A Young Person’s Guide to the Avant-Garde offers an accessible entry point into the often challenging world of 20th-century modernist music. This compilation explores diverse avant-garde movements, including Futurism, Surrealism, and Dadaism, featuring pioneering works in electronic music and musique concrète.
This comprehensive collection, boasting 145 minutes of music spread across two CDs, provides a survey of pivotal moments in musical history. The set comes with an illustrated booklet containing detailed historical context.
A Sonic Journey Through the Avant-Garde
This collection is a curated exploration of musical innovation, designed as a young person’s guide to the avant-garde. The tracklist includes both seminal works and lesser-known gems.
Disc 1: Breaking with Tradition
- Erik Satie Vexations (1893)
- Leo Ornstein Suicide in an Airplane (1913)
- Luigi Russolo Risveglio di una città (1913)
- F. Balilla Pratella L’Aviatore Dro (1915)
- Antonio Russolo Corale (1924)
- F.T. Marinetti La Battaglia di Adrianopoli (1924)
- Franco Casavola Dance of the Monkeys (1925)
- George Antheil Mechanisms (1923)
- Marcel Duchamp Musical Erratum (1913)
- Francis Poulenc Mouvements perpétuels (1918)
- Ribemont-Dessaignes Pas de la chicorée frisée (1920)
- Francis Picabia La nourrice américaine (1920)
- Jean Cocteau La Toison d’Or (1929)
- Kurt Schwitters Die Sonata in Urlauten (1932)
- Robert Desnos Description of a Dream (1938)
Disc 2: Expanding Sonic Boundaries
- Charles Ives The Unanswered Question (1906)
- Arnold Schoenberg Sechs kleine klavierstücke (1911)
- Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (extract) (1913)
- Josef Matthias Hauer Tanz Op. 10 (1915)
- Arthur Honegger Pacific 231 (1923)
- Alexander Mosolov Iron Foundry (1927)
- Henry Cowell The Aeolian Harp (1923)
- John Cage 4’33” (1952)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen Gesang der Jünglinge (1956)
- Edgard Varèse Poème électronique (1958)
- György Ligeti Atmosphères (1961)
Key Movements and Composers
A Young Person’s Guide to the Avant-Garde isn’t just a collection of tracks; it’s a curated narrative of musical evolution. Here’s a closer look at some of the key figures and movements featured:
Futurism: This Italian artistic movement embraced technology and the energy of the machine age. Composers like Luigi Russolo sought to incorporate the sounds of the modern world into their music, using noise generators (intonarumori) to mimic the din of factories and urban life. His Risveglio di una città (Awakening of a City) is a prime example of this radical approach.
Dadaism: Born out of the disillusionment of World War I, Dada rejected logic and reason in favor of absurdity and irrationality. Marcel Duchamp, better known as a visual artist, challenged traditional notions of music with his Musical Erratum, an open-ended work that embraced chance and indeterminacy.
Surrealism: Exploring the subconscious mind and the realm of dreams, Surrealism found expression in music through composers like Robert Desnos, whose Description of a Dream is a sonic collage that evokes the illogical and dreamlike qualities of the subconscious.
Serialism: Arnold Schoenberg’s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke represents the development of serialism, a method of composition that uses a series of pitches, rhythms, and other musical elements to create a highly structured and often atonal sound.
Musique Concrète and Electronic Music: The latter half of the 20th century saw the rise of musique concrète, which used recorded sounds as raw material for composition, and electronic music, which employed synthesizers and other electronic instruments to create entirely new sonic landscapes. Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge, blending a boy soprano’s voice with electronic sounds, and Edgard Varèse’s Poème électronique, created for the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, are groundbreaking examples of these movements.
The Impact of the Avant-Garde
The composers and movements featured on A Young Person’s Guide to the Avant-Garde challenged the very definition of music, pushing the boundaries of sound and form. Their innovations continue to influence contemporary music and art, demonstrating the enduring power of their radical vision. The Rite of Spring‘s influence on modern music can’t be overstated.
A Starting Point for Exploration
This collection serves as an excellent starting point for anyone interested in exploring the rich and diverse world of avant-garde music. By providing a historical context and showcasing key works from different movements, A Young Person’s Guide to the Avant-Garde opens the door to a deeper understanding and appreciation of this often misunderstood genre.
The Legacy of Innovation
The avant-garde wasn’t just about breaking rules; it was about forging new paths and expanding the possibilities of musical expression. This collection reminds us that innovation often comes from challenging conventions and embracing the unknown.
