Grisey: "Periodes" was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris. Here he won prizes for piano accompaniment, harmony, counterpoint, fugue and composition (studying under Olivier Messiaen from 1968 to 1972).
His music is often considered to belong to the genre of spectral music, which he is credited with founding along with fellow composer Tristan Murail, although he later disowned the label in interviews and writings.
One of his famous work "Periodes" is a really strange song, there are a lot of sawmiling sound in the piece. I think music should have the beauty elements, even the style is modern. But we also need to enjoy some new elements.
Steve Reich born in Oct. 3, 1936, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. composer.One of the foremost composers of minimalism, Steve Reich was the creator of "phase" and "pulse" music, both of which rely on the gradual alteration of repetitive rhythmic patterns to create subtle changes in musical texture. He majored in philosophy at Cornell University.
Steve Reich • Music for 18 Musicians CD Trailer, 18 players play together and main melody repeat again and again. Percussion play the off beat from begin to the end. String section play the same melody again and again. There are saxphone section in the band, they play the low note and do the harmony with the clarient section together.The style of piece like western of American music. It is full of vitality and trippingly.
Elliott Carter (born Dec. 11, 1908, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. composer. Born to a wealthy family, he studied English and music at Harvard University and later studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger.
One of his famous piece is Sonata for Cello and Piano is a good piece which I like. There are only word can express my emotion is 'natural'. It is very easy to listen, not like almost modern piece are very hard to understand. The piano section play the very clean rhythm from begin to end, it not play together with the cello but sounds really nice. The piano section always put the down beat at 2 and 4 beat and the cello section play the down beat at 1 and 3 beat. This way make the feeling more cloth to jazz music.So there are many thing are really interesting inside the piece.
György Ligeti was born in Târnava-Sânmartin (in Hungarian - Dicsoszentmárton , renamed Târnaveni in 1945).Atmosphères is a piece for full orchestra, composed by György Ligeti in 1961.As described by Keith Lockhart before his performance of the work with the Utah Symphony in 2006 (paraphrased): "Any music teacher can tell you of the four main bodies of music: melody, harmony, rhythm and timbre. Ligeti, in this work, has chosen to abandon all but the latter, giving the piece a thickness of texture that few have accomplished before. There are fifty-five string players on the stage here. Normally, their goal is to play the same notes at the same time. Here, however, no two string players ever play the same note. This effectively creates nine minutes of pure sound, with no discernible melody."
Gy. Ligeti -- Requiem is a nightmarish, euphoric, truth, deceit, beautiful, horrid, complete freedom, claustraphobic and? anxious piece. Only music can bring these paradoxes to life as vividly as they exist in conciousless reality.
Conlon Nancarrow was an iconoclastic American composer who wrote in an utterly new way using new instrumental resources.Nancarrow was born in Texarkana Arkansas. He played trumpet in a jazz band in his youth Study for Player Piano no. 5 is an interesting piece. When I first listen it, I felt it is the music of Nintendo video game-super mario. Through heard this piece I can know that his music are more likely to jazz style. This piece can heard the jazz scales and rhythm. His music has a mathematical beauty and elegance that happily with musical expressiveness and a puckish sense of humor.
Toru Takemitsu (born Oct. 8, 1930, Tokyo, Japan — died Feb. 20, 1996, Tokyo) Japanese composer.
Air for Solo Flute is a good solo piece for flute which I like. The trait of this piece are very obvious that no matter the melody how to change, it all will come back to a main note. I think this feeling are very clean for me, really like the air are flow in front of me. He created an individual sound world in which silence itself is an important element.This opinion is same with John Cage. He always try to express the eastern countries feeling through his works. But after world war II, he began to despise his native country and he immersed himself in Western techniques. His well-know saying was that:""I did not know there was such beautiful music in the world,"
Pierre Boulez
- Pierre Boulez the most important French musician after World War II. His activities as composer, conductor, and lecturist made him the uncontested leader of music in the second half of the century. He was music director and conductor (1971-77) of the New York Philharmonic.
John Cage is the 20th century conceptual artist. His famous piece 4' 33" (1952) is the pianist sitting at a piano and not playing for exactly four minutes and 33 seconds. There is no any note in the music score, the only thing that every player should do are keep silence. This is a thundering piece but it is really great. Cage's perpose is to let all the audience to feel the sound of silence in the silence situation. He think that silence actually is a kind of music. Silence music means the most natural music. In my opinion, this the new definition of music. Cage want express a important philosophy of music that the most basic element of music is not perform and play ,it is listen.
Today I learned some information about Karlheinz Stockhausen. Stockhausen: Gruppen is a famous piece.Gruppen is "a landmark of the 20-century music.' It is the crystal of the post-war generation composer.A large group of 109 players play together in three orchestra. Each orchestra with its own conductor.
A traditional twelve-tone row is used as its basis.This is a symmetrical all-interval row in which the first half consists of the intervals of a descending major third, rising perfect fourth, descending minor third, descending minor second, and ascending major second.
In my opinion,this? is an awesome piece. It is different with other modern piece. I can felt that the sound always in control insteed recklessly.
Three orchestra play a piece is a complete one-off. This originality is very beyond comparison. I'm really admire and like the piece.
Here is the website that introduce Toru Takemitsu. You can find all the genaral information about him, inculding his biography, music, Adwards 4 Notable compositions Listening Further reading Notes and references External links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dru_Takemitsu
And also, You can also find some information about his composition " Novermber steps":
Feldman has said that he was only interested in a quiet voice. The typical characteristics of his music is often woven by the sparse body and short phrases triggered apparently edged melodic contour, and often use a very gentle intensity. This tone is almost musical texture, with very scattered, almost broken, and all is soft, rich feeling weak or played softly playing (singing). This musical experience is gradually that people called pointillism garde [Note: "pointillism faction" of the term comes from a kind of impressionist painting style, 19th century 80 years by George Seurat (Georges Seurat) first. Although he likes to use "color separation doctrine" to describe his work, but the point is more suited to describe the word that he sent a large number of primary colors with a point to carry out creative ways of painting, the human eye can turn the color point combined into color a mixture and image. ]. In addition, his works also has some distinctive character: There is no drama, music and sound between the phrases and the phrases the difference between the subtle, requires patience to listen to, very quiet and peaceful.
As early as Webern has been used in the creation of pointillism garde, with many of the short sound signal an end to partition and the staccato music composition, such as his "Piano Variations." This style features until the music change to the term no longer apply. In Feldman's music, "pointillism" often contain only a few isolated sound, they were not associated with the front and rear, while the last was able to put these sounds together into a relatively isolated lines. This kind of music and his musical environment in which there may be a great link. We might contrast viewing composer friend Philip keystone of painting, you will find them in the color and color between the object and the object is relatively independent, we can watch these independent from the small office color, independent of the objects, but from the larger view, they are also an abstract painting. His painting style, with the same solemn Feldman isolated tranquility. In the literature, we may also wish to refer to Beckett's novels, such as "Waiting for Godot." Feldman's music is to hold your breath to listen, listening to the process, we always seem to feel what will be, his works and the kinds of audio and sound relationship between the precise difference is very small also seems to be waiting in gradually, slowly to lead a process of truth. I heard the Morton Feldman : Triadic memories. I think the melody is full of mystery elements.Morton Feldman liked his music quiet and undisturbed by sounds from the environment. Two peoples talked as the main melody and the piano make the mystery.Sometimes I felt afraid.
When I was listening Steve Reich's ''Piano Phase'', I really felt the 2 piano parts really sound didn't play together unintentionally though I know they must just play what is printted. The rhythm is so complicated, I think it is better to look at the score at the same time while listening, otherwise it's really easy to get confused. while the rhythm is extremely complex, the notes are very simple. The 1st half its basically just E, F#, B, C# D, and the ending he add one more A, and its a "D M A B" repepates forever, it sounds a bit like a minor pentatonic scale.
The music sounds cool and very special after all, and I like it.
Here I want to command a website:
It is Steve Reich's website. you can find biography, news, works, articles, concerts, connects, and multimedia etc. There are a lot of information in the website. I thhink it is a good resource for us to learn and know steve Reich better and more
Still, the wikipedia, the biography of him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conlon_Nancarrow
We can gat a genral impression about him. Here is a quote from wiki: "Composer Gyorgy Ligeti described the music of Conlon Nancarrow as 'This music is the greatest discovery since Webern and Ives...something great and important for all music history! His music is so utterly original, enjoyable, perfectly constructed, but at the same time emotional...for me it's the best music of any composer living today.' ''
Today I learned some information about Alvin Lucier.This is a really modern piece.The composer sits and describes what will happen, and then it happens.No melody,no speed,....no any classic music elements.But it is also loved by many people.This form is really interesting.In my feeling that the composer what to a kind of artistic conception.In classic music,we always want to hear the melody and style.We never listened this kind of piece.This is a new form for us.It is a challenge of our triditional aesthetics.There were many different feel after I heard this piece.Sometimes I really don't like the piece,and sometimes I can have a new cognition of music
Today I learned some information about Alvin Lucier.This is a really modern piece.The composer sits and describes what will happen, and then it happens.No melody,no speed,....no any classic music elements.But it is also loved by many people.This form is really interesting.In my feeling that the composer what to a kind of artistic conception.In classic music,we always want to hear the melody and style.We never listened this kind of piece.This is a new form for us.It is a challenge of our triditional aesthetics.There were many different feel after I heard this piece.Sometimes I really don't like the piece,and sometimes I can have a new cognition of music.