Tonal music today.

[Mandryka]

I believe Le chemin de Jerusalem for viola da gamba is part of this set

[flash=480,300]https://www.youtube.com/v/17pvGLx78RU[/flash]

I am a tonal composer willing to turn music's entire heritage -- from Monteverdi to Janacek to Stokhausen -- to my advantage.

This is a perfect example of how he is able to blend music of the past with the present.

Listening now to a Hersant string quartet, Starry Sky. And I'm thinking, is this bland?

[Mandryka]

Enjoying Jean Louis Florentz, L'enfant des îles. Tonal (I think) and very melodic and with a really distinctive lightness and colourfulness.  This guy could write tunes.

Not quite today's music, he died 20 years ago though, so I guess I'm cheating.

[Mandryka]

Listening now to a Hersant string quartet, Starry Sky. And I'm thinking, is this bland?

I may have to eat my words but Hersant seems to me more interesting in earlier pieces. The extraordinary first cello concerto is every bit as satisfying as, for example, Dutilleux. But not tonal or today!

[Mandryka]

Hersant, Fantasies sur le nom de Sacher. I've not actually heard the one above, which appears to be for orchestra - the one I have is a bootleg of a concert with the Hermès Quartet. Pretty tonal, and at first I thought meh, but with repeated listenings (I guess something must have made me do that) I am finding lots of interesting details and ideas. Worth a shot, a nice little bit of music.

[Mandryka]

Thierry Escaich. Fabulous little quartet, ebullient, called Scènes de bal. The French do seem to be good at this modern quasi tonality stuff.

[Karl Henning]

Disclosure: I studied with Judith at UVa.

[Mandryka]

There's a real strange feature of Rautavaara's True and False Unicorn - there's always a feeling of déjà vu, and yet - it's quirky and unpredictable. I guess that's exactly what quasi-neo-post-post-tonal music at its best is like.

What I can say is this: I thought it was real easy to listen to, thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding in terms of pleasure. I also think it's real creative music, not just derivative. But I don't know how to support that thought yet.