CDs In 2014: The Past, Present And Future (?) Of Classical Music

Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of champions for contemporary music and we have a great one in our midst, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project led by Gil Rose. If Bernstein and Boulez are great ways to immerse oneself in 20th Century music then the BMOP’s recordings are a lesson in music of the 21st. They had a stunning CD this year, with the late Lou Harrison’s “La Koro Sutro,” paired with his “Suite for Violin (Gabriela Diaz) with American Gamelan.” Like most of the survivors of the 20th century survivors of the tonal vs. atonal culture wars, Harrison, who died in 2003, looked to other non-European sources, in his case Asian music. His incorporation of gamelan music is particularly beautiful.