Top 10 compositions that you like but no one else does

[EigenUser]

I am going to listen to those two Nyman works, Ken B., and if they send me running, well, I need the exercise!

Nyman's MGV sends me running, but that's because I listen to it while running. Some of the best classical exercise music out there, along with Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Messiaen's Trois Petites Liturgies.

[Gurn Blanston]

Yippee, a Vieuxtemps (and S-S) confrère!  Pleased to make your acquaintance!  There ain't many of us...we should invent a secret (virtual) handshake or codeword for solidarity.  I'm wondering now if I should pull back those Spohr recommends - he has several active societies and they do mean business! : they are not idle in promoting their idol. 

Edit : I think I remember Karlo wondering why he didn't listen to S-S more.  Good example of a composer who is bigger and better than his rep.

The first 200 or so disks in my collection  were violin concertos, so I am a sucker for a good one, and Vieuxtemps wrote several good ones! True, good advice to not mess with fanatics, but I find Spohr to be far better than his tepid reception indicates (the point of this thread I guess).

I have issues with a lot of Romantic composers, as I don't have the attention span to want to bother finding out what they would like to say. Music too prolix. C.S-S. isn't like that though, and therein lies his appeal. Well, that and a real gift for melody. How can one not like his violin sonatas?   

[jochanaan]

The first 200 or so disks in my collection  were violin concertos, so I am a sucker for a good one, and Vieuxtemps wrote several good ones! True, good advice to not mess with fanatics, but I find Spohr to be far better than his tepid reception indicates (the point of this thread I guess).

I have issues with a lot of Romantic composers, as I don't have the attention span to want to bother finding out what they would like to say. Music too prolix. C.S-S. isn't like that though, and therein lies his appeal. Well, that and a real gift for melody. How can one not like his violin sonatas?   

Somewhere in my stacks is a Vieuxtemps 4 LP from about 1950 with Zino Francescatti and Ormandy/Philadelphia.  Lovely concerto, beautifully played.

[Mirror Image]

There aren't many of us Delians here, so I'll toss any ten of his compositions into the hat here. The man simply gets no respect as Rodney Dangerfield would say.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Nyman's MGV sends me running, but that's because I listen to it while running. Some of the best classical exercise music out there, along with Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Messiaen's Trois Petites Liturgies.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

The first 200 or so disks in my collection  were violin concertos, so I am a sucker for a good one, and Vieuxtemps wrote several good ones! True, good advice to not mess with fanatics, but I find Spohr to be far better than his tepid reception indicates (the point of this thread I guess).

I have issues with a lot of Romantic composers, as I don't have the attention span to want to bother finding out what they would like to say. Music too prolix. C.S-S. isn't like that though, and therein lies his appeal. Well, that and a real gift for melody. How can one not like his violin sonatas?   

Just FYI, Haydn was my favorite composer when I was in college.  Back when I was really smart!    I remember enjoying back then a Huxley novel, Point Counter Point, in which a character - with whom I sympathized - greatly admired Papa.  That novel is very much about music and is constructed after a fugue.  Well worth reading if anyone hasn't yet.

[amw]

For the thread, I enjoy Avet Terterian's Symphonies very much, though I can't see that anyone else has ever heard of him.

I've only heard nos. 3, 4, 7 and 8, but seem to recall that they're pretty good.

Anything by [...] Lou Harrison.

I and Ken B are also admirers of his, one of the few composers on whom our musical taste seems to be remotely similar >.>

@Gurn et al - I have 10 Spohr symphonies and 4 clarinet concertos in my collection, but no chamber music. Perhaps that's why he's never made as much of an impact on me as, eg Onslow or Weber. Might have to investigate.

[Jo498]

@Gurn et al - I have 10 Spohr symphonies and 4 clarinet concertos in my collection, but no chamber music. Perhaps that's why he's never made as much of an impact on me as, eg Onslow or Weber. Might have to investigate.

Yes, try at least one of the double quartets and mixed wind/string chamber music. I am not an expert on this stuff, but for me it is at least as good as Hummel or Onslow. Onslow might be more "serious" and more densely constructed, but IMO also a little dry.

C.M. v. Weber may also be a name for this thread. Of course, Freischütz is a staple in germanic countries (far less so elsewhere) and some other pieces are quite well known, especially the clarinet concertos.

To me it seems he was a highly gifted and original composer, but his instrumental works are still a rather mixed bag. Had he lived longer and focussed more on instrumental music he might have produced more instrumental masterpieces on the level of the ouvertures to the mature operas. His best instrumental work is for me the f minor "Konzertstueck" for piano&orchestra, but the clarinet concertos and quintet, the other piano concertos are also worth one's while. I like some movements of the piano sonatas, but overall they seem too long-winded and not even Richter or Ciani can "save" them completely.

[Florestan]

C.M. v. Weber may also be a name for this thread. Of course, Freischütz is a staple in germanic countries (far less so elsewhere) and some other pieces are quite well known, especially the clarinet concertos.

To me it seems he was a highly gifted and original composer, but his instrumental works are still a rather mixed bag. Had he lived longer and focussed more on instrumental music he might have produced more instrumental masterpieces on the level of the ouvertures to the mature operas. His best instrumental work is for me the f minor "Konzertstueck" for piano&orchestra, but the clarinet concertos and quintet, the other piano concertos are also worth one's while. I like some movements of the piano sonatas, but overall they seem too long-winded and not even Richter or Ciani can "save" them completely.

I am a big fan of Weber, including the piano sonatas (which I just love; Ciani is superb) and Aufforderung zum Tanz, the Bassoon Concerto, the Horn and Clarinet Concertinos, Romanza Siciliana for Flute & Orch. His operas are excellent as well.

Kalinnikov's symphonies, anyone?

Then there are the neglected operas of the French repertoire: Ambroise Thomas - Mignon, La Cour de Celimene; Massenet - Werther, Thais, Le Cid, Manon; Bizet - Les pecheurs de perles

And speaking of France, Vincent d'Indy, Emmanuel Chabrier and Ernest Chausson certainly deserve better.

[Karl Henning]

Mennin Eighth Symphony   0:)

[Brahmsian]

Dvorak's 4th

Tchaikovsky's 3rd

Beethoven's early Piano Quartets

[Sergeant Rock]

Dvorak's 4th

You know that's not true! 

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Kalinnikov's symphonies, anyone?

Love them, especially the First.

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

You know that's not true! 

Sarge

Yes, I know.  In this regard, Mrs. Rock and I are soulmates. 

[Ken B]

Mennin Eighth Symphony   0:)

A perfect choice!

[Karl Henning]

Forsooth!

Although . . . I think Cato may like it, as well . . . .

[Ken B]

I've only heard nos. 3, 4, 7 and 8, but seem to recall that they're pretty good.
I and Ken B are also admirers of his, one of the few composers on whom our musical taste seems to be remotely similar >.>

Yeah, but I haven't given up on you yet! 

[Jo498]

Beethoven's early Piano Quartets

These are amazing, especially for a 14-15 year old.
I don't care much for Tchaikovsky's 3rd (even less for the 2nd), but Dvorak 4 is quite nice.

[amw]

Yes, try at least one of the double quartets and mixed wind/string chamber music. I am not an expert on this stuff, but for me it is at least as good as Hummel or Onslow. Onslow might be more "serious" and more densely constructed, but IMO also a little dry.

Right, listened to the third double quartet, octet and nonet from the Vienna Philharmonic Octet. I preferred the double quartet to some extent, but it was hard to focus since I was also trying to make dinner. However I think I'll spend more time with Spohr's chamber music, it does seem more enjoyable than the orchestral works I've heard.

C.M. v. Weber may also be a name for this thread.

To me it seems he was a highly gifted and original composer, but his instrumental works are still a rather mixed bag. Had he lived longer and focussed more on instrumental music he might have produced more instrumental masterpieces on the level of the ouvertures to the mature operas. His best instrumental work is for me the f minor "Konzertstueck" for piano&orchestra, but the clarinet concertos and quintet, the other piano concertos are also worth one's while. I like some movements of the piano sonatas, but overall they seem too long-winded and not even Richter or Ciani can "save" them completely.

Weber is a really interesting composer for me because the weak movements are always the same—the opening, 'sonata form' movements of big sonata-type works (e.g. piano sonatas, flute trio, clarinet quintet etc). Unlike Rossini he wasn't born with a gift for classical forms and unlike Schubert he didn't find a way of sustaining interest in spite of having no natural feeling for the form—but they do show how far most of the generation born in the 1770s/80s was from Classicism as practiced by figures such as Beethoven and Hummel. (I'd consider Weber, Rossini, and Spohr—perhaps also Dussek, in his later works—to be perhaps the first generation of Romantic 'revolutionaries', circa 1800-1810... but stumbling forth into a new musical world inevitably yields mixed results and only serves to pave the way for the next generation, in this case Schubert, Paganini, Bellini, Donizetti, the precocious Mendelssohn, etc, in the 1820s... who in turn were only laying groundwork for the generation that came of age around 1830: Berlioz, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi and pretty much all the other Romantic composers we remember )

So in every one of his piano sonatas, the first movement has some nice ideas but can't really sustain them because he's trying to shoehorn them into an academic idea of 'sonata form' that no longer makes musical sense with his new aesthetic, whereas the other 2 or 3 movements are lovely, and would be much more popular if they were not shackled to their unwieldy pendants. (And indeed were—the Perpetuum mobile from No. 1, Menuetto capriccioso from No. 2, Allegro di bravura from No. 3 and perhaps one or two other movements were incredibly popular during most of the 19th century.) Similarly the Konzertstück works extremely well because, thanks to its programme, he is freed of the obligation to fit everything into a form and can just let his superb melodies and textural ideas loose. Liszt heard that, went on to write quite a few symphonic poems on a similar model, and suddenly Weber's the founder before the fact of the New German School... and we know the rest. Still underrated outside the operatic world, but as you say, that's no surprise.

[Florestan]

Weber is a really interesting composer for me because the weak movements are always the same—the opening, 'sonata form' movements of big sonata-type works (e.g. piano sonatas, flute trio, clarinet quintet etc). Unlike Rossini he wasn't born with a gift for classical forms and unlike Schubert he didn't find a way of sustaining interest in spite of having no natural feeling for the form—but they do show how far most of the generation born in the 1770s/80s was from Classicism as practiced by figures such as Beethoven and Hummel. (I'd consider Weber, Rossini, and Spohr—perhaps also Dussek, in his later works—to be perhaps the first generation of Romantic 'revolutionaries', circa 1800-1810... but stumbling forth into a new musical world inevitably yields mixed results and only serves to pave the way for the next generation, in this case Schubert, Paganini, Bellini, Donizetti, the precocious Mendelssohn, etc, in the 1820s... who in turn were only laying groundwork for the generation that came of age around 1830: Berlioz, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi and pretty much all the other Romantic composers we remember )

So in every one of his piano sonatas, the first movement has some nice ideas but can't really sustain them because he's trying to shoehorn them into an academic idea of 'sonata form' that no longer makes musical sense with his new aesthetic, whereas the other 2 or 3 movements are lovely, and would be much more popular if they were not shackled to their unwieldy pendants. (And indeed were—the Perpetuum mobile from No. 1, Menuetto capriccioso from No. 2, Allegro di bravura from No. 3 and perhaps one or two other movements were incredibly popular during most of the 19th century.) Similarly the Konzertstück works extremely well because, thanks to its programme, he is freed of the obligation to fit everything into a form and can just let his superb melodies and textural ideas loose. Liszt heard that, went on to write quite a few symphonic poems on a similar model, and suddenly Weber's the founder before the fact of the New German School... and we know the rest. Still underrated outside the operatic world, but as you say, that's no surprise.

Nice assessment.