Music Recommendation wanted! (please)

Hi,

I'm quite unfamiliar with the world of orchestral music.

Can someone please recommend some music that is primarily texturally driven. That is opposed to more melodically motivated music.

By 'texturally' I do not mean 'text' (as in a story or libretto)...I mean texture.

The composer melds the instruments together to achieve complex shifting textural landscapes.

Thanks much,

-todd

You can try some orchestral music by G. Ligeti (no titles in mind yet) or E. Varèse (Ameriques, Arcana).

Try Mahler's symphonies.

Have fun, Gideon Hess

: You can try some orchestral music by G. Ligeti (no titles in mind yet) or E. : Varèse (Ameriques, Arcana).

Ligeti was also the first composer who came to mind for me. I recommend his orchestral stuff from the 1960's. There is (or was) a Wergo CD that had 'Atmospheres' and 'Ramifications,' along with his choral piece 'Lux Aeterna,' which would do well for a start. You might also try the orchestral music of Webern, who, IIRC, invented the term 'Klangfarbenmelodie' (sound-color melody) to describe the use of shifting orchestral textures to replace melody. Another composer who used frequently used texture rather than melody per se was Ravel. Another master of orchestral texture wsa Stravinsky.

If you want music that is 'textural' but still has a melodic basis, I'd recommend Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler, and Berlioz.

A few that come to mind:

Stravinsky, Messiaen, Lutoslawski, Respighi (lots of melody and texture), Debussy, and Ravel to some extent.

The quintessetial example might be Ravel's Bolero, which plays the same (catchy) tune over and over for 18 1/2 minutes varying only the

Debussy (as some others have recommended as well); his three Nocturnes might be a good place to start, followed by La Mer.

By far, the most obvious choice is DEBUSSY. I mean of course 'obvious' in the sense of reasonably accessible music. A lot of modern music (Prenderecki, for example) would fit the bill even better. But Debussy, of all 'canonic' composers, composers loved by most 'mainstream' classical music enthusiasts, fits the bill.