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

Started by vandermolen, March 23, 2009, 04:21:40 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Benji

Off the top of my head, and nothing deliberately obscure!  $:)

Sallinen's 6th
Randall Thompson's 3rd
Tubin's 8th
Lilburn's 2nd
Another vote for Bernard Herrmann's Symphony
Moeran's Symphony

I don't consider these composers really lesser-known, but i'm a good few years (and thousands of pounds!) behind the likes of Jeffrey in my lesser-known composer rummaging!

Dundonnell

You should not expect much sense from me, Jeffrey, since 'lesser-known composers' are my stock-in-trade ;D The problem with that is that I am no longer able to differentiate 'lesser-known' from '(really) lesser-known' ;D

So....entirely off the top of my head and mostly from the first third of the alphabet:

Kalvei Aho's 10th
Richard Arnell's 3rd
Joly Braga Santos' 4th
Benjamin Frankel's 2nd
Alun Hoddinott's 6th
Arnold Rosner's 5th

....but most of these composers really aren't ('really) lesser-known' are they?

Dr. Dread

I'll listen to really lesser-known composers when I'm dead, and someone plays them for me in my coffin.

snyprrr

If I had a trust fund, I would buy a cd every single hour of the day...

(sung to Fiddler on the Roof)

Wanderer

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on March 23, 2009, 08:35:06 AM
Thanks for plugging one of my favorite symphonies, a favorite not only in this category (lesser-known composers) but a favorite symphony period. I considered listing it too but didn't want to come across like a broken record.

I feel the same way about it. A truly magnificent work. As for coming across as a broken record, worry not; in comparison to the listings of electroacoustic arrière-garde and other esoterica Schmidt appears as a mainstream choice.

Grazioso

Quote from: ukrneal on March 23, 2009, 01:15:49 PM
One person's warhorse is another person's discovery... And sometimes the path to discovery isn't straight, so even though some of them are better known, there are still several that are new to me.

Exactly. Someone suggested Atterberg's "West Coast Pictures," which is quickly becoming a beloved warhorse for me and is known to more than a few posters here, yet many classical fans have surely yet to hear this gifted symphonist. Or to use another example, I first heard of Langgaard about ten years ago but have yet to listen to him, so it's nice to be reminded about him here. Happily, I see that a new complete boxed set is due shortly:



There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

schweitzeralan

#26
Quote from: Grazioso on March 23, 2009, 04:57:09 AM
While probably known to more than a few posters here, these guys mostly fall far outside the classical canon (alas):

Leevi Madetoja: Symphony No 1 (Finnish) Alba (though all three are excellent and available in fine performances on Chandos, too)

Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony No 4 (Finnish) Ondine

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Symphony in F# Minor (Austro-Hungarian/American) EMI (relatively well-known composer, but I rarely hear this 20th-century masterwork mentioned)

William Mathias: Symphony No 3 (Welsh) Nimbus

Vagn Holmboe: Symphony No 3 "Sinfonia rustica" (Danish) BIS

Ned Rorem: Symphony No 3 (American) Naxos

(And akin to Korngold's situation, you have composers like Boccherini, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc. who are household names among classical fans but whose symphonies you might not have heard--but should!)

Several composers listed here are probably reasonably well known to the cognoscenti but may not be all that familiar witrh much of the general public.
Thank the gods they are recorded.  Six favorites, actually so many  postings here could list twenty or more.  My brief list would include the previously mentioned: Klaus Egge's First Symphony,a wonderful piece. Then there are: Uuno KLami's "Symphonie Enfantine," Dutilleux's Symphony No. 2 'Le Double'" (This work has been making some public inroads), Elliot Carter's Symphony No.3; Aulus Sallinen's first and third symphonies; Olav Kielands Sinfonia 1, and Bjarne Brustad's Symfoni No. 2.  Fine works all.


















se

vandermolen

#27
Quote from: Benji on March 23, 2009, 04:13:16 PM
Off the top of my head, and nothing deliberately obscure!  $:)

Sallinen's 6th
Randall Thompson's 3rd
Tubin's 8th
Lilburn's 2nd
Another vote for Bernard Herrmann's Symphony
Moeran's Symphony

I don't consider these composers really lesser-known, but i'm a good few years (and thousands of pounds!) behind the likes of Jeffrey in my lesser-known composer rummaging!

Yes, this is why Jeffrey has no money  ::) Your choices could be mine too, although I need to search out the Sallinen. I nearly included the Moeran but considered him not obscure enough  8)

My list No 2 (I am allowed two as I started the thread  ;D)

Boris Parsadanian: Symphony No 1 "To the Memory of the 26 Commissars of Baku"

Rudolph Simonsen: Symphony No 1 'Zion'

Arthur Butterworth : Symphony No 4 (Colin are you watching?  :o)

Moyzes: Symphony No 7

Truscott: Symphony in E major

Braga Santos (for it is he) Symphony No 3

I have tried to choose ones not already listed.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

some guy

Quote from: Wanderer on March 23, 2009, 11:05:25 PMin comparison to the listings of electroacoustic arrière-garde and other esoterica...

It's like Tourette's, isn't it? Any mention of any music that's not post- or neo-romantic and the knee jerks and the upper lip curls, because it has to. And the Dhomont reference (a list of one!)* wasn't even about electroacoustic music, but about "known-ness." Inside that particular circle, Dhomont is well-known, even revered, while outside it he's "(really) lesser-known."

*There is one piece on my list, in my post that has a list, that is an electroacoustic piece. A Schmidt CD to the first contestant who can identify which one it is! ;D

Renfield

Quote from: Grazioso on March 24, 2009, 04:34:06 AM
Or to use another example, I first heard of Langgaard about ten years ago but have yet to listen to him, so it's nice to be reminded about him here. Happily, I see that a new complete boxed set is due shortly:



More happily yet, I can confirm that said set is sitting on a table in my living room for around a week now, waiting to be explored! :D

(It was my trust for Dausgaard that prompted me to essentially pre-order this.)

Sef

Maybe the poster could define the phrase "lesser-known" so we can all participate in the thread without fear of falling prey to the "who can list the most obscure composer list" syndrome. Just a thought.
"Do you think that I could have composed what I have composed, do you think that one can write a single note with life in it if one sits there and pities oneself?"

sul G

Brahms is less well-known than Beethoven. I vote for him.

mc ukrneal

Quote from: Sef on March 24, 2009, 08:45:53 AM
Maybe the poster could define the phrase "lesser-known" so we can all participate in the thread without fear of falling prey to the "who can list the most obscure composer list" syndrome. Just a thought.

Actually, I like that people are interpreting it differently, giving a nice cross-section of less well known to really obscure. A little something for everyone...
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

J

Felix Blumenfeld - Symphony
Victor Bendix - Symphony No.3
Hallvard Johnsen - Symphony No.13
Leif Kayser - Symphony No.4
Arthur Meulemans - Symphony No.7
Guy Ropartz - Symphony No.3

Dundonnell

Ok...I am going to cheat too and give you another six(more obscure this time ;D(:


Halvor Haug's Symphony No.1(and No.3!)
Siegmund von Hausegger's Nature Symphony
Alf Hurum's Symphony in D minor
Kara Karayev's Symphony No.3
Paul Le Flem's Symphony No.4
Suburo Moroi's Symphony No.1

Brian

Quote from: Dundonnell on March 24, 2009, 06:34:18 PM
Kara Karayev's Symphony No.3
One of the very few 12-tone works I can enjoy any time of day.  :)

Tapio Dimitriyevich Shostakovich

#36
My list includes (really) lesser-known composers, but not (really, really) or generally speaking (really(, really)*)... My life is finite and there is already enough (really) lesser-known to explore... The big question behind all this is: Are they lesser-known with good reason? Or maybe because of extramusical reasons (then their music may be interesting and worth a try)...

Braga Santos - No. 4
Rangström - No. 4
Bantock - Celtic
Atterberg - No. 3
Rott - E major
The GMG most hyPEd composer from Scandinavia - Symphony No. 6

some guy

I had a used copy of Haussegger's Nature Symphony playing at Classical Millenium a couple of months ago. Customer came in, said "What's that playing?" and bought it on the spot.

So I only have a vague idea of it's sounding a bit like Mahler. Is that correct? What's the whole thing like?

I also have a question for Brian--sorry, but you made me really curious when you said that Karayev's symphony was one of the very few 12-tone works you could enjoy any time of day--and that is, "How many 12-tone works have you heard?" The "very few" is supposed to make us think that you've heard lots, but I've heard lots and I enjoy very many of them. Well, maybe not any time of day. Be fair, no one enjoys 12-tone works between 3 and 6 in the morning. ;D

Anyway, now I'm really curious to hear Karayev's third, so it's all good....

[Just listened to some clips online. Hahaha, joke's on me, eh? It's not really 12-tone music, I mean, not any more than any other piece that uses all twelve notes in the chromatic scale. (I do know at least one that doesn't.)]

vandermolen

Quote from: Grazioso on March 23, 2009, 04:57:09 AM
While probably known to more than a few posters here, these guys mostly fall far outside the classical canon (alas):

Leevi Madetoja: Symphony No 1 (Finnish) Alba (though all three are excellent and available in fine performances on Chandos, too)

Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony No 4 (Finnish) Ondine

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Symphony in F# Minor (Austro-Hungarian/American) EMI (relatively well-known composer, but I rarely hear this 20th-century masterwork mentioned)

William Mathias: Symphony No 3 (Welsh) Nimbus

Vagn Holmboe: Symphony No 3 "Sinfonia rustica" (Danish) BIS

Ned Rorem: Symphony No 3 (American) Naxos

(And akin to Korngold's situation, you have composers like Boccherini, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc. who are household names among classical fans but whose symphonies you might not have heard--but should!)


Apart from the Rorem, which I am going to listen to again, your other choices are all favourites  of mine - although I'd have chosen Madetoja Symphony No 2.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on March 23, 2009, 05:20:25 AM
Richard Wetz Symphonies 1, 2, 3 various conductors and orchestras, CPO

Bernard Herrmann Symphony Herrmann/National Phil, Unicorn

Tikhon Khrennikov Symphony #2 Svetlanov/USSR State Academy, Vox

Edouard Lalo Symphony G minor Almeida/Orch Monte-Carlo, Philips

John McEwen A Solway Symphony Mitchell/LPO, Chandos

Mikis Theodorakis Symphony #7 "Spring" Hauschild/Phil Dresden, Sound Wings

Sarge

Very interesting choices. I have a CD of some of the Wetz symphonies, which I shall be listening to again as I did not make much of them initially - this is also true of the Theodarakis. It is nice to be encouraged to go back and listen again to CDs that I already have rather than having to rush out to buy new ones! The McEwen is a firm favourite. I don't know the Lalo and the Herrmann and Khrennikov are also interesting works which I often go back to - the Khrennikov is a recent discovery.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).