Twelve neglected 20th century Symphonists

Started by Dundonnell, July 07, 2009, 09:19:20 AM

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snyprrr

Either way, BIS is neglecting their duty to finish that Pettersson cycle.

Yes, definitely Pettersson! ;)

Turner

#21
Bump. A lot of things are still happening on the recording market, but on top of my head, some other recent composers - where only a few of many symphonies have been recorded - would be

- Daniel Börtz
- Sven Erik Tarp
- Niels Viggo Bentzon
- Karel Boleslav Jirak
- Sergei Slonimsky
- Alexander Lokshin
- Felix Glonti 
- (and of course, Segerstam ...)

That Badings is still underrecorded is difficult to understand. Hopefully CPO will finish their cycle.

calyptorhynchus

Quote from: Daverz on October 04, 2010, 02:20:48 PM
Yup, Delos only got one movement of 11 in the can.

Which whets one's appetite for the rest. One scandalous thing that I became aware of was that when Diamond's 11th Symphony was premiered in 1992 the conductor, Kurt Masur, took upon himself to cut ten minutes from the finale. I hope when it is recorded those bars are included, I feel, even if the symphony does have longueurs, I'd sooner listen to Diamond's longueurs than many another composer's concise thoughts.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Jo498

#23
All of Lajtha's symphonies (+ a few suites) have been recorded for Marco Polo but they were mostly oop for some time (so I count this as comparably neglected). Apparently these recordings are now made available again on Naxos:

[asin]B01ICFPTC8[/asin]
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Maestro267

I wouldn't call him neglected, but it would be nice to get recordings of Peter Maxwell Davies' 7th-9th Symphonies, to complete the cycle.

Of the ones mentioned in the OP, I'd particularly like to see more recordings of Daniel Jones' symphonies. He spent most of his life in my home city, and a lot of his works were premiered at our annual festival.

vandermolen

Quote from: Jo498 on September 24, 2016, 11:24:47 PM
All of Lajtha's symphonies (+ a few suites) have been recorded for Marco Polo but they were mostly oop for some time (so I count this as comparably neglected). Apparently these recordings are now made available again on Naxos:

[asin]B01ICFPTC8[/asin]
Symphony 2 is my favourite.
"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: Christo on July 08, 2009, 11:45:19 AM
I also own a (Brasilian) recording of his Symphony No. 5, which makes a total of three symphonies out of nine, or 33%. And I do admire all three.

Santoro is not unlike Camargo Guarnieri, of whom the first six (out of seven) were recorded by the same forces, the Sao Paolo SO under John Neschling, who did a superb job. Both Guarnieri and Santoro, but especially Guarnieri, are fine symphonists, I would say. (And both were often writing in a neoclassicist idiom that I happen to love, so I'm biased ;-)
Just been listening to Symphony 4 by Santoro and thought of your advocacy of the work as well. A wonderful catchy, moving and life-affirming symphony.
"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).

Androcles

#27
Interesting topic, again with a whole lot of composers I probably need to investigate.

Evgeny Golubev certainly fits here with 2 of 7 recorded on Melodiya (but both these OOP as far as I can tell). Golubev was the missing link between Miaskovsky and Schnittke. Have a listen to Symphony No. 7 on Youtube. It seems quite impressive to me, in its way. Definitely in the line of Miaskovsky and Shebalin....

As far as I can tell, Alun Hoddinott fits here, with only Symphonies 2, 3, 5 and 6 currently available on Amazon. That said, all of the ten apart from Symphony No. 1 can be heard on Youtube, so someone must have recorded them at least in some capacity.

And I don't think we've had any orchestral Symphonies by Sorabji performed, let alone recorded... not that we'd necessarily want any.
And, moreover, it is art in its most general and comprehensive form that is here discussed, for the dialogue embraces everything connected with it, from its greatest object, the state, to its least, the embellishment of sensuous existence.

nathanb

I find Cage's symphony to be pretty neglected.

Mirror Image

Quote from: nathanb on September 26, 2016, 02:24:33 PM
I find Cage's symphony to be pretty neglected.

Cage composed a symphony? What's it like?

Karl Henning

To paraphrase Twain: one symphony makes a symphonist?  8)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

nathanb

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 26, 2016, 07:09:10 PM
Cage composed a symphony? What's it like?

It's in four movements, it's for a large orchestra, and he called it a symphony. More than good enough for me :)

And of course, now youtube fails me.

Cato

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, famous 50 years ago for composing a great score for Sergei Bondarchuk's 8-hour film version of War and Peace, is now almost forgotten.

He composed 4 symphonies, available now only via YouTube or certain listening sites:

The Fourth Symphony:

https://www.youtube.com/v/FzysPktaXmI
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

San Antone

Quote from: nathanb on September 27, 2016, 06:32:07 AM
It's in four movements, it's for a large orchestra, and he called it a symphony. More than good enough for me :)

And of course, now youtube fails me.

Are you talking about "101"? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b_5WePO5ac

nathanb

Quote from: sanantonio on September 27, 2016, 06:55:42 AM
Are you talking about "101"? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b_5WePO5ac

"108" is the one typically referred to as a symphony. "1O1", although also a number piece for large orchestra, was not composed with quite the same intent. I love both pieces.

Rons_talking

Gian Carlo Menotti composed a symphony in 1976 which is, I believe, unrecorded. When you consider the success of his opera and theatre music as well as the quality of his concerti for violin, piano, and something for cello (I believe), it's hard to imagine the work being bad..Then again, 1976 was a bad time to write symphonies, as most modernists sneered at the idea.

J

Quote from: Cato on September 27, 2016, 06:50:21 AM
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, famous 50 years ago for composing a great score for Sergei Bondarchuk's 8-hour film version of War and Peace, is now almost forgotten.

He composed 4 symphonies, available now only via YouTube or certain listening sites:

The Fourth Symphony:

https://www.youtube.com/v/FzysPktaXmI

A decline I would say from Nos. 1&2, -but interesting to hear nonetheless.

vandermolen

Quote from: Cato on September 27, 2016, 06:50:21 AM
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, famous 50 years ago for composing a great score for Sergei Bondarchuk's 8-hour film version of War and Peace, is now almost forgotten.

He composed 4 symphonies, available now only via YouTube or certain listening sites:

The Fourth Symphony:

https://www.youtube.com/v/FzysPktaXmI
I loved that film/movie score and had the LP. It was never, as far as I know,more leased on CD. Likewise I had his fine Second Symphony ( for strings I think) on LP but have never seen a CD of it.
"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).

arpeggio

Quote from: Rons_talking on September 28, 2016, 01:40:04 PM
Gian Carlo Menotti composed a symphony in 1976 which is, I believe, unrecorded. When you consider the success of his opera and theatre music as well as the quality of his concerti for violin, piano, and something for cello (I believe), it's hard to imagine the work being bad..Then again, 1976 was a bad time to write symphonies, as most modernists sneered at the idea.

Off the top of my head I can think of several so called modernist composers who wrote symphonies in the 1970's:

Benjamin Frankel (He died in 1973.  He composed his 7th and 8th symphonies in the 1970's.)
Frank Wigglesworth
Gunther Schuller
Henri Lazarof
Geoffrey Searle
Karel Husa
Roger Sessions

I have recordings of all of these composers symphonies.

I am sure other members can come up with many more.

vandermolen

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on September 24, 2016, 03:23:57 PM
Which whets one's appetite for the rest. One scandalous thing that I became aware of was that when Diamond's 11th Symphony was premiered in 1992 the conductor, Kurt Masur, took upon himself to cut ten minutes from the finale. I hope when it is recorded those bars are included, I feel, even if the symphony does have longueurs, I'd sooner listen to Diamond's longueurs than many another composer's concise thoughts.

Me too.
"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).