Most Underrated Composers

[North Star]

Väinö Raitio comes to mind.

[kyjo]

Top 30 most underrated composers in my view (in no particular order)

1. Atterberg
2. Braga Santos
3. Tveitt
4. Bloch
5. Leifs
6. Diamond
7. Rubbra
8. Hartmann
9. Miaskovsky
10. Koechlin
11. Holmboe
12. Casella
13. Tubin
14. Enescu
15. Broadstock (easily my favorite contemporary composer next to Aho)
16. Novak
17. Langgaard
18. Raitio
19. Orthel
20. Bortkiewicz
21. Rosenberg
22. Honegger
23. Alwyn
24. Bate
25. Bridge
26. Creston
27. Magnard
28. Melartin
29. Arnell
30. Jongen

Many of the composers I included because a lot of their work still remains unrecorded. Those composers would be Diamond, Koechlin, Novak, Raitio, Orthel, Bortkiewicz, Rosenberg, Bate, Creston, and Jongen. The other composers I included may have relatively good representation on disc, but they are still seldom given credit for their talent.

[ibanezmonster]

1. Atterberg
2. Braga Santos

Haven't listened to many on the list, but these definitely deserve the top two spots.

[kyjo]

Haven't listened to many on the list, but these definitely deserve the top two spots.

Totally. Atterberg and Braga Santos will always be the top two on my list. They composed such gorgeous, life-affirming music.

[Brian]

I was going to say Aho, Atterberg, Cras, Weinberg, Weiss, and Zelenka, but Sammy and I already named all those composers when the thread started. I might add that I think C.P.E. Bach is underrated, and although ratings are going up for Martinu, they're not high enough. Lera Auerbach deserves greater acclaim.

[kyjo]

I was going to say Aho, Atterberg, Cras, Weinberg, Weiss, and Zelenka, but Sammy and I already named all those composers when the thread started. I might add that I think C.P.E. Bach is underrated, and although ratings are going up for Martinu, they're not high enough. Lera Auerbach deserves greater acclaim.

Aho and Cras are certainly underrated and I could have very well included them. Weinberg I'm still trying to warm to, but I'm very grateful for what Chandos, Naxos and Neos have done to advance his cause. Auebach I haven't yet investigated, but she's been highly praised in many circles. Any recommendations on where to start with her music, Brian? I'd appreciate it.

[Brian]

Aho and Cras are certainly underrated and I could have very well included them. Weinberg I'm still trying to warm to, but I'm very grateful for what Chandos, Naxos and Neos have done to advance his cause. Auebach I haven't yet investigated, but she's been highly praised in many circles. Any recommendations on where to start with her music, Brian? I'd appreciate it.

I was a huge fan of a Cedille CD which came out earlier this year of her cello music - she was the pianist. Most of the Auerbach I know is for small ensembles (solo piano on BIS, solo violin also on BIS paired with Bach and Ysaye).

[kyjo]

I was a huge fan of a Cedille CD which came out earlier this year of her cello music - she was the pianist. Most of the Auerbach I know is for small ensembles (solo piano on BIS, solo violin also on BIS paired with Bach and Ysaye).

Thanks, Brian! Browsing Amazon, I see that all the recordings of her music consist of her work for small ensembles. Wikipedia indicates that she has composed quite a few orchestral works as well, including two symphonies, two VCs and a PC. Wonder why they haven't been recorded? I see her Double Concerto for violin and piano has been posted on YT, though.

[Brian]

Thanks, Brian! Browsing Amazon, I see that all the recordings of her music consist of her work for small ensembles. Wikipedia indicates that she has composed quite a few orchestral works as well, including two symphonies, two VCs and a PC. Wonder why they haven't been recorded? I see her Double Concerto for violin and piano has been posted on YT, though.

The cello concerto is getting premiered this year, I think, and there's an opera in the works.

I think a lot of it is because it's a lot cheaper to record contemporary music for smaller ensembles. Pretty rare to see composers who don't have a big foothold in concert halls (i.e., not Adams/Glass/Golijov etc.) getting big orchestral CDs. I recently reviewed a double album of six concertos for various instruments by Thomas Oboe Lee, and while they were utterly fantastic and I very heartily urge everyone to listen to them, the recording sessions were rushed and it was obvious.

[asin]B008YEX7IQ[/asin]

"Thomas Oboe Lee weaves many influences into a distinctive artistic voice. Born in China to nightclub singers, he spent his teenage years living in Brazil, then moved to the United States to study composing at Harvard and the New England Conservatory. Along the way he picked up the sounds not just of bossa nova and samba, but the American jazz of Davis, Coltrane and Evans. What's delightful is that all this merged together into a composer of really interesting music. These six concertos show his range and his talent for catchy, tuneful music with strong rhythms and emotions." - me on MusicWeb (read more!)

[asin]B00ARWDRBK[/asin]

"The finale, marked "Con estrema intensita," is marked by cello playing which follows this marking so strongly I was worried the bow was going to snap and all the strings were going to come flying off. What makes Auerbach's music successful despite its rarely-relenting intensity, by the way, is how sincere it feels; she has mastered what the Greeks called the "ethical appeal," the idea that the author is a persuasive one. Her music seems to be driven by something more personal than ambition or self-seriousness." - me on MusicWeb again

[kyjo]

I think a lot of it is because it's a lot cheaper to record contemporary music for smaller ensembles. Pretty rare to see composers who don't have a big foothold in concert halls (i.e., not Adams/Glass/Golijov etc.) getting big orchestral CDs. I recently reviewed a double album of six concertos for various instruments by Thomas Oboe Lee, and while they were utterly fantastic and I very heartily urge everyone to listen to them, the recording sessions were rushed and it was obvious.

[asin]B008YEX7IQ[/asin]

"Thomas Oboe Lee weaves many influences into a distinctive artistic voice. Born in China to nightclub singers, he spent his teenage years living in Brazil, then moved to the United States to study composing at Harvard and the New England Conservatory. Along the way he picked up the sounds not just of bossa nova and samba, but the American jazz of Davis, Coltrane and Evans. What's delightful is that all this merged together into a composer of really interesting music. These six concertos show his range and his talent for catchy, tuneful music with strong rhythms and emotions." - me on MusicWeb (read more!)

Yes, I saw that Thomas Oboe Lee recording when it was first released but has since slipped under my radar. Thanks for the tip! The MusicWeb review is quite enticing. Always great to have new composers to explore.

[Karl Henning]

. . . I recently reviewed a double album of six concertos for various instruments by Thomas Oboe Lee, and while they were utterly fantastic and I very heartily urge everyone to listen to them, the recording sessions were rushed and it was obvious.

Specifically, how did you feel Flauta carioca fared, Brian? [I could easily imagine the sessions with Robt Levin being rushed, e.g.]

[Brian]

Specifically, how did you feel Flauta carioca fared, Brian? [I could easily imagine the sessions with Robt Levin being rushed, e.g.]

I notice this in the recording dates

19 December 2009 (piano, oboe, flute concertos)

That's an hour's worth of music recorded in one day, with three different soloists... Don't remember specifically where the signs of rushing were most and least apparent, but I do remember thinking that recording a CD in a single day was an almost cruel workload. The six soloists were all very good, by the way.

[Karl Henning]

Oof

[jochanaan]

...6. Diamond

Heard a Diamond symphony over the radio.  Not particularly impressed, but impressed enough that I wouldn't mind hearing more.

10. Koechlin

Very interesting both as a man and as a composer!

14. Enescu

Love those Romanian rhapsodies!  And he's written some gorgeous chamber music.

22. Honegger

Indeed.  He wrote a lot more great music than Pacific 231, as fun as that one is.

30. Jongen

Joseph Jongen?  I've played a woodwind quintet by him; very nice!

[kyjo]

Heard a Diamond symphony over the radio.  Not particularly impressed, but impressed enough that I wouldn't mind hearing more.Very interesting both as a man and as a composer! Love those Romanian rhapsodies!  And he's written some gorgeous chamber music.Indeed.  He wrote a lot more great music than Pacific 231, as fun as that one is.Joseph Jongen?  I've played a woodwind quintet by him; very nice!

Good to hear you're familiar with some of these composers! Re Jongen, he's a composer who has yet to disappoint me, prolific as he was. His Symphonie Concertante for organ and orchestra will blow your socks off! Man, how I'd love to hear it in concert! He's also written some gorgeous chamber music as well, which is an appealing blend of Franckian chromaticism and Debussian/Ravelian impressionism.

The exhilarating finale of the Symphonie Concertante: http://youtu.be/e_C-e166bb0
The beautiful Pieces en trio for flute, cello and harp: http://youtu.be/sZBxAX8QCCk

[pjme]

The Antwerp Philharmonic has recently recorded Jongen's Three symphonic movements and Adolphe Samuel's 6the symphony.  The Jongen work is quite spectacular and Samuel a complete new name/discovery( Late Romantic with impressionistic influences). haven't heard it yet.


P.

[kyjo]

The Antwerp Philharmonic has recently recorded Jongen's Three symphonic movements and Adolphe Samuel's 6the symphony.  The Jongen work is quite spectacular and Samuel a complete new name/discovery( Late Romantic with impressionistic influences). haven't heard it yet.


P.

Yes, I saw that disc and it sounds like it would be right up my alley! I've put it in my shopping cart.

[jochanaan]

...The exhilarating finale of the Symphonie Concertante: http://youtu.be/e_C-e166bb0

Very nice!

[kyjo]

Very nice!

Glad you enjoyed it (well, it's almost impossible not to like )!

[ibanezmonster]

The exhilarating finale of the Symphonie Concertante: http://youtu.be/e_C-e166bb0

Surprisingly good for someone I've never heard of. Definitely will check out more of his stuff.