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

Suite: Antarctica – Penguin BalletNigel Westlake

Nigel Westlake – Antarctica Suite for Guitar and Orchestra- Mvt III, Penguin Ballet

Despite being a powerful, macho track, it’s actually a gem brimming with a candy-land charm.

The title “Antarctica” refers to the southern continent, and the song features wooden ships and penguins, weaving a grand epic.

It’s a masterpiece where divine, enchanting magic resounds.

Stravinsky, Symphony of PsalmsRiccard Muti

Igor Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms – Muti

A masterpiece among Stravinsky’s religious works—welcomed with bewilderment for praising God in one moment and singing of amorous matters in the next.

The lyrics are taken from the Psalms of the Old Testament.

Though the melodies may sound unfamiliar, they originally stem from Russian choral music strongly influenced by Byzantine chant.

Didgeridoo Concerto, Movement II: “Wind”Sean O’Boyle

It’s an eccentric piece written for didgeridoo—a traditional instrument used by Australia’s Indigenous Aboriginal people during ceremonies—and orchestra.

It takes real courage just to try blending an instrument that produces so many overtones and such ambiguous pitch with an orchestra, but the piece succeeds brilliantly as a work of art.

The Chairman Dances, from the opera Nixon in ChinaJohn Adams

John Adams – The Chairman Dances

From John Adams, often called a standard-bearer of post-minimalism, let me introduce this piece, which won a Grammy Award in 1989.

Some may ask, what exactly is post-minimalism? It’s essentially minimal music with greater flexibility.

There’s no precise definition—perhaps you could think of it as a slightly slack side-to-side repetition.

Definitions can be useful for both language and music, but there’s a bit of nonsense to them too.

Song for AthensJohn Tavener

Tavener: Song for Athene (King’s College Choir, Cambridge)

When Princess Diana died in an unexpected accident, the piece playing at her funeral ceremony was this work by Tavener.

Despite being a contemporary composer, the foundation of his technique lies in the church modes.

However, if you listen closely, you can hear harmonies and other elements subtly revealing that it was composed in the modern era.

Fanfare for the CitizensAaron Copland

Fanfare for the Common Man, New York Philharmonic, James Levine

This piece has been labeled as the most accessible music written in the 20th century, but it becomes a fanfare that transcends notions of being easy or difficult to understand—an iconic sound of its era.

What is passed down across times and nations surely bears evidence that some kind of life resides within it.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5Bernstein · New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 / Bernstein · New York Philharmonic Orchestra

A representative work by D.

Shostakovich, a leading figure of Soviet Russia.

He had been writing highly modernist pieces, keenly attuned to trends in the West, but was severely attacked during the Stalin era; this work was created as his answer to that.

It was highly acclaimed not only in the Soviet and Eastern Bloc but also in the West.