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

Ballet Music: “Eliza’s Aria” from The Wild SwansElena Kats-Chernin

Eliza’s Aria by Elena Kats-Chernin

It’s a goosebump-inducing masterpiece.

The phrase “contemporary music” tends to evoke things like the sound of helicopters, sitting through four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence, or performing freely while looking at clumsy drawings written on the score.

But it’s about time we think about what comes after the term ‘contemporary music.’ That may be our responsibility, as people living in the present.

Suite “Mission”Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone – (2002) La Misión [Suite Orquestal]

Hailing from Italy and renowned in the field of film music, Morricone’s works evoke a certain wistful nostalgia.

In particular, this piece—composed as the soundtrack for the film The Mission—is a gem of a masterpiece that gives us courage, reminding us that the human spirit is inherently strong.

Stravinsky: PetroesjkaAndris Nelsons

Stravinsky: Petroesjka / Petrouchka Concertgebouw Orchestra Live concert HD

The second work in Stravinsky’s ballet trilogy.

It’s the first piece where his distinctive voice really comes to the fore, yet it’s not widely known that performers often find it more difficult than The Rite of Spring.

Originally conceived as a short piece for piano and orchestra, it is also known for the prominent role given to the piano.

Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2

When it comes to Prokofiev, only Peter and the Wolf tends to be covered in school education, but he is one of the key composers who embodied European modernism from the Russian Revolution through World War II.

He wrote two violin concertos, both works in which the composer’s extraordinary talent overflows within a concise instrumentation.

Mirror in the Mirror (Spiegel im Spiegel)Arvo Part

Arvo Pärt- Spiegel im Spiegel

Arvo Pärt presents sounds as if they had already been resonating there, offering them in a natural form.

Many of his masterpieces seem to borrow just a touch of inspiration from nature, turn it back into sound, and return it to nature again—an artfulness within apparent randomness.

This piece, too, is like gazing at your face in parallel mirrors, discovering many versions of yourself, and feeling a quiet joy.

Stravinsky – Pulcinella SuiteJaap van Zweden

Stravinsky: Pulcinella (complete)

A Classical-period masterpiece that boldly reworks and repurposes the music of the Baroque-era Italian composer Pergolesi.

At first glance, its clear, beautiful melodies don’t evoke Stravinsky, but throughout the piece it contains numerous clever devices that led the patron to wryly remark it was like “adding a mustache to the Mona Lisa.”

String Quartet No. 3Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman String Quartet No. 3 (1990)

What a stylishly sorrowful melody it is.

Composed by Michael Nyman to commemorate the Romanian Revolution, the piece draws its inspiration from Romanian folk melodies, yet its approach is entirely different from Bartók’s.

If Bartók is a gypsy wagon racing through a whirlwind, Nyman evokes the headlong rush of London’s intricately interwoven Tube.