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

Violin ConcertoErich Wolfgang Korngold

Hilary Hahn – Korngold – Violin Concerto in D major, Op 35

There’s no end to the anecdotes about the child prodigy Korngold.

After hearing a cantata he wrote at age nine, Mahler declared, “He’s a genius!” and the piano sonata he composed at twelve astonished Richard Strauss—his biography is filled with examples too numerous to count.

He would face hardships after that, but that’s another story.

Among his works, the most famous is this Violin Concerto.

It’s a piece suffused with a lyrical, decadent atmosphere, evoking a fragile beauty.

KraftMagnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg: Kraft / Gilbert · Berliner Philharmoniker

Now here comes a sound that truly says “contemporary music.” Yes, this is contemporary music.

Its aggressive, unfamiliar phrasing and rhythms are like a housewife panicking after plates and bowls tumble out of the kitchen cupboard overhead.

Prokofiev – Symphony No 5Valery Gergiev

Prokofiev – Symphony No 5 – Gergiev

Alongside Shostakovich’s Fifth, it is one of the 20th-century Russian orchestral works most frequently performed in the West.

Some listeners dislike its strong whiff of socialist-realist propaganda, but it is also worth hearing the anguished cry of an artist striving to preserve his conscience while surviving the brutal repression of the Stalin era.

Béla Bartók – Concerto For OrchestraThe Orchestra of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar

Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra

A work from the very last years of the composer’s life.

“Concerto for Orchestra” is a curious title, but it seems to appeal to composers; there are several works with the same name by Kodály and others as well.

Within the symmetric five-movement layout—fast, slow, slow, fast—one senses Bartók’s homesickness during his exile.

S.Prokofiev. Suite from The Love for Three Oranges.Michail Jurowski

S.Prokofiev. Suite from The Love for Three Oranges. 01. The Ridicules

The ballet music The Love for Three Oranges is a representative work from the period when he avoided the Russian Revolution and was active in Europe and America.

In contrast to the stifling works he produced after returning home, its freely expansive and highly original musical ideas are, paradoxically, all the more heartbreaking.

The March is sometimes performed on its own.

Alban Berg – WozzeckBruno Maderna

Alban Berg – Wozzeck (subtítulos en español)

The greatest masterpiece of 20th-century opera, with by far the most performances.

Although it’s a bold attempt to stage an opera using atonal music, the rapid pace of the story ensures it’s never boring.

It also holds an important place as one of the representative works of Alban Berg, a member of the Second Viennese School.

Dream of the SongGeorge Benjamin

It's funny—they call me Eminem because I talk too fast.

This piece is a work for countertenor and orchestra by the modern prodigy, Benjamin.

When you listen to Benjamin’s music, you’ll be amazed at how the precision of expressive shading and the sudden, explosive bursts from the orchestra all fit into the piece with consistency, without ever breaking apart.

It’s true craftsmanship.