Modern Classical

How many times have you heard it: "I just don't get what these modernists are up to"? With so many choices, it's hard to know where to dip in to the modern classical scene. We're here to help. No matter your taste, we guarantee there's something — perhaps many somethings — on our playlist that you're going to dig. Philip Glass' "Koyaanisqatsi" (the word is a Hopi term for "life out of balance") brings a sort of tribal minimalism into play — earthy, spiritual, and much more heart-driven than some of Glass' earlier, more cerebral work. If that's too adventurous a first step, check out Joshua Bell's neo-romantic theme from The Red Violin. Like the movie's instrument itself, Bell's performance is the perfect union of passion and craftsmanship. And if flat-out gorgeous is what you crave, try Sharon Isbin's reading of Cuban composer Leo Brouwer's "El Decameron Negro: III. Balada De La Doncella Enamorada," ripe and succulent as a mango.

In Next Steps, we travel the globe, from north to south and into the Far East in search of an international perspective on modern classical music.

Take a global journey with us as we explore modern classical music from three different hemispheres. Finnish-born composer (and longtime musical director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic) Esa-Pekka Salonen's "Gambit, for Orchestra" was composed in 1998 as a 40th-birthday present for his friend, composer Magnus Lindberg, but it also resonates with the sonorities of his famous countryman (whose academy Salonen attended) Jean Sibelius. In Argentine composer and tango king Astor Piazzolla's "Buenos Aires Hora Cero" ("Buenos Aires Zero Hour"), violinist Gidon Kremer's impassioned and elegant style complements the traditional bandoneón (and the less traditional harpsichord) with a muscular grace. And the young Toru Takemitsu points toward his future while nodding at the past in "Solitude Sonore (1958)," written in response to Toshiro Mayuzumi's Nirvana Symphony, right down to its evocation of bells as a portent of delight and destiny.

In Deep Cuts, we'll discover how modern composers . . . may not be quite as modern as you think.

In the classical music world, just as in our daily lives, everything old is new again, and we have the selections to back up our contention. Danish composer Per Norgard's "Bach to the Future: I. C Major" is the first movement of a fantasy on Bach's preludes from "The Well-Tempered Clavier," performed with a certain airy playfulness by a pair of percussionists known as the Safri Duo, supported by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard. While Poland's Henryk Górecki's haunting "Amen" remains resolutely modernist in its sound (which was dubbed by some critics as part of the "holy minimalist" movement), his theme is as ancient as Western music itself, steeped in the majesty and mystery of faith. And Academy Award®-winning American composer John Corigliano's "Voyage for Flute and String Orchestra," performed by flautist James Galway and the Eastman Philharmonia, conducted by David Effron, has roots in the lush, pastoral sounds of Ives and Debussy.

Modern Classical? Sounds a bit of an oxymoron, doesn't it, like "contemporary artifact" or "improvised choreography." No need for confusion: while serious contemporary composers' styles run the table from primitivist to minimalist, from 12-tone serialism to found-sound collage and beyond, we've skimmed off the crème de la crème for your enjoyment and edification. We aren't going to pretend that all of it's going to be to your taste, unless you have a very eclectic palate, but if you weren't sure where to dip into the roiling waters of modern classical composition, we can provide something of a road map. From superstar composers like Philip Glass and Henryk Górecki, to celebrated conductors like Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa, to A-list soloists like Joshua Bell and Meredith Monk, we've got an indispensable guide to the best of the modern classics.