Top 10 compositions that you like but no one else does

[RebLem]

I saw the thread "Top 10 compositions that you don't like but everyone else does" and thought I'd invert it.  Its not always that no one else likes it, its usually just that its an obscure work, perhaps, though not always, by an obscure composer that is one of your favorites that most other people don't even seem to know about, much less like.  Except, I don't expect you to have at least 10 or to limit yourself to 10--I just did that so the name would look like the other thread of which this one is an inversion.  OK, so here's mine:

Gilles: Requiem
Haydn: Symphony #72
Arriaga: the three string quartets
Schubert: Masses and other sacred works
Bruch: String Octet, String Quintet, and Piano Quintet--available on cpo 999 451 2.
Stenhammar: the six string quartets, esp. # 4.
Prokofiev: Sinfonietta in A--best performance is by Neeme Jarvi, included in his set of the Prokofiev symphonies.

Shostakovich: The Golden Age (the complete ballet, not just the suite)--2 CD set by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra cond by Jose Serebrier.  It is easy to see why it has never before been recorded complete.  Its one of those agitprop pieces that presents a bizarre interpretation of the mechanics of racism, with those in power hating black people and common working white people offended by discrimination against them by bosses and officialdom.  Hey, folks, we all know that's not how racism goes, but that was the official Commie line for many years.  BUT, it does have lots of good music that isn't in the suite, and is well worth hearing all the way through.  Superb performance, too, recorded in Glasgow 2006 on NAXOS.

Shostakovich: Hypothetically Murdered (1931) (39:18)--orchestral suite, performed with another work on Signum Classics by Mark Elder conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.  You look at the title and you think it must be some kind of protest music about Soviet officialdom refusing to acknowledge they killed a lot of people with wild abandon.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It is a comedy, in fact.  It was written as an accompaniement for a slapstick comedy troupe's long sketch about what we today would call a First Responders' readiness or civil defense exercise, where workers are trained in the art and science of triage.  One of the volunteers, who is assigned to simply play dead, refuses to play his role consistently, and various hilarities ensue as a result.  The Soviet critics panned the work for political reasons, because it made fun of heroic socialist labor.      The orchestral score has been lost, but it was reconstructed from a piano score found among Shostakovich's effects after his death, using clues in the score itself, critical reports by contemporaries, those negative reviews, and advertising posters promoting the production, plus writings by people who were part of the production.  This is well worth listening to.

Chavez: the three string quartets, and two other pieces for string quartet.

Crumb:  Black Angels.  One of them there modern pieces.  Its written for "electronically extended string quartet," in other words, a string quartet performs the work and somebody with a sound board extends the music beyond the natural tonal ranges of the instruments involved.  Interesting and has a sort of misterioso effect on me.

So, that's mine.  What's yours?

[Sergeant Rock]

Pettersson Symphony No.9
Pettersson Symphony No.14
Schmidt Symphony No.3
Tippett Songs for Dov
Mahler Symphony No.8 (Even most of the Mahlerites hate this)
Havergal Brian Symphony No.4 "Das Siegeslied"
Delius A Mass of Life
Bernard Herrmann Symphony
Hindemith Pittsburgh Symphony
Sibelius The Wood-Nymph (melodrama version for narrator, piano, 2 horns, and strings)
Pachelbel Canon and Gigue 

Sarge

[Jo498]

Haydn's 72 is a curiosity. AFAIK it is completely mis-numbered, probably having been composed BEFORE the other great horn symphony, #31. Despite the crazy virtuoso horn parts I have to admit that I prefer #31 by a considerably margin.
I also like the Arriaga quartets, but don't care for Schubert's sacred music, not even the two grand rather famous masses in A flat and E flat.

But I like some of Schubert's great and not very well known secular choral music. This includes haunting pieces like "Gesang der Geister über den Wassern" and "Nachtgesang im Walde".
There is also secular choral music by other German romantics, although I don't know much of it. But I certainly love the three shorter choral/orchestral pieces Brahms wrote on "classical" texts by famous German poets: Schicksalslied (Hoelderlin), Gesang der Parzen (Goethe) and Nänie (Schiller)

I have not yet heard the Bruch pieces you mentioned, but in the last few years I have been discovering lots of lesser known romantic chamber music. Today I listened to Rheinberger's piano quartet in E flat major, a very nice piece.

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Of rather slight music by a famous composer I am extraordinarily fond of some of Beethoven's Scottish/Irish/Welsh song settings; I have the complete box on DG/Archiv as well as 4 or 5 anthologies, of which my favorite album may be this one:

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[Gurn Blanston]

Haydn's 72 is a curiosity. AFAIK it is completely mis-numbered, probably having been composed BEFORE the other great horn symphony, #31. Despite the crazy virtuoso horn parts I have to admit that I prefer #31 by a considerably margin.

72 is actually #30 from 1763. 31 is actually 37 from 1765. The horn parts are indeed crazy, virtuoso things, and make up for much, although there isn't much to make up for, considering the other symphonies I've heard from 1763.    

Now for the main question of the day.

I am seeing things generically lumped together and so I can do that in lieu of 10 individual compositions:

Vivaldi's concertos - never have so many fine pieces of music been so sorely abused

Haydn's concertos in general

His operas ditto

Mozart's music before Vienna. Too many great pieces to mention, even the 'bad' ones are at least very good.

Brahms' Hungarian Dances

So, there are at least 10 compositions there which I could easily pick out if needed, 2 from each group. I notice people tend to condemn things in groups though, and so here I praise them likewise. They are all things I really like! 

[ritter]

...
Schmidt Symphony No.3
...

+1 ...I find this symphony delightful, and more than that, I think it's a rather remarkable achievment!... 

[Florestan]

Vivaldi's concertos - never have so many fine pieces of music been so sorely abused

Yessss!

Rossini's operas, other than Il Barbiere

Wellington's Victory

[Jo498]

I also have some fondness for Wellington's Victory, if only for historical reasons as it was one of the half dozen or so pieces that got me interested in classical music. (The others were mostly Tchaikovsky, 1812 among others, and Dvorak's 9th)

Another bunch of pieces that are virtually unknown that I like quite a bit are Albinoni's trio sonatas op.1 and concerti+sinfonie op.2 They are far less famous than his later (mostly oboe) concerti, but more "serious" in a Corellian style, often with strict counterpoint and not so much virtuoso concertizing.

Handel's italian cantatas finally get at least some of the attention they deserve, the best pieces (like Delirio amoroso) are available in several recordings. But there is much more out there (fortunately Glossa and Brilliant seem to be recording series of them).
And of the Chandos/Cannons Anthems there is only one complete available recording (Christophers/Chandos) which is o.k., but I could imagine better. This is wonderful music, more nuanced and varied than the Coronation Anthems, but the latter are much better known.

[EigenUser]

I can't think of ten, but here are a few:

Messiaen Des Canyons aux Etoiles. I love it. Of course it's too long and I don't usually listen to it all in one sitting unless I'm doing a long homework assignment or something like that. The trio of movements I frequent most are the Ceder Breaks..., Appel Interstellaire, and Bryce Canyon.... The slow movement is beautiful as well.

Reich The Desert Music. Not a big minimalist, but I like some works very much, including this one. Huh, I just realized that these are two desert-related works in a row by coincidence.

Actually, this is all that I can think of right now. I'm sure that there are more.

[Ken B]

I can't think of ten, but here are a few:

Messiaen Des Canyons aux Etoiles. I love it. Of course it's too long and I don't usually listen to it all in one sitting unless I'm doing a long homework assignment or something like that. The trio of movements I frequent most are the Ceder Breaks..., Appel Interstellaire, and Bryce Canyon.... The slow movement is beautiful as well.

Reich The Desert Music. Not a big minimalist, but I like some works very much, including this one. Huh, I just realized that these are two desert-related works in a row by coincidence.

Actually, this is all that I can think of right now. I'm sure that there are more.

You don't need 10 when you've got Des Canyons. I think you are already over-quota at two.

[Brian]

Bruch: String Octet, String Quintet, and Piano Quintet--available on cpo 999 451 2.

This is a glorious album of three extraordinary pieces. My favorite Bruch by a huge margin - far ahead of the violin concertos. If Brahms' late chamber music is "autumnal," then this is the music of summertime, but with similar maturity and discipline.

Here are a few things on my list:

Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite. Yes, it's cheesy and catchy and as unhealthily American as deep-fried apple pie, but it works! It really does!

Few people seem to talk about Veljo Tormis and the New American Wave of choral composers - Lauridsen, Whitacre, Kyr, etc.

Most everyone hates on Leonard Bernstein's Mass. Certainly not a perfect piece, but it has a lot to like.

Khachaturian dances get stuck in my head 2-3 times every single week, though I hardly ever listen to them.

Alexander Tcherepnin's astonishing, dazzling, marvelous Ten Etudes, Op. 18, written when he was a teenager, are a clear and glorious precursor to Prokofiev and Shostakovich, with pomposity, humor, menace, wit, and basically everything that makes piano music worthwhile. There's only one recording (Koukl), and it's okay, but I fantasize sometimes about a pianist like Sudbin or Volodos or Pletnev recording the set.

I also agree with earlier mentions of the Pachelbel Canon and Vivaldi concertos in general. In the same vein, I think Johann Strauss Jr. is the single most underrated composer among GMG members. His sublime (best-ever?) gift for melody is disregarded because he consistently used it to write cheery little waltzes. Not a great way to ingratiate yourself amongst a crowd of people who prefer Mahler, Pettersson, Shostakovich, and Honegger. 

[Bogey]

Mozart's music before Vienna. Too many great pieces to mention, even the 'bad' ones are at least very good.

Word.

[amw]

The Stenhammar and Chavez string quartets are excellent, by the way. So I like them as well even if no one else does. Vivaldi is also pretty good, as you'd expect from anyone who influenced J.S. Bach, but he has enough fans around here.

List:

I enjoy Stockhausen's Mikrophonie I purely on the level of programme music. It's like a field recording from a ghost ship, with creaking timbers, rusted metal, raindrops, phantom voices etc. I know that lots of people dismiss everything by Stockhausen as rubbish, but even the Stockhausen fans mostly praise its intellectual rigour and construction rather than simply listening to it as a piece of music.

Also, my favourite Prokofiev work is the Symphony-Concerto. No one else likes it. Even my family members think I'm weird for liking it.

Hindemith's early music is also pretty great. Works like the Lustige Sinfonietta, the first three string quartets & the Op. 11 string sonatas get almost no attention (except for Op. 11 no. 4, from beleaguered violists worldwide) but are among my favourites.

Also, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, greatest composer of the Classical era after Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn, and anyone who says otherwise needs a new hearing aid.

[Florestan]

Looks like this thread has 2 main leads

1) Works everybody has heard but nobody seems to care for, except oneself

I nominate

Schubert: early symphonies, early piano sonatas, early string quartets

Mendelssohn; early string quartets, chamber music, piano concertos

Chopin: piano concertos

Tchaikovsky: early symphonies, string quartets, The Seasons

Dvorak: early symphonies, early string quartets, solo piano music

Rachmaninoff: symphonies and other orchestral works

2) Works nobody has heard, except oneself

Now, where is some guy when one needs him? He would win hands down!

[Sergeant Rock]

Tchaikovsky: early symphonies, string quartets, The Seasons

Dvorak: early symphonies, early string quartets, solo piano music

Quite a few of us like those early symphonies: Harry and I love "Winter Dreams" more than any other Tchaikovsky symphony. Brian, Nut, Cato, Mrs. Rock and I are fanatics about some (or all) of the early Dvorak.

Sarge 

[Florestan]

Quite a few of us like those early symphonies: Harry and I love "Winter Dreams" more than any other Tchaikovsky symphony. Brian, Nut, Cato, Mrs. Rock and I are fanatics about some (or all) of the early Dvorak.

Sarge

Cool. 

BTW, thumbs up for Arriaga, Hummel and Stenhammar, too.

[North Star]

Looks like this thread has 2 main leads

1) Works everybody has heard but nobody seems to care for, except oneself

I nominate

Chopin: piano concertos

Tchaikovsky: early symphonies, string quartets, The Seasons

Rachmaninoff: symphonies and other orchestral works

Poor nominations indeed - I love these.

[Jo498]

Poor nominations indeed - I love these.

Yes, most of these are well known and frequently played and recorded pieces. Same with Mendelssohn (his two "early" quartets op.12+13 are his most famous ones.
The early Dvorak (and maybe also Schubert) quartets may qualify (but they are not well-known but disliked, they are simply not well known and rarely played).

[Jo498]

I also agree with earlier mentions of the Pachelbel Canon and Vivaldi concertos in general.

The canon is also a misrepresentation of Pachelbel. It's almost like if everyone new only "air" or "badinerie" by Bach.

In the same vein, I think Johann Strauss Jr. is the single most underrated composer among GMG members. His sublime (best-ever?) gift for melody is disregarded because he consistently used it to write cheery little waltzes. Not a great way to ingratiate yourself amongst a crowd of people who prefer Mahler, Pettersson, Shostakovich, and Honegger. 

But this is the skewed view of web fora with nerdy males focussing on dark and serious music.
J. Strauss is a very popular composer with listeners world wide, not only around new years day, but at least a few of his operettas are still very frequently performed in German-speaking countries, certainly Fledermaus and "The Gypsy Baron". Among my parent's generation (born in the 1940s) some of these operetta tunes are as popular as broadway or musical hits, even among people who do not listen to other classical music.

[Brian]

Also, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, greatest composer of the Classical era after Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn, and anyone who says otherwise needs a new hearing aid.

Guess I need a new hearing aid. CPE Bach or Dussek, for me.

J. Strauss is a very popular composer with listeners world wide, not only around new years day, but at least a few of his operettas are still very frequently performed in German-speaking countries, certainly Fledermaus and "The Gypsy Baron". Among my parent's generation (born in the 1940s) some of these operetta tunes are as popular as broadway or musical hits, even among people who do not listen to other classical music.

As he should be! When people on GMG talk about our tastes differing from the general "concertgoing public", Johann Strauss is always the first thing I think of.

[Daverz]

 Some of you have mentioned some of my own favorites: Albinoni Op. 2; Schmidt Symphony 3; Prokofiev Symphony-Concertante (particularly the old Rostropovich/Sargent recording); Tchaikovsky's Winter Dreams.  So these are probably not really compositions that I like but no one else does.

I'll also admit to enjoying a lot of Philip Glass.