Six undeservedly neglected composers.

[vandermolen]

1. Klaus Egge

2. Hilding Rosenberg

3. Gøsta Nystrøm

4. Einar Englund

5. Hermann Koppel

6. Ludvig Irgens Jensen

What a great list! Rosenberg is a very good choice as I can't see why BIS have produced complete cycles for Vagn Holmboe and Tubin and not for the equally deserving Rosenberg, whose 2nd, 3rd and 6th symphonies are wonderfully inpiriting scores which convey a great sense of the power of nature IMHO. Klaus Egge's First Symphony can stand alongside Walton's First and his Piano Concerto No 2 is also first rate - he wrote a beautiful String Quartet (on Naxos) - one of the very few CDs of mine my wife also enjoyed Nysroem I'm just discovering and Englund's Second Symphony also conveys a sense of the power of nature.

[Mirror Image]

I guess we can add Frank Martin to that list of undeservedly neglected composers.

[Sid]

Depends on what you mean by "undeservedly neglected." I'd say that Beethoven's late quartets are not that well known by the majority of even classical listeners. Anyhow, I'm not that up on the more obscure composers (haven't heard a single thing from most of those mentioned earlier), but here are six that came to mind:

Barraque (a contemporary of Boulez, but he died young leaving us with just a handful of excellent works, from what I've read. I heard part of his epic sonata on youtube, and it is amazing)
Roslavets (the "Russian Schoenberg" who was made a nonentity by the Soviets for daring to write atonal music at a time that Socialist Realism was highly in vogue)
Kurtag (one of the major composers coming out of Eastern Europe in the last 50 years, but not many here have heard of him. Even I have only heard one of his works, and it was on a documentary with Simon Rattle)
Richard Meale (recently departed major Australian composer who did some really interesting stuff in his younger days, but got a bit more conservative in his later years. His earlier works are probably the best. The opera Voss stands midway between his more radical and conservative styles)
Ornstein (he lived for more than 100 years and his works stretch from the Romantic to the post-modern, he was consistently inconsistent as regards style. It's hard to categorise him & I can understand why audiences even today would be baffled by some of the stuff that came from his pen)
Cowell (his use of tone clusters influenced Bartok, and he was deeply admired by guys like Berg)

[Mirror Image]

I'm not that up on the more obscure composers (haven't heard a single thing from most of those mentioned earlier)

Well, we'll just have to do something about then won't we?

[k-k-k-kenny]

For the piano (in order of birth):

1. York Bowen. Style and nationality seem to have conspired against him.

2. Alexei Stanchinsky. Difficult to assess, as he managed to destroy most of what he wrote himself, but what remains is of the highest quality in the vein of Scriabin.

5. Anatoly Alexandrov. 2 symphonies, 14 sonatas +++. Is there room only for Shosty & Prokofiev?

5. Miloslav Kabeláč. Perhaps a victim of politics in communist era Czechosolvakia. Symphonies, songs, choral works. I only wish there were more piano. Happily, Baerenreiter Praha is at last slowly producing a complete edition of his works, so there is hope yet.

5. Boris Goltz. Died in the siege of Leningrad in his late 20s, leaving behind 24 preludes, one scherzo and, rumour has it, a piano concerto. So what there is is only about 50 minutes, but it's 50 very good minutes.

5. Ronald Stevenson. Still going at 82, though in somewhat frail health today. The Passacaglia on DSCH remains the longest single movement work in the literature, I believe.

6. Hans Otte. Not to be mistaken for minimalists in the vein of Glass & Reich, he plainly listened to every note, rather than merely setting processes in train.

Have to agree that Cowell, Bortkiewitz and Roslavets are worthy contenders, though they wouldn't squeeze into my top 6. Grainger might have made it a few years ago, but Chandos has been busy overexposing him.

When do we run the 6 undeservedly well-known composers?

[Benji]

When do we run the 6 undeservedly well-known composers?

That would be a blood bath. Best keep that can of worms unopened, preferably buried under ten feet of concrete deep within a mountain somewhere off the map...

[k-k-k-kenny]

I guess so - 6 ain't nearly enough

[springrite]

Many of the above mentioned composers have been well served in the digital era in recordings (Bax, Alkan, Tubin, etc.). But that has not translated into more LIVE performances. Maybe that will be the way for a while. In my experience, the people who buy recordings, and I don't mean once in a blue moon, are not the same population as most of the concert-going public. That is unlikely to chance much either.

[Guido]

Many of the above mentioned composers have been well served in the digital era in recordings (Bax, Alkan, Tubin, etc.). But that has not translated into more LIVE performances. Maybe that will be the way for a while. In my experience, the people who buy recordings, and I don't mean once in a blue moon, are not the same population as most of the concert-going public. That is unlikely to chance much either.

Absolutely correct I think for the most part. There are certain market forces and contingencies of practicability and sensibility that preclude the regular performance of many many pieces and entire oeuvres even - live music can not and will never be as varied as our own listening habits on this board. It's not even worth being sad about. I see live performances as a very different thing - a chance to feel the incomparable sound of music being created live in front of your eyes in real space, never to "learn" a piece of music.

[Christo]

A quick try (my first one ):

1. Stanley Bate (discovery of the kind I didn't imagine could still be made - I only did last week  )
2. Arnold Cooke (another recent discovery; perhaps the finest neoclassicst I know of.)
3. Léon Orthel (he's Dutch, isn't he  )
4. Einar Englund
5. Ludvig Irgens Jensen
6. Havergal Brian - of course. Just one of the really Great. 

[Guido]

I know I mentioned Schoeck and Brian, but I think actually Enescu is probably the most underrated composer. I've never met anyone who is very familiar with his oeuvre who doesn't agree.

[The new erato]

I know I mentioned Schoeck and Brian, but I think actually Enescu is probably the most underrated composer. I've never met anyone who is very familiar with his oeuvre who doesn't agree.

He's high on that list yes. I've just played the new disc of his Piano quartets on cpo. Great stuff, like Faure on speed.

[Ten thumbs]

There exists a whole class of undeservedly neglected composers who have been neglected for one reason alone, that they were women. Here are six excellent contenders:
Two of the greatest composers of lieder:
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel
Josephine Lang
A fine symphonist and composer of chamber music who is at last being recognised:
Louise Farrenc
A Norwegian pianist whose piano music can easily match that of Grieg:
Agathe Backer-Grondahl
A French post-Romantic with a beautiful sound world:
Mel Bonis
Finally a mystery composer whose one recorded work (string quartet Op14) shows a fine grasp of form and considerable inventiveness but who also composed at least 4 symphonies:
Emilie Mayer

[Lethevich]

@Christo: I discovered Bate only recently, too. After a year or two of nagging from Vandermolen () I asked for the third symphony disc for Christmas and loved it. He's such a "missing link" composer, to a wider tradition that I previously thought was the domain of a few better-known English composers.

I have you to thank for directing me towards Cooke - I also got that string sonatas disc at the same time.

[Christo]

@Christo: I discovered Bate only recently, too. After a year or two of nagging from Vandermolen () I asked for the third symphony disc for Christmas and loved it. He's such a "missing link" composer, to a wider tradition that I previously thought was the domain of a few better-known English composers.

I have you to thank for directing me towards Cooke - I also got that string sonatas disc at the same time.

I even took refuge from this forum for a while to escape these rather costly pleas by Jeffrey/ Vandermolen 

As for Arnold Cooke: start, if you can, with the Lyrita CD with his First Symphony - a masterly First IMHO and just as fine as Bate's Third, but sounding more like Lennox Berkeley. The only other Symphony recorded of Cooke's series of six, is the Third - coupled with Havergal Brian 6 (Tragica) and 16, also fine symphonies and three superb recordings. But you knew that already, of course. 

[Lethevich]

I have and love those two Lyrita discs - now I'm trying to justify not immediately buying the Dutton chamber music disc (which I believe is the last of the CDs soley dedicated to his music)...

[Jon Silpayamanant]

Mohammed Abdul Wahab

Demetri Cantemir

Fikret Amirov

Tanburi Cemil Bey

Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Hampartsoum Limondjian

[Josquin des Prez]

Perhaps he has simply been unknown.  Hamelin's championship of his music on Hyperion will hopefully start to set that to rights.

Alas, Hamelin isn't a very good Alkan interpreter. Ronald Smith comes closest in the making the music less dry, but he has his problems as well.

[Christo]

Mohammed Abdul Wahab

Demetri Cantemir

Fikret Amirov

Tanburi Cemil Bey

Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Hampartsoum Limondjian

Great list! (I only know the first three names and would guess, that not all of the other ones would classify als `Western classical music composers' - which makes it even more interesting.)

[The new erato]

Great list! (I only know the first three names and would guess, that not all of the other ones would classify als `Western classical music composers' - which makes it even more interesting.)

I think this is the output of a random character generator.