Advance information:

It's time to start thinking about this year's MCML end-of-year vote (with
Dave's indulgence, of course!)

As previously announced, I propose that this time we vote for the most
definitively twentieth-century pieces of classical music. Not necessarily
the best pieces written during the century, but the one or ones that future
generations may look back on as best summing up the particular musical
nature of this departing century.

Rules:

1.  You may nominate up to five pieces.  Each piece nominated will score
one point - you do not have to rank them.  I would find it very hard, so I
don't see why I should ask others to do it.

2.  You may nominate more than one piece by the same composer.

3.  Qualification - the first public performance must have taken place
between 1 January 1900 and 31 December 1999 inclusive.

For anyone who feels like pointing out that 1900 was actually the dying
gasp of the 19th century not the start of the 20th, and that the 21st
century and the next millenium don't strictly begin until 1 January 2001:
You're absolutely right, but for practical purposes 99.9% of the human race
will think of the new century / millenium beginning on 1 Jan 2000, and I'm
not going to try to stand against a flow that size!  For the purposes of
this poll (and most other practical ones), "twentieth century" = any year
that starts with a 19.

Anyone who still wants to argue that point should pay close attention to
rule 5!

4.  Definition of "classical music" - I'm not going to be too prescriptive
about this.  If it's reasonably likely to have been programmed in a CM
context rather than a rock or pop or jazz one, that's good enough.  By
that definition, things like "Standing Stone" would just creep in, but the
Beatles' music in its original form wouldn't.  For the purposes of this
poll, I will regard Cage's 4'33" as qualifying.

5.  As usual, my decision is final and will not necessarily be defended.
That's my price for doing the work of collecting and processing the
contributions.

6.  Contributions (with Dave's agreement) either direct to me at
icrisp.ndirect.co.uk with the subject line "Twentieth Century Poll", or to
the list if you feel like defending your choices with arguments that may be
interesting or stimulating for list discussion.

7.  Deadline - the very last second of 1999.  I will be off-line in an
ancient thatched farmhouse in Suffolk with some old friends, drinking some
remarkable bottles that we've been collecting for the last twenty-five
years with an eye to that night.  So I don't expect I'll be processing the
results for a day or three after that, and slightly late contributions will
doubtless be accepted.

My first thoughts on my own nominations:

Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time
Stockhausen - probably Kontakte, possibly Gruppen
Schoenberg - something, but I'm not sure what yet.
Mahler - Symphony 9, but I might decide to go for the Cooke II version of 10.

and I'm not happy that these are all from the first half of the century.

Ian Crisp
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