Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was a pianist of great power and velocity. He fled from Russia, after the Communist Revolution in 1917, and eventually settled in the United States where he later became a citizen. He was very popular as a concert performer, playing his own works and transcriptions of others. He, perhaps, was the last great pianist of the "Paris salon" style, playing an eclectic mix of classics, light classics and the best of the popular music of the day. As a composer, his music is more comfortable in the romantic, post-romantic and chromatic periods than in the modern, but, his birthdate places him in the modern era. His piano compositions were a chromatic weaving of tonalities old and new, filled with passage work - arpeggios, figurations, runs, tremolos and trills. Considered a popularizer and a lightweight by the some of the "heavier" musicians and critics, he was reluctant to let go of the beautiful, tonal music of the past, so reminiscences of Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Grieg and many others can be heard in his work. This is in no way a reflection on his originality. He was a master of weaving the past into a new style. He is famous for his 2nd Piano Concerto, written after a bout with depression over the lukewarm reception to his 1st Piano Concerto (1st movement - 2nd movement - 3rd movement,) which is a masterpiece of weaving traditional with modern tonalities and rhythmic vitality with a sure knowledge of the instrument. His 3rd piano concerto seems to be an afterthought, dashed off by a busy performer, that doesn't reach the heights of the previous two. The 4th concerto is a short, abridged offering that attests to Rachmamimov's popularity and preoccupation with performing. Of his many works considered standard repertoire are the memorable Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the Piano Preludes (Prelude in g minor, Op.23) and the Vocalise.

Expressionism.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern are noted members of this style of composition which intends to express inner emotional and psychological states directly. Schoenberg , later in his career, wrote an excellent treatise on traditional harmony entitled Structural Functions of Harmony.

The 12-tone and serial compositional techniques are somewhat limited if strictly followed. Music written with a single, strict 12-tone row sounds repetitive in a melodic and harmonic sense, proportionate to the length of a composition. In order to keep music in this style listeneable, the composer must develop groups of tone rows that are capable of producing varied melodic lines, fragments (a natural part of this style,) harmonies derived from the rotation of several rows or shorter tone groups rather than a single, repeating row and rhythm and dynamics as key elements in sustaining variety. Varying instrument colors and taking advantage of the various tone colors of a particular instrument are also necessary in keeping this style fresh. Personally speaking, this style and technique is generally too wandering and harsh for comfortable listening unless the tone groupings arrived at are "tonal" enough. Without adequate tonal material and variation, it is a style limited in the type of feelings, emotions and other expressions that can be communicated effectively with it. Generally, it is a style that prefers mathematical organizational principals over a creative expression based on a good, healthy spirit and positive emotions. Said in another way, I believe the best music is movitated from a happy and well-adjusted spirit, is spontaneous, is driven by the words or emotions it is supporting, enlightening or communicating and is free enough to not be stifled by technique but is structured enough to not be musically and stylistically rambling (unless of course that is called for.) Forgive me if I seem contemptuous towards this style of music. I was quite fascinated with it for a time in college; I studied and wrote a number of works in this style. Then, I realized its limitations and the dark spirit from which this style of composition emerged . . . and turned from it. For those who originally conceived and developed atonal and serial expressionism and for some of those who continue to practice and develop the style, it represents the chaos of complete breakdown of the traditional order and a hell on earth. The music revolves around dark and unstable tonal areas.

Europe was undergoing rapid change just before and during the first third of the 20th century due to the industrial revolution, political unheaval and war. Schoenberg , believing the possibilities of tonal music fully explored to the point of exhaustion after ultra-chromaticism (one of his representative and best works of the period being Verklarte Nacht (1899) - Transfigured Night for string sextet, arranged for string orchestra) sought to find a new way of musical expression. Chromaticism had pushed tonality to the point of atonality. During this period, Five Orchestral Pieces is a chilling example of atonal expressionism. The melodies are becoming increasingly fragmented with rapid shifting tone colors. One of the pieces begins quietly with the reed instruments, creating the sound image of a chilly, foreboding wind blowing through the reeds on a high mountain lake as a fisherman or boatman contemplates the disturbing disintegration of the society that he and his ancestors had known for so long. For another example, this time for the piano, listen to Schoenberg 's Klavierstucke, Op.19, No.2.

Schoenberg was working out a system for ordering all twelve tones of the chromatic scale. These dodecaphonic serial compositions, based on tone rows (the particular arrangement of the twelve tones,) provided a way of escaping traditional harmony completely. This was for the aforementioned composers, a better way of expressing the turmoil that they and their compatriots in Austria, Germany and throughout Europe were experiencing. By ordering the tones in groups within the row, special emphasis could be given to certain notes as tonal centers or groups of notes as tonal patterns.

The basic idea was that you had to move through all twelve tones before you could repeat the row. A composer could use the tones as a single line melody, counterpoint or harmony. An individual tone or already used group of tones in the current pass of the row could be repeated before moving on to the next tone. Four forms of the row could be employed - original, inverted (intervals mirrored,) retrograde (backward,) or retrograde inversion and all four forms could be transposed like tranposing a song from the key of C to Ab.

Near-tonal sounding results may be achieved by ordering the tones in such a way that the melodic or harmonic combinations produce a more traditional sound, although many composers adapt this style to get away from "traditional tonality." Pantonality or free tonality is a free use of the twelve tones according to the ear of the composer. Within free tonality, you can be as tonal or atonal as you wish. Even the 12 tone and serial composers exercised some freedom in their application of the tone rows. You or I or anyone can sit down at the piano or take their instrument or sing out a group of tones and arrange them in the order that seems best, write them down and them use them to compose a piece of music. When serial composition was first beginning, this was more the modus operandi. The ear was the guide for the arrangement of the tones based on what was being communicated in the music. In many cases today, serial composition has become largely a matter of random generation of tone rows according to mathematical formulas using a computer. Any spirit, heart, soul or mind is removed from the process except for that possessed by the machine. A cold, dry prospect from my point of view. For a study of this musical style written before the computer invasion, see "Serial Composition and Atonality" by George Perle.

Alban Berg and Anton Webern were both students of Schoenberg. Berg tended to be more romantic in serial style (the Piano Sonata, the Lyric Suite and the operas Wozzeck and Lulu) and Webern, in turn, more formal and mathematical. His compositions were strikingly crystalline, short, compressed, contrapuntal and mostly chamber music. Representative works include the 5 Movements for Strings (Op.5) and the 6 Pieces for orchestra (Op.6)

Neo or new explorations of past styles.

The sometimes harsh wanderings of atonal music led to neo-classicism (Stravinsky, Walter Piston,) neo-romanticism (Walter Piston, Howard Hanson and others,) the pandiatonicism ("white note music") of Copland and Bernstein and eventually the free or pan-tonality in which anything was acceptable.

Igor Stravinsky is often considered the great master of the 20th century by many modern music historians. He certainly stumbled upon the idea of abstracting styles from the past, recasting them by employing new instrumental combinations, irregular rhythms and accents, the ostinato (repetition of a pattern) and pandiatonicism. Stravinsky's "neo-classicism" often appears to be derived by taking the scores of the great masters and abstracting them. He may move in and out of the form, certainly he will alter the harmony and all of a sudden the melody will pause in a flourish of rhythmic ostinati as the instruments mark time almost as if noodling around in a jazz style. Prime examples of this style can be heard in the Symphony of Psalms and the Symphony in C. Stravinsky gave Debussy the credit for being the composer who most impacted the directions that music of the 20th century would take - a movement away from traditional melodic and harmonic development according to established patterns and toward a music marked by associations of tone color and rhythm - free from any particular connection between melody, harmony or rhythm other than that which the composer chose to communicate. Stravinsky was famous for composing music that offended audiences initially, sending them fleeing from the concert hall. Such was the case with a modern musical monstrosities titled, "The Rite of Spring." It was the music for a ballet about a pagan ritual of human sacrifice. The ballet was choreographed by Sergei (Pavlovich) Diaghilev (1872-1929), Russian ballet impresario. Stravinsky worked in a time when it was in vogue to tear down the great, lofty music of the past and elevate the pagan. Perhaps his greatest achievement is the Firebird Suite, a collection of some of the most beautiful and tonal music from a ballet. Agon, another ballet score, was a composition in the serial style. If you have never heard it, or this style, it may sound like chilly, even icy air from another planet, strange and new to the ears.

In the 1930's, the nationalistic American symphony was the focus of numerous composers including Walter Piston, William Schuman, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and Roy Harris.

Walton Piston (1894-1976) wrote 4 Symphonies; perhaps, the most popular is the second. Hallmarks of his work include development of themes derived from American ethnic music, contrasting sections of the orchestra, wind band passages, irregular rhythms, extreme ranges and more difficult keys. Piston, originally a painter, may have been influenced by a passage from Robert Schumann's Noveletten No. 4 (bars 19-20) when working on the slow movement of his 2nd symphony, or it may have found its way naturally out of the material he was developing.

William Schuman developed a style which is marked by the use of polychords. Among his work, the New England Tryptich, the 3rd Symphony and the Symphony for Strings stand out. He discovered his gifts for administration, becoming Director of Julliard in 1945 and President of Lincoln Center in 1962.

The pandiatonic style, sourced in the music of Stravinsky, continued with Aaron Copland, who influenced many American and world composers including Leonard Bernstein (1918-1991.) Of course, the career successes of Mr. Bernstein are widely known. Perhaps lesser known is the constant struggle and insecurity within him that drove him and, at times, made him feel that he hadn't completed a work of sufficient stature, although, he acknowledged that "West Side Story" (the 1950's Broadway musical turned into a 1960's film) was a pretty good piece. Of course, this is an understatement as some of the most beautiful melodic/harmonic combinations of the 20-century are to be found in its songs, in the music supporting and enhancing the choreography and in the instrumental interludes. Other works include the Jeremiah Symphony (based on text from the Tanakh or Old Testament Book of Lamentations, Chs.1,4 and 5); the symphony No.3-"Kaddish" (Sanctification) which explores the Jewish prayer of sanctification and was premiered in Tel Aviv (1963) with the composer conducting; the Chichester Psalms; the film score and Symphonic Suite from "On The Waterfront"; the Overture to Candide; the pop-culture "Mass," commissioned to honor John F. Kennedy (a theatre piece for singers ("Celebrant" - male soloist, operatic-style soloists, chorus,) dancers and musicians (orchestra with percussion, marching band, rock band, acoustic guitar soloist) in which the "Celebrant" and other soloists and chorus alternately worship God and question Him in a pop-singing style contrasted with fragments from the traditional Mass in latin sung by soloists and chorus. This mostly up-tempo, anxious work sought to capture the composer's own questions and doubts as well as the turbulent decade of the sixties.

He certainly "pushed the envelope" musically, bringing ethnic, jazz and popular elements into the "classical music" arena. For example, in The Masque - Part Two b. of "The Age Of Anxiety," Symphony No.2 for Piano and Orchestra after W.H. Auden (1948 - revised 1965,) a virtuoso pianist and a large battery of pitched and unpitched percussion players join the orchestra in a frenetic, jazzy movement in a tempo marked "extremely fast." The recordings which I've heard were on vinyl from the Columbia Masterworks series, which is most likely available on CD now.

He was a conductor in the tradition of Wagner and Franz Liszt - dramatic and prone to interpret from the music his own vision of the work. A number of energetic and moving performances were recorded under his baton. His faster tempos in the Shostakovich 5th (particularly the 4th movement) wowed even the Russian audiences when he toured with the New York Philharmonic. His affinity for the symphonies of Gustav Mahler is preserved on record and his interpretations of Copland are equal or better than the composer's own. At home with any kind or style of music, he was conductor and music director of the New York Philharmonic.

Perhaps an even greater impact made by "Lenny" was his ability to reach others as a music educator; The Young Peoples' Concerts with the New York Philharmonic broadcast by CBS in the 1960's; The deeply philosophical Harvard Lectures on the origin, motivation and nature of musical expression, entitled "The Unanswered Question"; his work at the Tanglewood Festivals and around the world with young performers.

Aaron Copland was praised for developing a style based on and influenced by jazz rhythms, New England hymnody, Western frontier and Appalachian folk songs and Latin American pop styles . . . a truly American classical music. He was criticized for popularizing classical music; making it more accessible by "watering it down" with jazz and popular styles. Regardless, he left a great body of work that has influenced many composers around the world. His music can be simple and beautiful without pretense or fear of being too easy to listen. And, it can be harsh and strident like modern urban society with its clangorous noise and the evils of technology and overpopulation.

A very popular work is the 3rd Symphony, conducted by Bernstein on the recording. The 1st movement introduces themes developed in later movements. An A-B-A scherzo forms the second movement. The 3rd, slow movement is a very introspective and personal work that might trace the path of innocence and the world's attempts to destroy it and rob it of its joy, yet it emerges wiser and unscathed. His popular "Fanfare for the Common Man," is one of the themes for the 4th movement along with the recapitulation of the entire work. Powerful brass statements figure strongly in this movement.
Copland's Piano Sonata, written during the years of World War II, represents the modern, darker side of his work. Other representative and popular works include music for the ballet - Appalachian Spring, Rodeo and Billy The Kid; the narrated Lincoln Portrait, with a narrator reciting from Lincoln's speeches; music for the theatre and films - "Our Town," "The Heiress" and "The Red Pony."

Some of his lesser known works, except among those who have heard them, include the Clarinet Concerto - written for Benny Goodman, Music for a Great City, the Organ Symphony and Four Piano Blues.

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) is famous for his Sabre (Sword) Dance, which has been simplified for piano and featured as background music for numerous film and tv projects. His work is nationalistic, representative of Armenian folk music. He was particularly active in composing music for films, ballet and theatre.

Composer as craftsman.

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) was a German composer who left the country when the Nazi regime was critical of the 1934 premiere of his symphonic work, Mathis der Maler. The programmatic musical work was created from thoughts about Matthias Grunewald, an artist who rendered apocalyptic scenes of terror with rare vividness. He died in 1528, and is now widely regarded as not only the last but the greatest exponent of the German Gothic style.
( 1st movement, 2nd movement, 3rd movement)
Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler authored an article, "The Hindemith Case", written in agreement with Hindemith, that appeared in several German daily newspapers. After the opposition refered to Hindemith's music as being without resonance, Furtwangler resigned all his posts and left Berlin for several months. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels denounced Hindemith as an "atonal noisemaker" during his speech at the Berlin Sport Palace. The only art music officially approved for Adolf's third reich was that of Richard Wagner - music dramas that glorified ancient German folk lore - the stuff of teutonic knights and the nether regions of the underworld.

The first main theme introduced in the first movement of Mathis sounds like a transformation on the British sea shanty "Blow The Man Down." This theme may have had an earlier source or Hindemith may have had a message for the Nazis in his usage of it. Regardless, the answer lies with him or in researching his writing, those who knew him and those of the historians who have attempted to capture his life.

Hindemith believed that he was of the working class rather than of the artistic. His works include Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber (3rd movement, 4th movement,) Ragtime and Sonata for Organ. Musical materials used in his works are based on a mixture of traditional tertian harmony (built on thirds,) secundal clusters (groups of notes either directly adjacent or with only one note between,) chromatic quartal/quintal harmony (a sliding harmony based on fourths and fifths) with melodies, sometimes in a jazzy/improvisatory style, that angularly hop, jump, skip and wind into the harmonic scheme. As Hindemith and Walter Piston (see above) were contemporaries, there is some stylistic cross-influence between them including the incorporation of transformed folk melodies in their works, the exploration of quartal and quintal harmonies, large orchestras with complete sections that get plenty of work and they share the assignment of all the sections of the orchestra to occasional passages that sound like a concert band. Often building to loud climaxes by stacking up layers of sound using the entire orchestra, much of his work has a dark, frightening tone. Frequent irregular rhythms, close/dissonant intervals in the melody and harmony, rapid chromatic runs or chromatic woodwind trills help to give it this sound, which may be an expression of the horrors he left behind in Nazi Germany.

Anti-music.

The middle of the 20th century saw the rise of anti-music, which was an effort to destroy all that had come before. This is a very broad category that ranges from a sincere desire to create something new to a mean-spirited attack on the past. Erik Satie is sometimes credited with being one of the early proponents of this philosophical change in how music is perceived and performed. This movement had allies in the beat poetry and drug cultures, the hippie movement and other like-minded sects who wanted to break from the past, start over and fuse music with popular culture, left-wing and feminist politics and eastern/new age philosophy.

Many pieces from this style required instruments to be prepared or played in new and often less resonant ways. Techniques called for "prepared piano" with metal objects, clothespins, etc. attached to the strings, nails driven into the soundboard to bend the strings or to altered the resonance, etc. One piece called for the dousing with gasoline and burning of a piano, the "musical" content being the sound generated by the squawking of the strings and as the heat caused them to change shape and the crackling and popping of the burning wood as the piano is destroyed. This work was one of a number of philosophical attempts to communicate that the day of the piano virtuoso and the dominance of the instrument was over. Similar works communicated that the traditional forms and practices (chamber music with traditional instruments, soloist with piano accompaniment, large orchestral forms, the egotistical composers and conductors) were no longer valid or needed - music was now to be made by and accessible to the masses. Electric instruments were often called for in scores along with extensive batteries of percussion instruments. Often these works were aleatory, including chance and improvisatory performance styles. Musical scores became graphic works of art in themselves and theatrics often accompanied the music. For example, a player would be given a sheet of paper with several boxes drawn on it, the boxes containing pitch, rhythm or dynamic values from which the player selected whatever they wanted to play and when to play it. Sometimes a signal would be given and all the players would switch values at the same time. The minimalist style has some links here but its roots can be found much earlier in music history.

Minimalism.

Steve Reich (Music for 18 Musicians, The Desert Music) and Phillip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi) are well-known practitioners of this style which tends to apply minimal musical materials, sometimes with limited instrumental resources. The result is a music which is generally very rhythmic, repetitive and often hypnotic. The repetition is actually more of a gradual shifting of patterns which move between instrument combinations in what could be described as an "organic" way. The changes in the music are often as simple as shifting accents over the same or similar melodic lines or harmonic/rhythmic ostinati which gradually or suddenly shift into different tonal, harmonic or rhythmic regions. Another example of this style is Mabus, composed by Jeff Fallen.

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