fabio88

Thank you guys for commenting. Nikolas, the score is handwritten (and I don't have a scanner) so unfortunately I can't show you the score. Qccowboy, yes I have thought about extending the piece to a larger piece in, say, five or six movements, but then, a two-movement structure such as an "Adagio and Toccata" like you suggested may also be a good idea... I'll give it a tought. You're right that some passages are a bit awkward for the hands (although no more awkward than Ligeti's most difficult piano stuff). Still, everything's playable, I guess, but it takes two really, really good pianists to play it, that's for sure (and no, Finrod, I'm not able to play the piece myself, unless maybe I practice a helluva lot).

Here's a piece for two pianos written to the memory of the great Gy TOCCATA.MID

Glass' symphonies don't belong on the list of greatest 20th century symphonies. Philip Glass is the most overrated composer of our times. I'd give his entire output for any small chamber piece by Elliott Carter. Eventually, Philip Glass will be remembered as merely a footnote in the history of Western art music. True modern music affectionados and critics have long given up taking his formulaic approach to composing seriously, as Glass - blinded by the commercial success of his mindnumbing doodely-doodely style - keeps on producing the same predictable, trivial, simpleminded, boring earcandy he has been churning out for decades now.

Well, I'm not alone either when I say that Sibelius and Shostakovich will eventually come to be seen as second rate composers. The critical consensus, as well as my own opinion, seems to be that these composers were not very important in the development of 20th century music. A famous critic (forgot his name) once described Shostakovich' music as derivative, empty and second-hand. Bartok didn't think highly of Shostakovich. Similarly, Boulez said something like "it's like olive oil, you have a second and a third pressing - I think of Shostakovich as the second, or even third pressing of Mahler." Do you really think that such great musical minds as Bartok and Boulez didn't "understand" Shostakovich' music, whatever that means. I can see why the music of these composers (Sibelius and Shos) appeals to so many people, but I suspect these composers are only attractive to those who are not yet ready to appreciate the more difficult and more important 20th century music.

Elliott Carter (b. 1908, and still alive and kicking!) is beyond doubt the most important living American composer. In his late nineties now, he is still producing works of outstanding originality, invention and quality. His "Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei" (finished when the composer was 87) is arguably his greatest achievement to date and in my opinion it is, along with Ives' Fourth Symphony, the greatest symphony ever written by an American composer, maybe even the greatest symphony since Mahler. It is a large-scale piece (approx. 45 minutes in duration) cast in three contrasting movements, written in Carter's typical dissonant (atonal), yet highly poetic modernist language. There are dark, atmospheric moments of melancholy, but also wild, swirling and playful passages of high energy. A landmark in 20th century symphonic writing.

I have a recording of this piece with Shura Cherkassky as the pianist. Although Cherkassky is great, I was not impressed by this deservedly forgotten piece, which to me seemed rather unoriginal and weakly orchestrated.

Sibelius is another second-rate composer whose music had already become terribly conservative during his own lifetime. I'm convinced that composers like Sibelius and Shostakovich (arguably the most overrated 20th century composer) will eventually come to be seen as "lesser" composers, as the Salieris and Joachim Raffs of their time.

Not necessarily. Think of Mussorgsky. Great originality, but not a great craftsman (but then, we should keep in mind that he was more or less autodidact). One might also argue that some composers such as Chopin, Schumann and Brahms did not fully master the craft of orchestration. Also, it's not true that no one is writing large-scale works anymore. There are plenty of examples of great large-scale works written today (e.g., Boulez - Pli selon pli, Carter - Symphonia, Rihm - Jagden und Formen, etc.)

Mahler. Mahler is first rate. Pierre Boulez once said that he considered Shostakovich a second, or even third pressing of Mahler. I agree with that. Further, all composers I mentioned in my previous post (Berio, Carter, Messiiaen, Stravinsky, etc.) can be considered first rate.

Originality is extremely important in composition. More important than technique or craftmanship (or what the french call the m

Most symphonies mentioned here are by composers who are generally considered second-rate or at least not very important composers (e.g., howard hanson, robert simpson, vaughan williams, shostakovich). I can't believe that some of the truly greatest 20th century symphonies have not been mentioned yet: Luciano Berio - Sinfonia Elliott Carter - Symphonia: Sum fluxae pretium spei (arguably Carter's greatest work) K.A. Hartmann - Symphony No. 6 Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 9 (No. 8 is also a masterpiece and also Deryck Cooke's performing version of No. 10 is worth checking out; forget about No.7, which is generally regarded as Mahler's weakest effort) Olivier Messiaen - Turangalila Symphony Alexander Scriabin - Symphony No. 3 ("Divine Poem") Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms, Symphony in three movements Anton Webern - Symphony op. 21 (although only 10 minutes in duration, it's a 20th century classic) The already mentioned 4th symphony by Ives also definitely belongs on the list of greatest 20th century symphonies. As for shostakovich, he's way overrated. His symphonies are lacking in originality, invention and counterpointal complexity and his rhetoric is derivative of Mahler, but without the complexity and depth of Mahler's language. I would give Shostakovich's entire output for any single Mahler movement.