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Bluffer's Guide to Classical Music 7

  Tobias

The Contemporaries

Much of the music in the latter part of the 20th Century was, frankly, in need of a good tune. Then suddenly, having completely alienated most of its audience, the classical fraternity decided to give everyone a break and start writing music that was listenable again. Hallelujah. Among these blessedly tonal composers is John Tavener (b.1944). Briefly famous in the ‘60s for having his piece The Whale recorded on the Beatles-owned Apple records, Tavener found the Orthodox Church in the mid-70s and has been writing deeply spiritual music ever since.

Tavener’s perhaps most famous these days for having written Song for Athene, the music played at Princess Diana’s funeral.

Don’t let that put you off.

Instead, go and buy The Protecting Veil. Somehow both mournful and uplifting, this work for cello and orchestra is one of the masterpieces of the late 20th Century. Get the recording by Steven Isserlis on Virgin Records at mid-price.

For the real heavy stuff, listen to Akathist of Thanksgiving. A large work for voices in various combinations (solo, choir, duet etc) and orchestra, it uses the writings of a priest imprisoned in a Siberian labour camp in the 1940s. Well, I did say it was heavy. The recording on Sony with the BBC Singers and Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martin Neary is excellent.

The Estonian mystic, Arvo Part (b.1935), possesses the worst beard known to music since Tchaikovsky. He’s also one of the finest composers of his era.

His music is sparse, yet beautiful (he calls his style “tintinnabulation” – bell-like, essentially – which in practice seems to mean “bugger all notes”).

Give yourself a break. Purchase the Te Deum for choir and orchestra on ECM records, stick it in the CD player, bung your chair in the middle of the room, turn the lights off, and just let it swirl around you. Bliss.

For a great collection of his orchestral music, pick up the disc entitled Tabula Rasa, again on ECM. As well as the title track, you’ll get various other bits and bobs including the simple, sublime Cantus in Memoriam to Benjamin Britten.

Bluffer’s Extra: Where to go Next…

Philip Glass (b.1937) is a very different kind of composer. Instead of the long, sweeping lines employed by Part, Glass’s music is stuttery and rhythmic. Some call it minimalism. Others call it annoying. Whatever your view, Glass is one of the very best at what he does. You can get a good sample on the compilation Songs From the Trilogy (Sony). It collects many of the best bits from his operas Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha and Akhnaten (written in Hebrew and ancient Egyptian. Well, sometimes you have to, don’t you?). Very few composers write as well for the human voice as Glass, of which this collection is ample proof.

John Adams (b.1947) is without doubt among the greatest composers alive. Like Glass, Adams is a minimalist composer, but not as dogmatic about it. And he wrote a work based on music from kids’ cartoons. For music not based on kids’ cartoons, buy the remarkable opera, Nixon in China (Nonesuch).

By Richard Betts

Thanks to Megan Johnson of Thread for the Support

Source: Thread, New Zealand's Fashion Culture Magazine