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I'm going to tweet a bit defending atonal and serial music. It's probably the classical style with the poorest reputation and I think that's unfair. I think it's been misrepresented and that it can be joyous, inquisitive, moving, and, yes, beautiful.
Starting gently, with Berg's violin concerto (written to try and balance up tonality and the serial method). Playful and mysterious
For something completely different: Brazilian artist Arrigo Barnabé's dodecaphonic rock album 'Clara Crocodilo' (1980). Barnabé became a kind of cult hero after this release
One from Edison Denisov. In the post-thaw Soviet Union, serial and atonal composition represented a kind of freedom that was not achievable in the everyday. Here's Denisov's 'Sun of the Incas' from 1964 (with two and sometimes 3 note rows at once)
To speak generally, atonal and serial music is sometimes meant to sound 'other-worldly'. It can be challenging to listen to (and it arguably is meant to be so). Many love 'challenging' and 'complex' ideas in other genres (esp. Rock). Why doesn't that extend to classical?
We actually hear this music from a very young age but the cultural context is already set for us. It is the music of fear, fright, evil, and horror. That's not to say children don't 'get' atonal music. Often, they're the group who grasp its immediate energy with ease.
For most adult listeners, though, it most certainly is the soundtrack to fear and terror. I think that's one-sided (in the same way that classical/romantic styles = 'relaxing' in a big generalisation)
Here's Penderecki's incredible 'Polymorphia' (as featured in 'The Shining'). Not serial, probably not 'atonal', but certainly 'post-tonal' (or, more specifically, 'sonorist'). Extraordinarily visceral and provoking
My first candidate for a genuinely beautiful serialist piece: Ruth Crawford Seeger's String Quartet (1931), third movement. It just builds and soars, and it's heart-achingly beautiful
Plenty of composers 'dabbled' in serial techniques. Here's George Walker's 'Spatials' from 1960
This from Shostakovich: the closest he gets to using '12-note' lines, a combination of styles seen in the late works. They feature and then slip in and out of a complex dissonant texture, like ships slowly passing by
Weinberg would also make use of 12-note themes, usually for expressive effect in a larger work. Here's the 23rd prelude from his 24 Preludes for Solo Cello, this movement one of the very few entirely serial pieces that he wrote:
Here's an 'atonal lite' piece for everyone criticising this thread (hello folks!). Charles Ives' 'The Unanswered Question' - a texture of a *very* tonal chorale in the strings, punctuated by a tortured trumpet and bickering winds. Stunningly beautiful
I think some of the reactions to this thread say it all. Some polite responders saying 'not for me, thanks' (fair enough!) But others saying 'this style of music will fade away with history'. Well, here we are talking about it. It's with us as long as we have music history.
Someone challenged me to name a 'joyous' atonal/serialist piece, so here's the 1st that comes to mind: Lutosławski's 3rd Symphony. It's a dodecaphonic display of his stunning 'limited aleatoricism', with scurrying motifs and surging chords. Life-affirming.
Another example of beauty: Nikolai Roslavets's 3rd Piano Trio (1921): features a kind of independent 12-note serialism, with other idiosyncrasies along the way. Lyrical and passionate.
Adding to this thread, with an example of playful and exciting serialism/atonality: Luigi Dallapiccola's 'Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera' - slowly building but almost transparent lines
Another instance of beauty in this style, from Norwegian composer Fartein Valen and his 'Ave Maria, Op. 4' (perhaps straddling the boundary between identifying 'extended tonality' into 'atonality': with thanks to @AkselToll for the suggestion!) -
