Glenn Branca's 21st Century Philharmonic
16th May 2018
Glenn Branca performing in the 1980s, courtesy Hallwalls' archive
In 2007, Branca envisioned a season of orchestral programming in The New York Times, writing: 'If New York had a full-time symphony orchestra that only played music from the 20th and 21st centuries it might be called the 21st Century Philharmonic and its first season might look something like this'.
Peruse select scores from Branca’s hypothesis below, which also would have commissioned new works from Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, and commemorated the life of kindred firebrand Julius Eastman. He shall be greatly missed.
JOHN ADAMS
Shaker Loops | score | Spotify
Harmonium | score | Spotify
Harmonielehre | score | Spotify
GEORGE ANTHEIL
Ballet mécanique | score | Spotify
A Jazz Symphony | score | Spotify
JOHN BARRY
The Best of Bond | score
JOHN ALDEN CARPENTER
Skyscrapers | score | Spotify
ELLIOTT CARTER
Holiday Overture | score | Spotify
PHILIP GLASS
Symphony No. 5 Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya | scores: vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3 | Spotify
Symphony No. 6 Plutonian Ode | Spotify
Symphony No. 7 A Toltec Symphony | score | Spotify
Symphony No. 8 | score | Spotify
Selections from the CIVIL warS
Akhnaten, selected scenes | Spotify
MICHAEL GORDON
Decasia | scores: vol. 1, vol. 2 | Spotify
BERNARD HERRMANN
A Portrait of Hitch | YouTube
DAVID LANG
Fur
GUSTAV MAHLER
Symphony No. 10, movement I | score
OLIVIER MESSIAEN
L'Ascension | YouTube
La Ville d’en haut | Spotify
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum | Spotify
Chronochromie | Spotify
ALEXANDER MOSOLOV
The Iron Foundry | Spotify
MICHAEL NYMAN
The Draughtsman's Contract for Orchestra | score
TERRY RILEY
In C | YouTube
