How to better navigate the 'new classical' genre?

October 2, 2024 4:24 PM

Nils Frahm is to Piano, as ______ is to strings*

*any strings count. Initially was thinking more bowed instruments, but if you're holding harps and guitars that's legit too.

I enjoy lots of ambient music that skirts in on modern composers, or new classical territory but "modern composers" and "new classical" appear to be vastly wide terms and/or genres that I don't have the vocabulary to yet navigate with any accuracy or aim. Several albums from Frahm, Olafur Arnalds and Hana Rani have been on heavy rotation as we move into autumn, and I'm having a really hard time describing why I've been gravitating towards those instead of other artists that are often described the same way.

Very much looking for things that can easily snuggle up next to each other within the 'modern composer' and 'ambient' venn diagram. Single artists, maybe small groups of folks, no big productions. Intimate recordings I think is a useful term? Being able to hear the hammers and piano pieces moving in Frahm's work is oddly soothing.

Will also gladly accept assistance in describing this type of music better.

Who's holding?

posted by furnace.heart to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

Just last week I was listening to a random youtube playlist (ahem, lol) and the only pieces that aren't already part of my regular rotation were by Alexander Litvinovsky. Who is Alexander Litvinovsky? I don't know! Dude doesn't even have a wikipedia page! But there he was in between Vivaldi and Dvorak and Beethoven. Best I can tell he's contemporary, composes mostly for strings, and is still actively composing.

And now for a week I have been listening to his music nonstop on repeat. I'm really liking his stuff:
Tales of The Magic Tree
Le Grand Cahier
Pelleas et Melisande

No idea if this is what you're asking for but since like I said repeat nonstop since last week, any excuse to share.
posted by phunniemee at 4:47 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

everynoise.com labels Frahm's music as compositional ambient, electronica, and neoclassical darkwave. None of these particularly remind me of music with strings.

The compositional ambent map has him near Dmitri Shostakovich, Philip Glass, Philip Glass, John Adams, and Arvo Part, all of whom seem more modern yet "traditionally" classical. Farther away, some possibilities include Bing & Ruth, Bruce Brubaker, and Christopher O'Riley but again, piano-oriented. There's also Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, Balanescu Quartet, Harold Budd, Penguin Cafe Orchestra and Henryk Gorecki FWIW.

This official Spotify playlist covers compositional ambient but I can't say if there any matches for you.
posted by aworks at 6:27 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

I'm also looking at the Neoclassical Spotify playlist.
posted by aworks at 6:45 PM on October 2

Try Natalia Tsupryk, both her solo work and collaborations with Angus Macrae. And Anne Müller, particularly Heliopause.
posted by Handstand Devil at 6:58 PM on October 2

David Darling, Dark Wood (cello)

Laraaji, long career on multiple instruments but a lot of zither.

Robert Rich and Lisa Moscow's Yearning is not European classical but you might like it.

Charlemagne Palestine plays piano too but very much as a stringed instrument. I'm pretty sure Nils Frahm listened to him.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:07 PM on October 2

There are some good recommendations in this thread and I'm going to check them out as I can't think of a very close approximation of Nils Frahm who mostly uses strings. A lot of those composers linked to by aworks have some string quartet/chamber music pieces but don't primarily compose for that.

On a different note you may want to look into bluegrass/classical crossovers. Yo-Yo Ma has been part of a few great albums (Appalachia Waltz, Appalachian Journey, The Goat Rodeo Sessions) and Edgar Meyer has been involved in a few other groups. Béla Fleck has done all sorts of string music and some of his more classical-style works would probably hit what you're looking for.
posted by JZig at 11:28 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

Oh, on guitar, you might go for the classic As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls.

Zoe Keating is not really a direct answer but might be of interest.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:35 PM on October 2

Thanks for that, I was just trying to remember Zoe Keating's name, and I also think that would be a good place to start as she straddles the line between classical and electronic similar to the piano composers you originally mentioned. That brings up the Modern Cello map which reminded me of other composers like Hildur Guðnadóttir, Peter Gregson, and Philip Sheppard.
posted by JZig at 11:47 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

Perhaps Dirty Three's more laid back work may suit. More Horse Stories than Everything is Fucked. I'm a fan of and have seen Dirty Three and Nils, so it's at least possible to dig both.
posted by deadwax at 2:58 AM on October 3

Oh I forgot to mention Heather Woods Brodericks's Domes. Ambient cello. I'm a fan of all the artists you mention—Hania Rani in particular is on in the evening on our house—so I know where you're coming from.
posted by Handstand Devil at 4:49 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

I know (and also love!) the genre of which you speak! Hildur Godnadottir is among my absolute favourites. Esmerine's first two albums are also very good in this way, though they are a cello and a xylophone and therefore not strictly speaking strings. I have also loved what of Peter Gregson's music I have heard.
posted by spindle at 10:25 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

Max Richter might scratch your itch, particularly Recomposed, his take on Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. Particularly Winter 2.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 3:12 PM on October 3 [1 favorite]

Ryuichi Sakamoto

or Arvo Pärt

And Courtney Bryan is fantastic, although less ambient generally—more on the classical/jazz/gospel boundary.
posted by umbú at 8:17 AM on October 5