Modern Classical Music

György Ligeti, Antoinette Vischer

Continuum is a work composed by György Ligeti in 1968. The work was written for harpsichord solo and dedicated to the harpsichordist Antoinette Vischer. A version from 1970, transcribed for barrel organ by Pierre Charial, was the version to enter the top 100 list this year but an older version (1968) recorded by Vischer herself later on scored the majority of points. From what I understand (from comments on YouTube) is that the piece is incredibly difficult to play. In the early 1960s Vischer had commissioned John Cage to compose a work for harpsichord but Cage was hesitant until, in 1967, he saw an opportunity for the harpsichord while on a Visiting Associate-ship at the University of Illinois' Computer Music program led by Lejaren Hiller. The two created a complex composition for seven harpsichords and 52 magnetic tape players called HPSCHD. The premiere at the University of Illinois in 1969 featured Vischer, David Tudor, and Philip Corner, among the seven harpsichordists. The composition is a work to experience, not suited for recording, even though a recording of it made it onto a disc produced by Nonesuch in 1969. I bought that LP this year but the track did not make it onto the 2022 top-100 list. Another work by John Cage did, also from an LP I bought this year, MagnifiCathy: The Many Voices of Cathy Berberian. [1971, Wergo] A Flower and The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs are two compositions by John Cage for voice and closed piano. Bruno Canino plays (taps onto) the closed piano behind Berberian's voice.

John Cage, Cathy Berberian

The great influx of modern classical music was not perpetuated by those two records that I just discussed but rather by a big Iannis Xenakis haul at a local thrift store. One afternoon in the Spring I found no less than five discs by Iannis Xenakis. I bought all five, and all five are really great. One of the five, also a Nonesuch LP (1968), is shared with a contemporary of Xenakis, the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. His Cappriccio for Violin and Orchestra on side B of the shared record comes into the Top 100 2022 as well as Xenakis' Akrata found on side A. Both works, the whole LP, was performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Led by Lukas Foss, the famous German-American pianist, composer, and conductor.

Lukas Foss, Krzysztof Penderecki

Iannis Xenakis is represented five times in the list, and is the highest ranking individual this year. Two further (after Akrata) recordings come from an LP on the Candide label, and were recorded by the Ars Nova Ensemble led by Marius Constant, who also founded the ensemble specializing in contemporary music and especially that of Xenakis. The LP is simply called Iannis Xenakis, the recordings are from 1967, and the top 100 titles are Syrmos for 18 strings and Polytope for 4 Orchestras scattered throughout the Audience. A different Polytope and Polla ta Dhina for Children's Chorus and Orchestra (from Album 2—Music Today series, EMI) are the other Xenakis recordings in the list.

Marius Constant, Iannis Xenakis