Dedication to Polls and Voters: Notated Music Since 1890 - Voting and Discussion Thread

Finding connections between avant-prog and 70s compositional music is one of the least crazy things I can think of.

I've knocked together a ballot but it looks kind of thin so I'm belatedly listening to some things with names that I find intriguing. Might mean that I miss out on something amazing with a plain title like 'Symphony No. 2' but I've left it too late to methodically go down the list really.

if that's Per Norgard's #2, you should check it out if mystical minimalism is your thing

I'll give that a listen once I've finished making quizzical faces to Cornelius Cardew

I wasn't referring to anything in particular in my first post though

Tbh, I doubt that anyone could have methodically gone down the whole list unless they treated it as at least a part-time job starting in April. (Or unless they already knew most of the pieces well, which I have no trouble admitting is not the case for me, although I've probably heard 50% of the pieces at least once.)

Oh i missed the discussion of Schnittke's Concerto for Choir a few weeks back! My choir sang that last april, or, y'know, tried to. Boy that is difficult, but really beautiful! I'll definitely vote for that if I make a ballot, but most of my ballot would consist of stuff I've sung, i guess.

if that's Per Norgard's #2, you should check it out if mystical minimalism is your thing

Just listened to this. It's nice, you're right. Listening to the Schnittke Choir Concerto now.

If you listen to one guitar piece, it should probably be the Ginastera sonata. If you listen to a second, make it Villa-Lobos's Douze etudes, esp Etude no. 11 (my favourite thing to play). If you're going for a third, listen to Reginald Smith Brindle's El Polifemo de Oro.

that ginastera sonata is mad wicked

I'm on a ginastera kick lately tbh

We're in the home stretch now!

Ooh, I've totally forgotten about this, got to get my ballot together!

Oh yeah, I'll try not to forget to vote today. I didn't do as much listening as I intended but my ballot's a decent size I think. I enjoyed the Per Norgard symphonies Dominique, thanks.

I voted.

Me too.

With a week left, I think I'm set on my #1.

This is not in my wheelhouse so I am looking forward to see what you guys come up with.

I somehow managed to get through life without listening to Scriabin's Prometheus until this poll.

Only a couple of days left! I'm planning to put together my ballot tomorrow.

ugh i am having such a bad week. i gotta do this!!!

I will do this! Have the ballot already, just need to submit.

Anyone who hasn't voted and doesn't know the piece, please listen to Claude Vivier's "Lonely Child". Easily one of my all-time favourites. Remembering when listening to it right now.

Is Ginastera's violin concerto actually nominated or is that an accidental copy and paste from dutilleux's? Because since this poll started I heard Ginastera's violin concerto and it fucking rules and I will vote it if it's not a typo

Whoa, good find. Looking at the noms thread, the Ginastera violin concerto was not nominated, Ginastera's Cello Concert no. 2 WAS nominated but is not on the list, and 'L'arbre des songes' is actually Dutilleux's violin concerto. I will accept votes for all three pieces.

Is it possible to sort of tier my ballot so that group 1 (super faves) all get X points, group 2 (faves) all get Y points, group 3 (fonds) all get Z points?

I'm not gonna finish if I have to rank 1 to 100 and I don't want to do total unranked...

You can do a mixed ballot so that some are ranked and some are unranked. Select "mixed" and leave a black space between the ranked and unranked portions.

do i have to number the ranked ones or is the order taken as given

It is taken as given, as far as I know. Will double-check but assume yes.

And I just listened to Ginastera's second cello concerto for the first time: wow!

yeah he is a powerhouse

check out his Bomarzo opera and the vln cto and harp cto

Threw together an unranked ballot & voted, 1 vote per composer with a few notable exceptions, did v. little listening beforehand, sorry.

Also listening to Ginastera cello concerto now, and yeah this is awesome! Almost spectral

Basically he started out folk-modernist and got more avant-gardist as he got older

besides the ones I mentioned also do not miss Cantata Para America Magica (why didn't I nominate that???)

Sund4r -- I voted! My first 50 are ranked, second 50 are unranked. I had to kind of go into a frenzy to make these decisions...

You can do a mixed ballot so that some are ranked and some are unranked. Select "mixed" and leave a black space between the ranked and unranked portions.

― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Friday, 16 September 2016 14:24 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Black space = blank space, I assumed

D.C. al Voted

After the first cut, I have 194 pieces left.

Also, how did we forget the first two Penderecki string quartets??

And I finally cast my own ballot.

Did we really nominate that many Sibelius pieces and not "Finlandia"? I might not have voted for it anyway but it is a striking omission. I had a request to write that one in, which is totally fine. (Will accept any write-in votes, as long as seandalai is OK with it.)

Finlandia is not terrible but it would be like my 8th favorite Sibelius tone poem

yeah, that's the kind of Sibelius that made me think I didn't like Sibelius for a long time

Ha, I don't actually like the piece, to be clear.:P I still wouldn't call myself a fan but, for sure, e.g. Tapiola did lead me to re-evaluate him.

sund4r pls listen to the pcs nominated in this poll! Plus pohjola's daughter which was a glaring oversight

Forgot about this for months and didn't do any new listening, but I just put together a ballot of favorites.

I was the write-in for Finlandia

I decided in the last 12 hours to throw together a slapdash ballot for this. I'm going to be up for a few more hours sampling stuff I've heard before to make a 60 piece ballot. So far I've rediscovered stuff I've owned for years and realized how much I love it (Adams' Fast Ride, Messaien's Quartet pour la fin du temps), so this poll is working out for me even without the rollout.

xpost to Sund4r from July, Adams is pretty great, Nixon In China is way way better than Shaker Loops which honestly doesn't impress me that much anymore. Did you listen to Short Ride in a Fast Machine? It's fantastic. It's like taking amphetamines and seeing an opera.

I'm learning I have a hard time with 20th century vocal music. El Cimmaron, Berio's Sinfonia, etc

I had a ton of Reich on my shortlist but then most of it didn't stand up to the competition. I actually cut like four pieces of his, and that was one of the composers I held really highly before auditioning my picks.

Huh, I didn't know of that composer at all. It's good to see more votes coming in. Last day to vote, everyone!

Also not nominated but good to check out after the rollout: Simeon ten Holt's Canto Ostinato for four pianos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDCsOL2vBJc

Yeah, I really liked that one. Long but really enjoyable.

Would anyone be up for helping out with a Spotify playlist for the final list? I think it would be widely appreciated.

I could, if I happen to be around at the same time that the rollout is happening. The 15 year poll all rolled out while I was out of the house.

I can definitely do it. I just got overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the nominations list. Countdown list will be super easy by comparison.

Frankly I trust Jon not Jon to pick the best recordings over my own random selections. :)

Awesome. Thanks, Jon!

Zero consensus on the #1 notated piece since 1890.

yeah the nominations list is impossible to build.

Did any piece get more than one #1?

Nope. Two composers got two #1 votes each, but for different pieces in both cases.

And they share a first name!

Claude or Gustav?

Btw sund4r for communicating about playlist building & rollout, remove the Qs:

jqonqcroaq✧✧✧@gmq✧✧✧.c✧✧✧

Ugh it redacted that. Just send me an ilxmail it goes to the same address. And incl your email in it

I have the final results and we should be able to start tomorrow. I'm thinking of going through 10 pieces per day out of the top 100. To warm you up, here are Pierre Boulez's top 10 pieces of the 20th century: http://www.wnyc.org/story/10-great-works-20th-century-pierre-boulezs-90th-birthday/

so you plan doing the rollout the next 10 days?

This Boulez quote stuck out at me:

I don’t want to criticize my century, but the process of absorbing what is composed during this century is a very slow process, much too slow for me.

good list from Boulez, bit safe but yes feeling it

The rollout has started (and it's awesome!)

And I just listened to Ginastera's second cello concerto for the first time: wow!