Great underrated pieces.

[knight66]

Luke, I was taken by your suggestion of Satie's Socrate. I have pre-ordered this recording.........


No idea when it will arrive. Most of the recordings of the piece are NLA.

Mike

[Kullervo]

Try his string quartets. I have it all and like them very much.

Whose?

[Don]

Whose?

I'm 99.9% positive Carlos was referring to the Martinu's string quartets.

[Kullervo]

I'm 99.9% positive Carlos was referring to the Martinu's string quartets.

That's what I thought too, but I wanted to hear it from him.

[Don]

That's what I thought too, but I wanted to hear it from him.

Looks like you'll have to wait till tomorrow.

[Kullervo]

Looks like you'll have to wait till tomorrow.

Drat, what will I do 'til then!?

[Ten thumbs]

Tchaikowsky's second piano concerto easily beats his first. That triple concerto in the slow movement is just so beautiful.

[lukeottevanger]

Luke, I was taken by your suggestion of Satie's Socrate. I have pre-ordered this recording.........

Hope it doesn't disappoint! Did you listen to the tiny samples I posted (more representative than tiny samples usually are, as the work is pretty static!)? As for me, I'm planning to listen to the piece again tonight.

[Haffner]

So I'm a dweeb: I love the music that Barry Manilow wrote for the Disney Classic Thumbelina.

[carlos]

Yes, i was refering to Martinu's SQ
and Miaskovsky' SQ
and Glazunov's SQ
and Simpson's SQ
and Cherubini's SQ
and Stevenhagen's SQ
and Suk's SQ
and Smetana second SQ
and all Taneyev's chamber
and Strauss SQ
and Paul Juon's,Hindemith's,Reger's,Bazzini's,Salmanov's,
Saint-Saën's,Goldmark's SQ
and......

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Thanks.  Does anyone have thoughts on Martinu's cello concertos or symphonies?

Just saw the above...

The cello concertos are beautifully structured virtuoso vessels and are just bursting with invention.

I have this recording:

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The cello concertos are beautifully structured virtuoso vessels and are just bursting with invention.

...and may just (come to think of it) take the crown for most underrated piece(s)...

[Brian]

That triple concerto in the slow movement is just so beautiful.

Yes. I love that movement more than any other slow movement in Tchaikovsky's concertos ... check that ... it's one of my 4 or 5 favorite slow movements from any piece, ever. Achingly beautiful, especially in the uncut version (I refuse to listen to cut versions now), when the extraordinary dialog and the violin and cello parts are all in full bloom.

And listening to Konstantin Scherbakov play that unbelievable first movement cadenza is one awe-inspiring experience 

[Ten thumbs]

Yes, i was refering to Martinu's SQ
and Miaskovsky' SQ
and Glazunov's SQ
and Simpson's SQ
and Cherubini's SQ
and Stevenhagen's SQ
and Suk's SQ
and Smetana second SQ
and all Taneyev's chamber
and Strauss SQ
and Paul Juon's,Hindemith's,Reger's,Bazzini's,Salmanov's,
Saint-Saën's,Goldmark's SQ
and......

Mel Bonis's PQs
and......

[paulb]

Basically self-explanatory. However, please include why you feel the way you do. 

Here's one no one would ever think of mentioning.
Kurt Weill's sym1, discovered 4 or 5 yrs ago,  and as of today's revisit of Weill's syms,  i will include his equally incredible sym2.
Arkiv re-released the EMI which was rare/OOP for some yrs now.
i have 3 recordings  of the 1st and 2nd sym. The 4th copy i find just  "adequate", the Naxos release.
Not sure why the Weill 1st just sweeps me its sound world of colors and textures, but never fails to do so.
masterful ,short but economical (no dull parts to wade through), powerful emotionally toned syms.

The only other work i know to mention in "under-rated" terms, would be the Ruggles Sun-treader, and possibly his other work  Men And Mountains. I think others would agree on Sun-treader as being a  'less-known-more deserved" masterpiece, as i've seen this same opinion expressed  on other relevant topics.
Ruggles took some yrs to write the 15 minute work, but he "delivered the goods".

[The fatgoat]

I think Hindemith's Sonata for Horn is one of his greatest works. Unlike almost all the chamber music I've heard, this can actually sound strong and not thin. But so few recordings of the piece exist. The only two I have are, in my opinion, awful. At least, the pianist is, for the most part. But neither recording pays much mind to the dynamics. The differences in volume are not exaggerated enough. And there's too much liberty taken with the tempo. Too much slowing down. Other tempos are either too fast or slow. I think the piece can be great if interpreted properly.

[schweitzeralan]

Basically self-explanatory. However, please include why you feel the way you do. 

Scriabin/Nemptin: Mysterium.  A few enthusiasts compare it to Brian's "Gothic" Symphony #1

[Chaszz]

In general I feel most all chamber music is underrated.  Orchestral warhorses get performed and recorded much more often than smaller chamber works, and it is usually in chamber music where composers make their most innovative artistic statements.

Chamber music originally thrived partly because it could be published and sold to skilled amateurs living in the suburbs and the country, who could not usually attend city concerts. They could make their own music. This situation still holds today, as I've observed living in suburbs for most of the last 30 years or so. There has generally been much more live chamber music available in my areas than orchestral concerts. The difference is that the skilled amateurs have been replaced either by well-known soloists picking up a few extra bucks, or unknown and underemployed orchestral musicians.   

[Chaszz]

Max Bruch's late Concerto for Clarinet and Viola. A truly superlative work, generally softer and more contemplative than the two or three works, including the Violin Concerto, for which Bruch is remembered. 

[Sydney Grew]

Art should not be "rated" in the first place, and, as a consequence, art should not be susceptible to being either overrated or underrated ........

This daring and indeed communistic assertion flies in the face not only of all tradition but also of Sir Edward Elgar.

Consider this interview recorded by Gerald Cumberland in his "Set Down in Malice":

Gerald Cumberland: " But suppose," I urged, "a new work of yours were so universally condemned by the critics that performances of it ceased to take place. Would you not then read their criticisms in order to discover if there was not some truth in their statements?"

Sir Edward Elgar: "It is possible, but I do not think I should. But your supposition is an inconceivable one: there is never universal agreement among musical critics. I think you will notice that many of them are, from the æsthetic point of view, absolutely devoid of principle; I mean, they are victims of their own temperaments. They, as the school-girl says, 'know what they like.' The music they condemn is either the music that does not appeal to their particular kind of nervous system or it is the music they do not understand. They have no standard, no norm, no historical sense, no . . ."

He stammered a little and waved a vague arm in the air.

Cumberland: "There are exceptions, of course," I ventured. "Newman, for example."

Elgar: "No; Ernest Newman is not altogether an exception. He is an unbeliever, and therefore cannot understand religious music - music that is at once reverential, mystical and devout."

(Note especially the expressions "principle," "temperaments," "standard," "norm," "historical sense," "religious" and "mystical"!)