Six favourite symphonies by (really) lesser-known composers.

[Irons]

Please, don't be ashamed to try different composers. I have a slight hunch about how you could react to each of them.

I'm not one to shirk a challenge. I will pull one from your list at random and listen with undivided attention.

[Irons]

I'm not one to shirk a challenge. I will pull one from your list at random and listen with undivided attention.

Niels Viggo Bentzon: 5th Symphony.

A symphony that adds up with the sum of it's parts to make a symphonic whole. What impressed me most though was the sincerity of the work, something I find lacking in many symphonies by far better known composers. Bentzon is his own man, the second movement has echoes of Richard Strauss and overall there may be some Nielsen influence but this is all slight.
I thank Cesar for introducing this work which I find impressive enough to order a copy. 

[kyjo]

Niels Viggo Bentzon: 5th Symphony.

A symphony that adds up with the sum of it's parts to make a symphonic whole. What impressed me most though was the sincerity of the work, something I find lacking in many symphonies by far better known composers. Bentzon is his own man, the second movement has echoes of Richard Strauss and overall there may be some Nielsen influence but this is all slight.
I thank Cesar for introducing this work which I find impressive enough to order a copy.

Sounds most appealing, Irons. I've never heard a note of Bentzon's music - looks like it's time to change that!

[Irons]

Sounds most appealing, Irons. I've never heard a note of Bentzon's music - looks like it's time to change that!

Hope you enjoy as much as I did, Kyle. Dig that arresting opening.

[André]

Hope you enjoy as much as I did, Kyle. Dig that arresting opening.

A superb work indeed, an A+ in my notebook 

[Irons]

A superb work indeed, an A+ in my notebook 

Thanks for saying that. I was beginning to worry.

[vandermolen]

Niels Viggo Bentzon: 5th Symphony.

A symphony that adds up with the sum of it's parts to make a symphonic whole. What impressed me most though was the sincerity of the work, something I find lacking in many symphonies by far better known composers. Bentzon is his own man, the second movement has echoes of Richard Strauss and overall there may be some Nielsen influence but this is all slight.
I thank Cesar for introducing this work which I find impressive enough to order a copy.

I remember enjoying this CD Lol, especially Symphony No.4

[Irons]

I remember enjoying this CD Lol, especially Symphony No.4

After his excellent set of the Nielsen symphonies Jeffrey I wondered what happened to Ole Schmidt. Now I know.

[Symphonic Addict]

Niels Viggo Bentzon: 5th Symphony.

A symphony that adds up with the sum of it's parts to make a symphonic whole. What impressed me most though was the sincerity of the work, something I find lacking in many symphonies by far better known composers. Bentzon is his own man, the second movement has echoes of Richard Strauss and overall there may be some Nielsen influence but this is all slight.
I thank Cesar for introducing this work which I find impressive enough to order a copy.

I thought I had replied you. Sorry. Good to hear, Irons! Bentzon wrote some captivating works with a stamp of his own. I wish DaCapo could start a project to record the whole cycle (more than 20)!

[Symphonic Addict]

After his excellent set of the Nielsen symphonies Jeffrey I wondered what happened to Ole Schmidt. Now I know.

He died in 2010. He could have been a strong conductor nowadays had he lived till these years.

[Cato]

For your consideration:  Etienne Mehul!




https://www.youtube.com/v/jH9LjmZ59dQ

[Symphonic Addict]

Méhul, Onslow and Reinecke do come to my mind regarding composers from 1800-1880. I've enjoyed their respective symphonies.

[foxandpeng]

Méhul, Onslow and Reinecke do come to my mind regarding composers from 1800-1880. I've enjoyed their respective symphonies.

+1 for Onslow. He also wrote an inordinate number of string quartets and quintets.

[Irons]

I thought I had replied you. Sorry. Good to hear, Irons! Bentzon wrote some captivating works with a stamp of his own. I wish DaCapo could start a project to record the whole cycle (more than 20)!

For a "really lesser-known" composer there is a surprising amount of recordings available, SA. I understand piano was his forte, of which there are a few of Bentzon playing his own compositions.

He died in 2010. He could have been a strong conductor nowadays had he lived till these years.

Shame. Thanks for info.

[Symphonic Addict]

Adding some more that provoked a very good impression on this listener:

Piet Swerts (Belgian): Symphony No. 2 'Morgenrot'
Stacy Garrop (USA): Mythology Symphony
Halvor Haug (Norwegian): Symphony No. 2
Levko Revutsky (Ukrainian): Symphony No. 2
Hirooki Ogawa (Japanese): Symphony 'Castle of Japan'
Karel Husa (Czech): Symphony No. 2
Paul Kletzki (Polish): Symphony No. 3
Johann Nepomuk David (Austrian): Symphony No. 2
Fritz Volbach (German): Symphony in B minor

[foxandpeng]

Adding some more that provoked a very good impression on this listener:

Piet Swerts (Belgian): Symphony No. 2 'Morgenrot'
Stacy Garrop (USA): Mythology Symphony
Halvor Haug (Norwegian): Symphony No. 2
Levko Revutsky (Ukrainian): Symphony No. 2
Hirooki Ogawa (Japanese): Symphony 'Castle of Japan'
Karel Husa (Czech): Symphony No. 2
Paul Kletzki (Polish): Symphony No. 3
Johann Nepomuk David (Austrian): Symphony No. 2
Fritz Volbach (German): Symphony in B minor

All new to me outside of Haug and Nepomuk David. Thank you.

[Christo]

Willem Pijper: symphony nr. 2
Willem Pijper: Symphony nr. 3
Mathijs Vermeulen: Symphony nr. 4 "Les victoires"
Eivind Groven: Symphony nr. 2
Gunther Kochan: Symphony nr. 2
Victor Kalabis: Symphony nr. 2

I hope Koechlin's mighty symphony nr. 2 will get a new (and very complete) recording
Belgian symphonies I like: Sternefeld 1 & 2 (Brueghel) , Meulemans 6 (The sea) and 12, Norbert Rosseau Symphony op. 53.

Happen to love the first four - don't know nos. 5 and 6, though I know Kalabis (never heard of Kochan though). Great to learn that you love them too!

[DaveF]

Perhaps he's too well-known, but no mention so far of Hugh Wood's splendid Symphony, Op.21:

[kyjo]

Perhaps he's too well-known, but no mention so far of Hugh Wood's splendid Symphony, Op.21:

Not too well known to me, certainly! I've never heard a note of his music. What's the Symphony like?

[DaveF]

Not too well known to me, certainly! I've never heard a note of his music. What's the Symphony like?

Well, it's quite difficult to categorise.  Of British symphonists, he is probably closest to Searle and Davies, although without Max's plainsong and medieval influences.  The language is serial-ish, although not strictly, and the orchestral sound often recalls Birtwistle, although Wood's thinking is definitely symphonic (which Birtwistle's never is).  Another key influence appears to be Roberto Gerhard.  The symphony itself moves from crushingly grim to a slightly forced triumphal ending, a bit like a highly dissonant version of the ending of Brian's 9th.  Scenes from Comus, on the same disc, is an earlier piece which displays its Webernian/late Stravinskian roots a bit more obviously.