer Carl Vine.  And by 'contemporary' I simply don't mean 'new age', a term which I positvely hate.   

As an experiment I often go into different music stores and ask sales staff to show me 'what's new' ie piano sheet music with a 'contemporary' flavour.  Quite often they can't and if they do, they always refer me to the 'new age' section which frankly, drives me nuts.  Why is it that any musician who is not dead is placed in this section?  What does 'new age' mean anyway?  Where did it come from and why is any musician who happens to write any meditative or minimalist music lumped under this heading? Should they be?

On another note I have found some interesting pieces in this section and have come to love the works of Liz Story, Phillip Aaberg for their meditative tonal resonances, but sometimes I'm in the mood for something more 'spirited', yet with as much heart.  Any ideas?  Who is your favourite contemporary artist I can seek out and is there music on this site? Andrew

[communist]

Well said!

I also like Vine. Some composers that could work that I like are: Mosolov, Feinberg, Lyatoshynky, Khachaturian, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Barber, Penderecki and Rautavaara.

[indutrial]

I'm from the States, so I've come around to the reality that CD stores are pretty much extinct, and the few surviving independent record stores out there are largely staffed by odd individuals who are obsessed with the Velvet Underground and completely out of touch with newer music. Even so, a few stores in my general area, like the Princeton Record Exchange and the Downtown Music Gallery (in Manhattan) have sections dedicated to modern classical (Stravinsky and Schoenberg forward). The best outlet for this music by a long shot would be MP3 distributors like E-Music or Amazon, who've both struck deals with many of the best record labels dedicated to newer composers and neglected early modern composers. Labels like BIS (Sweden), Da Capo (Denmark), New World (USA), Metier (Britain), Albany (USA), CRI (USA), and Equilibrium (?) are all nearly impossible to find in stores, but they consistently promote post-1900 works.

I was thinking about this the other day while I was puttering around at the local Barnes-and-Noble. B&N distributes Naxos CDs, but aside from that, it's virtually hopeless to find a good selection of modern recordings under their roof. This year is Carter's centennial, and they didn't even have a single copy of any of the three Naxos discs that came out this past year. Of course they have a ton of Philip Glass and Avro Part discs, but you'd be hard-pressed to locate a recording of works by Charles Wuorinen or Peter Maxwell Davies. As for earlier greats like Skalkottas, Feinberg, Villa Lobos, Szymanowski, and the Russian avant-gardists...forget about it.

Stick with the online distributors. Unless you luck out with a good independent store, you're just going to be let down.

[gerryjay]

dear sitbon:
i'd only confront this wiki reference about dates. 500 ad - 1910 ad? those are not valid dates by any means, and the word "classical" is, thus, very misleading. if you're interested in this subject, there are a lot of serious studies about both western music and 20th century music. notice that i'mo not against wiki, but this article seems biased and wrong.

ANYWAY

i did understand your point, and i'm mostly agree. the fact is that music market asks for the same stuff it have been asking since the early recording years. the problem is easy to understand. let's say that you have a concert to promote and you must sold out 1000 seats in three nights to accomplish your goal (and, thus, maintain your job). would you try chopin or some not-well-known composers?

i remember 1999, the 150th of chopin death. there were two cycles of chopin in my city, independent of each other, and both with very expensive tickets. eight recitals, all of them full house. i just can't remember another occasion where i find the same theaters without a single empty space.

then, we might ask: is that good or bad? to me, it's both. when you think that the same space could be used to classical-popular crossovers or the like, it's very good to listen to chopin. when you think that 90% of the recitals you attend in a year have a piece by this composer...well, that's not good at all.

btw, wait until the next year (2010): schumann and chopin all over!

best!

[nikolasideris]

Maybe this will shed further light to the issue: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=35249.0

In addition to the thread I linked:

It does make sense for someone to try out already tested and completely tried pieces. As a student, as a teacher, as part of the audience and even as the professional performer, it's always safe to attempt a little ChopinDebussyRavelBeethovenBachBrahmsBachBachBachwhatever (yes, it's one word! ).

Furthermore it does seem that today (from a composers' perspective) we are filled with different aesthetics and it's very hard to find a way and filter what you buy or not. There are literally 1000s new composers every year, only 0.001% published commercially, but still. In the world of the free commerce and the internet of the democracy through myspace (which I loath, honestly), it's quite hard to distinguish what's good or bad. The loss of the music industry (no matter how big or small, this is not the place to discuss it) has led to the release of 'everything'! And 'everything' is not as good as 'very selective and gone through venues to make it even better'.

Finally I'll dare to link myself as a contemporary composer... No scores available online anymore (had trouble with copyrights), but if there is an interest, just contact me! Maybe there is something interesting in what I do. (I'd hope so, otherwise I would be doomed to working in Wal-Mart )

[lmiller2501]

A bunch of 'needy readers'  ... No matter what you call it the timbre is all the same!