What needs to be in my Amazon wishlist?

[der_kluge]

Challenge accepted! The real trick is finding some of the excellent but obscure stuff on Amazon, rather than Naxos, et al. The excavation begins...

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I do have some CDs on my wish list currently:

Lucas Richman: In Truth​

Ince: Symphony 5 Galatasaray / Requiem Without Words (not sure why that one didn't link)

Kamran Ince: Passion & Dreams​

Hans Abrahamsen: let me tell you by Barbara Hannigan (2016-05-03)​

 

[der_kluge]

Alrightey! I don't own any of these CDs, so can't vet performances or curation of collections, but I know many of the pieces and all the composers, and enjoy them myself. I'm skipping names popularized by Kubrick. Hopefully you'll find one or two to suit.

Some 20th Century "easy listening":

Lili Boulanger (sort of her "greatest hits")
All eight symphonies of Einojuhani Rautavaara (his concerti and "Cantus Arcticus" are also highly recommended)
George Antheil, "Orchestral Works Vol 2" ("Archipelago" is amaaaaazing, and I assume you have "Ballet Mechanique")
Ned Rorem, "Three Symphonies"

...And more meaty fare:

Selections from Sofia Gubaidulina (all of her work is great - check out "Concerto for Two Orchestras" on YouTube for a real treat)
George Crumb "70th Birthday Album" (I'm guessing you already have his "Ancient Voices of Children." I turned down a chance to meet him because I was chicken)
Penderecki, "Symphonies & Other Orchestral Works" (a bit of a mish-mash)
William Kraft, "Contextures" (yes, he scored Bakshi's "Fire and Ice"!)
Olga Neuwirth, "Lost Highway" (an opera based on David Lynch's film)

...For wind ensemble:

"Composer's Collection: Joseph Schwantner"
Persichetti, Collected works

In the vein of Philip Glass:

Meredith Monk, "Do You Be" ("Turtle Dreams" looks to be out of print)
Julia Wolfe, "Anthracite Fields" (I prefer her "Arsenal of Democracy," but can't find it)

...And some chamber stuff (heavy on the Manchester School):

Harrison Birtwistle's "The Moth Requiem" (and why not pick up the DVD of his opera, "The Minotaur"?)
Peter Maxwell Davies (RIP), "Eight Songs for a Mad King" (or anything by him)
"Jennifer Higdon: Chamber Music" (I met her once; she's neato)
Wolfgang Rihm, "Et Lux"
Kaija Saariaho, "Trios"

Okay, so this isn't modern, but Gesualdo's music is...weird for his time, so it almost sounds like someone today mimicking Olde Musik, but... Don Carlo Gesualdo, "Complete Madrigals"

Amazon's coming up empty on a few others, like Gaziza Zhubanova, Betty Olivero, Andrew Norman, etc., but hey, there's always YouTube.

Wow, ok. I would like to get something of Lili Boulanger. I'll definitely have to look into that one. Her name comes up so often, but mostly as just references to her being a teacher.
edit: Ok, I'm thinking Nadia. Shame Lili died so young. Still might be worth looking into.
I do like Rautavaara, and I do have his Cantus Arcticus. It's quite nice. I haven't come across his stuff in a while, so I might have to give him another look.
I have Ballet Mechanique, and find it novel. I might have to look into your suggestion there.
I think have some things by Rorem, but nothing ever spoke to me.
Gonna take me a while to parse through the rest of that. Thanks for the recommendations!

And who are you to meet Jennifer Higdon, or to have an opportunity to meet George Crumb? Closest I ever got was asking Philip Glass a question at one of his performances years ago. I did get to go to the Dvorak house in Prague, and saw his gravesite (along with Smetena, who's in the same cemetery; and Janacek).

edit: Also, I'm listening to Crumb's Star Child on Youtube now, though it's long, and it's getting late. I'm familiar with most of the other names (Crumb, which is not for the feint of heart, generally), I wasn't familiar with Gesualdo, but I'm not sure that's my cup of tea, and generally I haven't found anything by Higdon that I really care for. I find her music just kind of rambles on and on without much point.

 

[monsmord]

And who are you to meet Jennifer Higdon, or to have an opportunity to meet George Crumb? Closest I ever got was asking Philip Glass a question at one of his performances years ago. I did get to go to the Dvorak house in Prague, and saw his gravesite (along with Smetena, who's in the same cemetery; and Janacek).

Ha! I'm nobody.

Ms. Higdon's just affable. I got to see a few of her works performed in Philadelphia (notably her violin concerto, Blue Cathedral, and Cold Mountain) and she was there herself, did some Q&A, shook hands, all that. She wouldn't remember me to fall over me. I recommended some chamber work for exactly that "rambling" reason - shorter works leave less room to roam.

My degree is in music composition (then I became a computer programmer, so a lot of wasted money and effort there; it was West Chester University, a couple blocks from the Samuel Barber House!). Years later, a dear friend knew I'm still deeply into "serious music," and her father happened to be a muckity-muck in the social and financial corners of the Philly Classical Music scene. (He was a big deal in medicine, and used some of his wealth to patronize music institutions.) Once a month or so he would throw a salon party, and folks from chamber groups or the Academy of Vocal Arts or Curtis would come by and "do a set." He knew Crumb, and Mr. Crumb would appear if he was around that weekend. One day my friend mentioned she could introduce me that very Sunday. I nearly shat myself. I couldn't think of a single thing I could ask or say that wouldn't reveal my ignorance and amateurishness. Now I kick myself for that cowardice. An irrecoverably lost opportunity.

But I will name-drop my friend Melissa Dunphy, a Philly-based composer (and acquaintance of Ms. Higdon). Her work is getting performed internationally, and because some of it is political in nature (especially the Gonzales Cantata), she's been featured twice on Rachel Maddow. She and her partner run a swell Air BnB in the theater they're renovating (and THAT is an enormous, crazy story detailed in their Boghouse podcast), so if you're ever visiting Philly...

Yeah, losing Lili Boulanger so young is Music's loss. One wonders what her late output would have offered after she evolved from Impressionism.

 

[Jd Smith1]

A DVD set of all the seasons of Breaking Bad and The Wire. And Firefly's only season.

 

[Mercurius]

Hard to suggest game books without knowing your tastes, but for 3PP 5E stuff, from Kobold there's Tome of Beasts 2, Midgard Heroes Handbook, and Deep Magic. Also, Tales of the Old Margreve is a great sylvan setting.

For non-D&D, anything from Free League/Fria Ligan is golden and can be used for inspiration: e.g. Symbaroum, Forbidden Lands, Tales from the Loop, Coriolis, and the new Vaesen.