Apologies to readers for ongoing lack of updates. Normal editing of this page should be resumed in February 2010, with all previous missed months updated.

Art Collector: ClassCAM

Every month, Art Collector recommends 10 new Classics of Contemporary Art Music (ClassCAM) from around the world that deserve to stand alongside the great masterpieces of the past as 'classics' of art music. Each list will include (from August 2009) a couple of outstanding world premieres.

Month by month, these lists will build up into a unique 'art collection' of modern musical works of the highest quality.

Art music is a living tradition. ClassCAM is a simple testimony to the vitality and brilliance of new art music in the 21st century, and hopefully an encouragement to listeners, performers and programmers alike to expand their own (and others') musical experiences and knowledge, through CD/score purchase/borrowings and/or concert/recital attendance/organising.

Suggestions/Submissions

If you're a listener, performer or composer and would like to recommend something, please email gro.cosum@rotcelloctra with details of the work, composer and (if possible) a recording.

You can naturally make as many suggestions as you like (although preferably no more than about a dozen a month), including your own works if you're a composer. (Submissions may be held over and appear in ClassCAM in a subsequent month — no need for resubmissions.)

If at any time you experience and enjoy any of the works listed, whether on a CD or at a concert, please email either gro.cosum@rotcelloctra or gro.cosum@srettel with your comments, for possible publication. Your own feedback may well inspire others.

Preconditions

Apart from according with musoc.org's definition of art music, a work (or a revision), to be considered, must either (i) have received its world premiere by professional musicians this year; or, in the case of recordings, (ii) have been completed within the last three calendar years (discounting the current year) — in which case, it need not have been published (in score) or previously reviewed, but there must be a recording of it either on an independent label, i.e. any except Warner, EMI, Sony, Universal — see FAQ as to why — or self-published to a professional standard.

Key

Items are listed in no particular order. Though there is usually a variety of types of work, as well as composer nationalities, there are no fixed quotas; works are listed as they come to musoc.org's attention, so to speak.

Information is listed in 3 or 4 lines as follows:

  1. Composer's name, with year of birth (and year of death, if applicable)
  2. ClassCAM hallmark, title, 'subtitle' (if any), scoring, year of composition, approximate length (in minutes)
  3. Brief note, where approriate
  4. Premiere details - or - CD label & catalogue number, ratings (see below)

Reviews/Ratings

CD details given are always of recommended recordings, usually recent releases. Where no CD is available, a download link may given instead. Appearance in a monthly list is testimony to the excellence of the music itself, but musoc.org also gives ratings out of 5 for quality of performance and sound, as these can naturally impinge on appreciation of a work. 3 means reasonable, 4 very good, 5 excellent. Only reviews with an aggregate of 7 or more (and at least 3 in both categories) are included. A lower sound rating can be due to technical (equipment) failings or intrusive audience/background noise. Ratings apply only to the work in question, not (necessarily) to other works on a CD.

World premieres are not rated; although appearance in a monthly list is again testimony to the excellence of the music itself, reviewers do not have access to the same sound quality or notes/scores as for recordings.

Note: There is no advertising element to these reviews — musoc.org has no connection with anyone publishing or promoting music. Works listed have been selected on the strength of the music alone. ClassCAM is a review of artworks, not products (CDs).


Classics of Contemporary Art Music

January 2010

Scroll down for previous months. See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

Available shortly...

December 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

Available shortly...

November 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

Michael Finnissy (1946- )
ClassCAM The Transgressive Gospel, for 2 voices and chamber ensemble c120m. World Premiere June 2009, Spitalfields Festival, London

Thomas Larcher (1963- )
ClassCAM Sonata for Cello (2009) World Premiere June 2009, Wigmore Hall, London

Rest available shortly...

October 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

David Matthews (1943- )
ClassCAM String Quartet no.11, op.108 (2007-8) 20m.
World Premiere June 2009, St Jude-on-the-Hill, London

Aaron Jay Kernis (1960- )
ClassCAM Symphony no.3, 'Symphony of Meditations', for three solo voices, women's chorus and large orchestra (2009) c65m.
World Premiere June 2009, Benaroya Hall, Seattle

Rest available shortly...

September 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

Unsuk Chin (1961- )
ClassCAM Cello Concerto (2008-9) 30m.
World Premiere August 2009, BBC Proms

Detlev Glanert (1960- )
ClassCAM Fluss Ohne Ufer, for large orchestra (2008) 19m.
World Premiere June 2009, Philharmonie, Cologne

Philip Martin (1947- )
ClassCAM Fantasy, for flute, viola and harp (2008) 10m.
RTÉ Lyric FM CD122 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Christopher Ball (1936- )
ClassCAM Violin Concerto (2008) 36m.
Omnibus Classics CC5003 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

William C White (1983- )
ClassCAM Nunc Dimittis, for unaccompanied chorus (2007) 9m.
Cedille Records CDR90000109 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Bramwell Tovey (1953- )
ClassCAM Nine Daies Wonder, for violin, brass band & speaker (2007) 18m.
Egon SFZ 136 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

Peter Sculthorpe (1929- )
ClassCAM Baltimore Songlines, for violin, clarinet & piano (2006) 15m.
Crystal Records CD948 »» Performance 4 Sound 4

Christopher Gunning (1944- )
ClassCAM Symphony no.4 (2007) 24m.
Chandos CHAN10525 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Pierre-André Athané (1950- )
ClassCAM String Quartet no.1 (2007) 17m.
Opus Millésime GCK 20091 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

Jam Baudime (1972- )
ClassCAM Les Horizons Perdus, for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (2007) 37m.
Opus Millésime GCK 20091 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

August 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

Anna Meredith (1978- )
ClassCAM Left Light, for two pianos and orchestra (2009) 10m.
World Premiere August 2009, BBC Proms

Elliott Carter (1908- )
ClassCAM On Conversing With Paradise, for baritone and large ensemble (2009) 12m.
Words by Ezra Pound
World Premiere June 2009, Aldeburgh Festival

Tom Cunningham (1946- )
ClassCAM Scotland at Night, for chamber choir (2007) 13m.
Delphian DCD34060 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1923- )
ClassCAM Il Piffero della Notte, Fantasy, for flute and orchestra (2007) 22m.
Oehms Classics OC712 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Sylvie Bodorová (1954- )
ClassCAM Ja Ra Laj, suite on folk motives and texts from 27 Slovak, Balkan and Roma songs, for tenor and various instruments (2009) 55m.
Arco Diva UP0110-2 131 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Kalevi Aho (1949- )
ClassCAM Concerto, for viola and chamber orchestra (2006) 24m.
BIS CD1686 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Anders Hillborg (1954- )
ClassCAM Kongsgaard variations, for string quartet (2006) 16m.
Phono Suecia PSCD 182 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Mika Pelo (1971- )
ClassCAM Up, Down, Charm, Strange, for string quartet (2008) 14m.
Phono Suecia PSCD 182 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Jeajoon Ryu (1970- )
ClassCAM Sinfonia da Requiem Op.11, for soprano, choir and orchestra (2008) 43m.
Naxos 8.570599 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Carson Cooman (1982- )
ClassCAM Oboe Quartet, op.735 (2007) 18m.
Artek AR00472 »» Performance 4 Sound 5

July 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

James MacMillan (1959- )
ClassCAM St John Passion, for baritone, choir and orchestra (2008) 90m.
LSO Live LSO 0671 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

David Carlson (1952- )
ClassCAM Anna Karenina, opera in two acts (2007) 140m.
Libretto by Colin Graham, after the novel by Leo Tolstoy
Signum Classics SIGCD154 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

Arvo Pärt (1935- )
ClassCAM Für Lennart in Memoriam, for small string orchestra (2006) 8m.
ECM New Series 2050 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Ivo Malec (1925- )
ClassCAM Epistola, cantata for four soloists, chorus and large orchestra, (2006) 45m.
Text by Marko Marulić (Marcus Marulus) (1450-1524)
Timpani 1C1153 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Kalevi Aho (1949- )
ClassCAM Symphony No.14 'Rituaaleja' ('Rituals'), for chamber orchestra, darabuka, djembe and gongs (2007) 30m.
BIS CD 1686 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Jennifer Higdon (1962- )
ClassCAM String Poetic, for violin and piano (2006) 21m.
Cedille Records CDR 90000 103 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Edward Gregson (1945- )
ClassCAM Saxophone Concerto (2006) 24m.
Chandos CHAN10478 »» Performance 4 Sound 5

Colin Matthews (1946- )
ClassCAM Alphabicycle Order, for children's choir, narrator and orchestra (2007) 31m.
Hallé CD HLL 7515 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Rodion Shchedrin (1932- )
ClassCAM The Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk-songs, for cello and piano (2007) 18m.
Nimbus NI 5831 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Anders Koppel (1947- )
ClassCAM Concerto, for violin, accordion and orchestra (2001, revised 2007) 32m.
Dacapo 8.226055 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

June 2009

See Key (below right) for notes. To display the ClassCAM hallmark on a webpage, simply open this text file and cut and paste its contents where you want it to go. Clicking on the hallmark will bring the user to this page.

Kaija Saariaho (1952- )
ClassCAM Notes on Light, (concerto) for cello & orchestra (2006) 28m.
Ondine ODE1130-2 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

George Benjamin (1960- )
ClassCAM Into the Little Hill, for soprano, alto & 15 instruments (2006) 36m.
Text by Martin Crimp.
Nimbus NI5828 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Matthias Pintscher (1971- )
ClassCAM Nemeton, for solo percussion (2007) 17m.
Oehms Classics 'Debut' OC 716 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Richard Causton (1971- )
ClassCAM Phoenix, for piano, flute, clarinet, violin and cello (2006) 13m.
London Sinfonietta 'Jerwood Series' SINFCD1-2008 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

Per Nørgård (1932- )
ClassCAM Symphony no.7 (2006) 25m.
Dacapo (Naxos) 6.220547 »» Performance 5 Sound 4

Hans Peter Türk (1940- )
ClassCAM Siebenbürgische Passionsmusik für den Karfreitag nach Matthäus (2007) 70m.
MDG MDG90215546 »» Performance 4 Sound 4

Howard Blake (1938- )
ClassCAM Sonata op.586, for violin and piano (1973-2007) 24m.
Naxos 8.572083 »» Performance 5 Sound 5

Jim Cockey (1947- )
ClassCAM String trio no.2, 'To the Wandering Hero of Distant Lands' (2007) 18m.
No Label 5721 »» Performance 4 Sound 4

Britta Byström (1977- )
ClassCAM Sera, for orchestra (2002, revised 2007) 12m.
Phono Suecia PSCD174 »» Performance 4 Sound 4

Camden Reeves (1974- )
ClassCAM Das Hexenklavier, for piano (2006) 11m.
Campion Cameo 2070 »» Performance 4 Sound 4