Vocal: _Six Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"_ by George Butterworth.

The 20th century classical song cycle has suffered from the fact that it's
competing with more popular voices; but these postcards from the abyss
retain their deceptively simple power to this day.  Like Orson Welles in
his _Citizen Kane_, Butterworth (who was killed in the Battle of the Somme)
wrote his autobiography in advance with this score; but the real secret of
this work's genius lies in the startling obviousness of his settings...
like Huxley confronting Darwin's _Origin of Species_, one is intensely
embarrassed at not having thought of these ideas before (they seem to fit
so perfectly).

Dramatic: _Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)_ by Igor Strawinski &
_Job: A Masque for Dancing_ by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

It's almost a redundancy to include the Rite in a list like this:  quite
apart from the music's inherent power, this wash of late Romantic excess
was a watershed event against which several generations of CM would have to
respond.

Britain's grumpiest uncle _Rafe_ was one of the few composers to get into
Strawinski's face & stare him down from his podium. Granted: he was armed
with a much stronger program that Nijinksi's sensual lollipop; but _Job_'s
classic confrontation between good, evil & humanity comes as close as any
work i know to meeting Mahler's famous dictat. Though not a symphony per se,
_Job_ really is a world; & does encompass everything....

Orchestral: _Rhapsody in Blue_ by George Gershwin (orch. Ferde Grofe) &
_Violin Concerto: To the Memory of the Six Million_ by Benjamin Fankel.

The sublime eclecticism of Gershwin's vision has so colonised our musical
subconscious that it becomes difficult for us to appreciate how powerful
the shock of the Blue really was.  Borrowing somewhat from Gottschalk
(the secret father of all is interesting in US-American music), Gershwin
transcended his prototype in the astonishing way he integrated his popular
inspirations into a coherent concert whole...  the result was a rhapsody in
a completely different league to the sum of its component parts; & one of
the most popular sounds in 20th century music.

Frankel's masterpiece has yet to prove itself with a mainstream audience;
& is therefore the most radical selection (given the limited number of
selections allowed by this poll...  a list of 10 would be rather more
experimental).  It's included him not because its succeeded in popularising
itself; but because of the sustained power & vision of Frankel's writing;
& the overwhelming sense of loss which permeates so much 20th century
musical art.  Never cheap in its emotions - the easiest pitfall to vanish
down with a substext such as the Holocaust - the concerto remains
powerfully dramatic; & uses its classically Romantic structure to
achieve a highly satisfying beginning, middle & end.

One of my general parameters in judging art is that its ultimately
structured communication; so a work which is detailed but meaningless may
undoubtably be entertaining but can never be truly great.  It's as sensible
a definition as any doing the rounds; & more logical than some.

All the best,
Robert Clements <[log in to unmask]>