audiophile recordings of 12 tone/serialist works


What are your favorite 12 tone, serialist, or other 20th century recordings for pure sonic excellence?

Here are some of mine:
1. original LP pressing of Webern columbia box set (Craft)
2. Schoenberg piano pieces on nonsuch (Paul Jacobs)
3. Ligeti string quartets on Wergo (Arditti)
4. John Cage number pieces on Mode (CD only)
5. Morton Feldman 'Coptic Light' (Michael Tilson Thomas)
Just to name a few...
chashmal
Pierre Boulez "Notations" by Chen (telos CD)

not exactly of dodecaphonic tradition but;

bartoks piano concertos by Geza Anda, conducted by Ferenc Fricsay (gramophone)
Here are a few more, keeping to the 12 tone/serialist genre...

Babbitt
..Three Compositions for Piano, Taub -pf (Harmonia Mundi HMC 5160)

Berg
..Three Pieces for Orchestra, op6, Dorati/LSO (Mercury SR 90316 Speakers Corner)

Fetler, Paul
..Contrasts for Orchestra, Dorati/MinneapolisSO (Mercury SR 90282 Speakers Corner)

Martino, Donald
..Notturno, Speculum Musicae (Nonesuch H 71300)

Schoenberg
..Pierrot Lunaire, op21, Atherton/LondonSinfonietta (Decca SXLK 6660-4)
..Five Pieces for Orchestra, op16, Dorati/LSO (Mercury SR 90316 Speakers Corner)

Stravinsky
..Agon, Atherton/London Sinfonietta (Argo ZRG 937)
..Cantata, Davis/ECO (L'Oiseau SOL 265)
..Septet (1953), Boston Symphony Players (DGG 2530 551)

Webern
..Five Pieces for Orchestra, op10, Dorati/LSO (Mercury SR 90316 Speakers Corner)

Wolpe
..Chamber Piece No. 1 (1964), Contemporary Chm Ens, (Nonesuch H71220)
..Quartet (1950,r1954), Contemporary Chm Ens, (Nonesuch H71302)
..Piece in Two Parts for Solo Violin, Harbison -vn (DGG/Acoustic Research Proj 0654 087)

Wuorinen
..Chamber Concerto for Cello and 10 Players, Group for Contemporary Music (Nonesuch H71263)
..Speculum Speculi, Speculum Musicae (Nonesuch H71300)
..Percussion Symphony, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble (Nonesuch H71353)
.
Rushton: I have never heard Martino. Is he a 12 tone composer? I am going to poke around and see if I can find some. (My secret reason for the thread is revealed: getting more music!)

I wish I had the original pressings of some of your listings.
Nonesuch is a gold mine for American contemporary classical music recordings. Much of their contemporary music catalog was recorded by the outstanding producer and recording engineer team of Joanna Nickrenz and Marc Aubort, and then mastered by Robert Ludwig at Sterling. I will purchase any LP recorded by Nickrenz and Aubort because I'm confident of being in for a sonic treat even if the music is unknown.

And the artists who recorded contemporary music for Nonesuch were really quite good: The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the divine Jan DeGaetani...

I used to be able to pick up used Nonesuch contemporary music recordings under $2. Now many of them are priced over $10 and a few (such as the Varese, Nonesuch 71269) over $20, but still not "expensive" as these things go, I suppose.
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Fool that I am, I just paid an embarassing $75 for the Nonesuch LP of Paul Jacobs playing the Schoenberg piano pieces over the internet. The thing that did it: it was still sealed. It blows the CD away, and I will get many many plays from it, so I do not regret the obscene and ridiculous price.

 

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Not sure it qualifies, but the MTT/SFSO of Orchestral Pieces by Alban Berg will make the hairs on the back of your head stand up, if you still have any 

Finally I am reading some other people singing the praises of of those Nonesuch "Spectrum: New American Music" recordings.

While Nonesuch was not always known for their dead quiet vinyl, the recordings themselves are universally great. And musically, the Spectrum series is right up my alley, being a fan of serialism and modernism in general. However, I am not a fan of the recordings of electronic instruments.

If I ever want to test a system for soundstage and imaging, I will usually use one of these recordings. It is so easy for me to imagine I can get off my listening chair, and walk ’into’ the soundstage, and among the musicians.

And the great thing is, these usually can be found at used record stores for under $10.00, usually $5.00.

The latest one I found is, with compositions by: Stefan Wolpe, Seymor Shifrin, Milton Babbit, George Rocberg, Ricahrd Wernick.The Wolpe, Shifrin and Babbit pieces are my favorite on the recording. Shifrin, I think, is a somewhat forgotten composer, but every time I hear something by him, I am always impressed.

Spectrum: New American Music

Another great one to check out, is on the Varese International label, by composer, Ernst Krenek, Static and Ecstatic, and Kitharaulos. 2 really fantastic pieces, by this somewhat underappreciated composer.

It also happens to have very impressive soundstage and imaging.

 

 

HA!

I didn't notice I was posting on a zombie thread, dead these 14 years.

Oh well, hopefully the information I posted will still be of interest to some. 

@mahler123 

Can you tell us exactly which Berg/Thomas recording you wrote about? 

Thanks.

I tried to transfer the link but failed.  Go to the Presto Classical Music website.

Enter Tilson Thomas/Berg in the search engine


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