Music of the 1960's

[Petrushka]

Say 'music of the 1960's' and the Beatles and Rolling Stones come imediately to mind, or at least they do to me who grew up in that era, but what about the classical music written at that time?

On the whole, the 1960's has something of a tough reputation in the classical field but looking at some of the pieces written in that era is it time for a long overdue re-assessment? After all this music is now 50 years old.

I'm just going through those I have on CD (orchestral with a few choral mostly, no opera) but would welcome any interesting thoughts as to forum members favourites or pet hates!

[MrGongGong]

Ligeti's : Atmospheres ............ one of the greatest orchestral works of the twentieth century
what more do you need ?

and Volumina truly groundbreaking and brilliant stuff IMV

or even : I am sitting in a room
or Lucier's : Music for solo performer

or

The King of Denmark

so many great things to choose from IMV

Though I'm not sure what you mean by "Classical" ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ligeti, Stockhausen, Lutoslawski, Berio, Babbitt, Birtwistle, Ferneyhough's Sonatas, PMD, Carter, Nono (Intolerenza 1960 to fill in the missing Opera - with Punch & Judy, of course): a fantastic decade for Music - even Penderecki produced his best works then. (And I haven't mentioned Shostakovich, Messiaen, Britten or Tippett.)

But not the best decade (IMO) for Boulez.

[Roehre]

Ligeti, Stockhausen, Lutoslawski, Berio, Babbitt, Birtwistle, Ferneyhough's Sonatas, PMD, Carter, Nono (Intolerenza 1960 to fill in the missing Opera - with Punch & Judy, of course): a fantastic decade for Music - even Penderecki produced his best works then. (And I haven't mentioned Shostakovich, Messiaen, Britten or Tippett.)

[Petrushka]

a fantastic decade for Music .

I wholeheartedly agree and have CD representation of most of the composers you name. I just think that serious/art music of the 1960's has tended to be sidelined especially in the concert hall and there is much there that is ripe for re-assessment.

Mr GG, I use the term 'classical' to distinguish what I have in mind from 'pop'. And agree about Ligeti's Atmospheres

[MrGongGong]

McCartney is a minor footnote in music history whereas Ligeti is a whole volume ....... or even volumina

[Chris Newman]

I guess I discovered music (or did it discover me?) in the early sixties. I was swept off my feet by the lyricism of early Michael Tippett and although at first I found King Priam and The Vision of Saint Augustine tough nuts I insisted on staying the course and got to like them.

I discovered two pieces of 1960's music by Olivier Messiaen: Couleurs de la cité céleste and Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorem. At the very end of the sixties he produced his huge La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ which made a terrific impression at the Proms.

I first heard of Dimitri Shostakovich at school when the Allegri String Quartet played one of the quartets (I forget which one) and was very moved. A few months later a friend and I sneaked up to London to hear Silvestri and the BSO play the 10th Symphony and we were knocked flat. Waiting for the train at Victoria we looked through a rack of Saga and Music For Pleasure records. We found the 10th with the Leningrad PO conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky. We both bought copies!!! Symphonies 12 and 13 were first heard on records, but I heard the UK premieres of the last two. The 14th was the only time I went to Aldeburgh.

Other works I enjoyed around that time were cross-over Jazz works like Leonard Salzedo and David Lindup's Rendezvous for Jazz-Band and Symphony Orchestra, and Matyas Seiber and John Dankworth's Improvisations for Jazz-band and Symphony Orchestra.. These came on an LP with the John Dankworth Big Band and the City of Birmingham SO conducted by their conductor Hugo Rignold who was also a jazz musician. The fill-up was the Dankworth Band and Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto with Dudley Moore on piano. I went to the Festival Hall with friends to hear the LPO under John Pritchard with the Dankworths play the the two bigger works, some Gershwin and Bernstein.

[cloughie]

Ligeti, Stockhausen, Lutoslawski, Berio, Babbitt, Birtwistle, Ferneyhough's Sonatas, PMD, Carter, Nono (Intolerenza 1960 to fill in the missing Opera - with Punch & Judy, of course): a fantastic decade for Music - even Penderecki produced his best works then. (And I haven't mentioned Shostakovich, Messiaen, Britten or Tippett.)

nor Stravinsky, Arnold, Rubbra and Walton!

[cloughie]

McCartney is a minor footnote in music history whereas Ligeti is a whole volume ....... or even volumina

But how many of Ligeti's tunes can you whistle along to?

[MrGongGong]

But how many of Ligeti's tunes can you whistle along to?

What on earth has THAT got to do with significance ?
but now you come to mention it ........ more than you would think

it's along the lines of "if Brendel is such a good musician why isn't he on X factor" ?

and a belated Happy Birthday Boulez to be opened in a VERY precise manner indeed