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The Exotica Thread

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kyjo
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« on: October 20, 2013, 09:26:30 pm »

This thread is meant for discussion of all music composed in an exotic vein. Apart from the usual suspects (Rimsky, Borodin, Khachaturian etc.), here are some lovely slices of exotica I have discovered:

Karayev: Seven Beauties and In the Path of Thunder (ballet suites)
Szymanowski: Symphony no. 3 Song of the Night; Harnasie; Love Songs of Hafiz
Amirov's "symphonic mughams" and PC on Arabian Themes
Ranjbaran: Persian Trilogy
Villa-Lobos' symphonic poems
Respighi: Belkis, Queen of Sheba; Brazilian Impressions
Griffes: The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan; Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan
Holst: Beni Mora; Japanese Suite
Schierbeck: The Chinese Flute (song cycle)
Ludolf Nielsen: Lackschmi
Britten: The Prince of the Pagodas
Monasypov: Violin Sonata (on YT)
Kuzhamyarov: Symphony no. 3 (on YT)
Schmitt: La tragedie de Salome
Lehmann: Violin Concerto
Lyapunov: Hashish (symphonic poem)
Ippolitov-Ivanov: Caucasian Sketches: Suites 1 and 2; Turkish Fragments
Bantock: Omar Khayyam
Liadov's short orchestral works
N. Tcherepnin: Le Royaume enchantee; La Princesse lointaine
A. Tcherepnin: Symphony no. 3 Chinese
Aho: Chinese Songs
Fernstrom: Ro-Nai-Nai's Songs
Chisholm: Piano Concerto no. 2 Hindustani
Ireland: The Forgotten Rite; Mai-Dun
Most of Kamran Ince's music
Rabuad: Marouf (opera)
And, of course, the Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto and The Yellow River Piano Concerto

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cjvinthechair
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« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2013, 10:44:57 pm »

Seems to be going better on GMG, Mr. K. !

Still, managed to pick up a few 'steers' from your list, thanks !
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Clive
kyjo
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« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2013, 11:27:25 pm »

Seems to be going better on GMG, Mr. K. !

Still, managed to pick up a few 'steers' from your list, thanks !

Oh, I just started this thread here a couple hours ago, Clive ;D

One work I forgot is Ludvig Irgens-Jensen's exquisite orchestral song cycle Japanesischer Frühling. Also, much of Lou Harrison's music has oriental connections.
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albert
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« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2013, 09:57:05 am »

Saint-Saens Egyptian Concerto (n.5) for piano and orchestra
                 Afrique , for piano and orchestra
                 Suite Algerienne
Roussel Evocations 
Ibert Escales : exotic only in movement Tunis-Nefta?
De Boeck : Dahomeyan Rhapsody
Grainger : In Dahomey
Goldmark Sakuntala
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albert
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« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2013, 10:26:50 am »

I forgot Humperdinck's Moorish Rhapsody (Tarifa-Tanger-Tetuan).
Ravel's Chansons Madecasses (here we fly very high; relatively unsung for the unusual, but small, resources requested).
In the opera field, I suspect would be plenty:
Bizet: Le Pecheurs de perles
Delibes Lakmè
Roussel Padmavati
Alfano Sakuntala
Massenet Le Roi de Lahore
But for the Brazilian Gomes "Il Guarany" is exotic?
(BTW why Harnasie, Polish folklore for the Polish Szymanowsky?)
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dyn
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« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2013, 10:55:53 am »

Orientalism in music can be traced quite a ways back—there was all the stuff with Turkish Janissary bands in the 18th century leading to Mozart Rondo alla Turca, the A major Violin Concerto and The Abduction from the Seraglio and reams of less well-known music, but even before that there's arguably a degree of orientalism as well in the appropriation of the Spanish sarabande by Western European composers (Froberger, et al.), Spain being much more "exotic" than France or England and even having non-white people living in it. :o

In terms of the "usual suspects" there's almost everything by Saint-Saëns since he actually lived in Algiers for quite a while (already mentioned), plus Verdi (Aïda), Puccini (Turandot, Madama Butterfly, La fanciulla del West—which, admittedly, gives the "orientalist" treatment to the Wild West, but for Puccini it was definitely pretty exotic), Meyerbeer (L'Africaine), etc, etc. In terms of less usual suspects, how about Richard Strauss's Japanese Festival Music? ;D

There's even a whole sub-category for orientalism based on Balinese gamelan—McPhee's Tabuh-Tabuhan, Britten's Death in Venice, Godowsky's Java Suite and so forth. Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of Balinese gamelan that's been strongly influenced by Western music. No gamelan arrangements of Bach cello suites or whatever. Weird huh? :D

It's not particularly "exotic" for a non-Western composer to write music that references their native traditions, so I don't think e.g. Kamran Ince, Villa-Lobos, Adnan Saygun etc really qualify. What is much more exotic is the stuff like early Takemitsu, more French than croque-monsieurs with berets, all on Western instruments—definitely unfamiliar w.r.t. the culture from which he originates. "Occidentalism" if you will. When he writes a piece for shō, shakuhachi and koto... not so much.
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albert
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« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2013, 02:33:28 pm »

I have an old vinyl recording of R.Strauus Japanese Festival Music. I don't hear it since decades.
But if am not wrong the music has not Japanese features; it should have been originated by a Japan commission, alongside to the commissions to Britten (Sinfonia da Requiem), Pfitzner, Pizzetti, Ibert, Veress
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dholling
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« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2013, 08:05:59 pm »

Tjeknavorian: Piano Concerto Op. 4
Babadjanyan: Heroic Ballade
Glazunov: Two Pieces for small orchestra (Idyll and Reverie Orientale).
               Suite "From the Middle Ages"
                Ballet "Raymonda"
Balakirev: Tamara
Goldmark: The Queen of Sheba
Nielsen: Aladdin
Sibelius: Belshazzar's Feast
Atterberg: Suite No. 3 for Violin, Viola and String Orchestra
Cyril Scott: Fantasie Orientale (for violin and piano)
Boris Asafyev: The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (ballet)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Mlada
Arensky: Ballet "Egyptian Night"
Tcherepnin: Ballet "Narcisse et Echo"
Murad Kashlayev: Ballet "Gorianka" ("Maiden from the Mountain")
Lehar: Operetta/Opera "Giuditta" (an afterthought)
 :)
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kyjo
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« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2013, 08:41:17 pm »

Many thanks for the additions :)

Re Alberto's post: Yes, Szymanowski's Harnasie is not explicitly related to anything oriental or exotic, yet I find the sound-world of the work to be very exotic, if that makes any sense. The work in question does not have to be based on an exotic subject BTW, it can merely "sound" exotic.

Re David's post: It is Atterberg's first suite that is entitled Orientale.
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dholling
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« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2013, 09:12:25 pm »

Many thanks for the additions :)

Re Alberto's post: Yes, Szymanowski's Harnasie is not explicitly related to anything oriental or exotic, yet I find the sound-world of the work to be very exotic, if that makes any sense. The work in question does not have to be based on an exotic subject BTW, it can merely "sound" exotic.

Re David's post: It is Atterberg's first suite that is entitled Orientale.

Thanks. I mentioned Atterberg's Third Suite because like Szymanowski's, it too possesses the sound world that is pretty exotic in its own right (principally its second movement). I have to confess I was not familiar with the First Suite until you mentioned it.  :o
Also, I should mention Lehar's Giuditta as pretty exotic in its own right.
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kyjo
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« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2013, 11:06:07 pm »

Thanks. I mentioned Atterberg's Third Suite because like Szymanowski's, it too possesses the sound world that is pretty exotic in its own right (principally its second movement). I have to confess I was not familiar with the First Suite until you mentioned it.  :o
Also, I should mention Lehar's Giuditta as pretty exotic in its own right.

Hmmmm....I don't recall anything particularly "exotic" about the Third Suite-will have to re-listen to it! Re the First Suite, a chamber reduction of it has been recorded (on Marco Polo), but, of course, I would definitely welcome a recording of the orchestral version as well as all of the other suites! Hopefully Jarvi will get around to them and other unrecorded orchestral works by Atterberg in his series for Chandos.
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Toby Esterhase
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« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2013, 11:21:15 pm »

Will we have anything else by Vasilenko on CD?

 ;)
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kyjo
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« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2013, 11:32:48 pm »

Will we have anything else by Vasilenko on CD?

 ;)

Oh, forgot about that one! A very enjoyable disc indeed. I, too, wish more Vasilenko would be recorded. I have found some more of his (excellent) orchestral works on YT.
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cjvinthechair
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« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2013, 07:36:12 pm »



Here's a modern 'East Meets West' which might(?) fit the terms of this thread !
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Clive
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« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2013, 10:49:28 pm »

Isn't it OT ? And Erland Von Koch Symphony n°7?
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