Masterpieces of contemporary (art) music. Recommended popular pieces.

Overture from The Threepenny OperaKurt Weill

Kurt Weill – Overture from The Threepenny Opera

When such a comical melody is performed with that distinctly German, hard-edged resonance, it becomes impossible to tell whether it’s a tragedy or a comedy.

It’s Brecht’s play The Threepenny Opera set to music by Weill, and since the overture already has this level of quality, the rest of the production is filled with even more strikingly original pieces.

Stravinsky ‘Soldier’s Tale’Leo Geyer

Stravinsky ‘Soldier’s Tale’ Performed by Constella Ballet & Orchestra

Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, in contrast to his ballet music that employed large orchestras, stages a Russian fable with a small ensemble that’s almost like chamber music.

There’s also a suite version, but I’d prefer to watch it together with footage of an actual staging featuring pantomime or ballet.

Bela Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and CelestaLinus Lerner

Bela Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

A mid-period masterpiece by the composer.

While drawing on Hungarian musical melodies, it unfolds a uniquely atonal world characteristic of the composer.

The uncanny theme at the opening, in fact rooted in folk music, is eloquently revealed at the very end of the finale.

Incidentally, the premiere was given by the Berlin Philharmonic under Furtwängler.

Arthur Honegger – Oratorio «Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher»National Opera House, Kyiv

Arthur Honegger – Oratorio «Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher» – 14.03.2015, National Opera House, Kyiv

A grand, ninety-minute work that portrays the life of France’s legendary patriot Joan of Arc, centered on dialogues at the stake, featuring a large orchestra augmented by the original electronic instrument, the ondes Martenot, as well as mixed chorus and children’s chorus.

Both the heroine, Joan, and her co-starring father are performed by actors speaking lines.

Arthur Honegger – Symphony No. 2 for strings and trumpetOndřej Vrabec

Arthur Honegger – Symphony No. 2 for strings and trumpet

A work that reflects the somber mood of World War II.

It is scored for string orchestra with a trumpet entering in the third movement.

Honegger’s works are generally rational in character, and some find their matter-of-fact quality hard to embrace, but the Second Symphony features relatively accessible melodies, making it an ideal introduction.

Variations pour orchestre opus 31 d’Arnold SchoenbergPierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez : Variations pour orchestre opus 31 d’Arnold Schoenberg

A large-scale orchestral work that Schoenberg presented to the world as his ultimate confident statement after exploring various forms of twelve-tone composition.

The theme is said to be derived from J.S.

Bach, though it is difficult to discern by ear.

It demonstrates that, even under the constraint of incorporating all the notes within the octave into a single work, a composition can achieve such expressive richness.

Berg: Three Pieces for OrchestraRattle Berliner Philharmoniker

Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker

Compared with his mentor Schoenberg and his friend Webern, Berg’s Romantic tendencies are markedly pronounced.

This Three Orchestral Pieces also startles with the roar of sounds typical of modern music, yet its viscous savor firmly traces the footsteps of late Romanticism that began with Tristan.