Your Top 10 Favorite Obscure Composers

[Christo]

Mine are so obscure that I will not reveal them. 

[AnotherSpin]

Mine are so obscure that I will not reveal them. 

Thank you! You've spared me the temptation of trying to listen to composers I don't need in my life and who, let's be honest, were never likely to spark any interest anyway

[Christo]

Thank you! You've spared me the temptation of trying to listen to composers I don't need in my life and who, let's be honest, were never likely to spark any interest anyway

In that case I will eagerly present you my list: 
•    Adrian Cruft
•    Anne-Marie Ørbeck
•    Czesław Marek
•    Elis Pehkonen
•    Léon Orthel
•    Marc Lavry
•    Ravi Shankar
•    Urmas Sisask
•    Vilem Tausky
•    Willem Strietman

[AnotherSpin]

In that case I will eagerly present you my list: 
•    Adrian Cruft
•    Anne-Marie Ørbeck
•    Czesław Marek
•    Elis Pehkonen
•    Léon Orthel
•    Marc Lavry
•    Ravi Shankar
•    Urmas Sisask
•    Vilem Tausky
•    Willem Strietman

So it was a cunningly devised and exquisitely executed trap, was it? Hmm... 

Incidentally, I am of course familiar with Ravi Shankar — though as an instrumentalist, really. That said, I did own at least one LP of his compositions (rather peculiar, if memory serves) many years ago.

[Florestan]

Couldn't resist, Andrei. And Vivaldi is hardly obscure, just dull.

Never found his music dull, on the contrary, colorful, exciting (flamboyant sometimes) and rhythmically alive. Often quirky. But I am biased toward Venetian Baroque anyway. And I agree that if one listens to a whole Vivaldi disc in one go sameness and dullness might indeed appear, but he never intended his concertos to be played six in a row for the same instrument in one sitting.

I am quite fond of his sacred music, too: joyous and uplifting.

I'm not very familiar with his operas and I intend to rectify it asap.

All in all, he's among my favorite Baroque composers.

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever, though, with you or anyone else finding it dull. Not everyone can or should love everything. For instance, I find Wagner dull --- but you already knew that. 

[Roasted Swan]

Never found his music dull, on the contrary, colorful, exciting (flamboyant sometimes) and rhythmically alive. Often quirky. But I am biased toward Venetian Baroque anyway. And I agree that if one listens to a whole Vivaldi disc in one go sameness and dullness might indeed appear, but he never intended his concertos to be played six in a row for the same instrument in one sitting.

I am quite fond of his sacred music, too: joyous and uplifting.

I'm not very familiar with his operas and I intend to rectify it asap.

All in all, he's among my favorite Baroque composers.

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever, though, with you or anyone else finding it dull. Not everyone can or should love everything. For instance, I find Wagner dull --- but you already knew that. 

Vivaldi is just a JOY to play.  There is something about his music that just bubbles up with life-affirming energy.  For sure there is a kind of formulaic repetition to what he does - but when you do it so well there's no harm in a little repetition!!

[Florestan]

Vivaldi is just a JOY to play.  There is something about his music that just bubbles up with life-affirming energy.

My sentiments exactly.