After reading my last post — the one about the pigeon — Matt Westfall posted a comment, very reasonably asking what classical music might share the pigeon’s aesthetic world.
It was fun thinking about that. Here are a few thoughts. I’d be happy to hear more. Mine seem fairly obvious, at least to me. No need to stick to pieces as famous as most of these.
- Steve Reich, Clapping Music
- John Adams, Chamber Symphony (plus many others)
- John Cage, Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, 4’33”
- Debussy, Afternoon of a Faun, Petite Suite, more
- Boulez, Sur incise
- Ravel, Concerto for the Left Hand (and much more)
- Varese, Ionisation
- Stravinsky, Octet, Apollo, Violin Concerto, Concerto in D (so many others; and Matt, the Concerto in D is the piece I mistakenly called Serenade in D in my answer to your comment)
- Mozart, one of the violin concertos, if played by someone who improvises a lot of ornaments (and maybe adds a cadenza like the famous one by Gilles Apap, which you can watch on YouTube)
- Bartok, many pieces
- David Lang, Cheating, Lying, Sealing
- Many Michael Dougherty pieces — the Liberace piece, the Metropolis symphony, much more
- Stockhausen, Stimmung, Manta (not for everyone, but some will love these pieces)
- Beethoven, many pieces, if played without restraint
- lots of Shostakovich
- Schoenberg, Piano Suite Op. 25, and also the tiny Op. 19 piano pieces; Five Pieces for Orchestra; String Trio
- Bach, any of the Brandenburgs, any of the keyboard pieces
- Haydn symphonies — I’d pick the early middle ones, Nos. 22 to 55 or so.
- Webern, Piano Variations
And of course the list could be much longer.
Or listen to Q2, the internet radio station created by the music people at WNYC/WQXR. Mostly all new music, and just about anything they play would work on my playlist.
No Ives????????? I guess I need to come up with a list 😉 (I know, smilies are so “over”)