Leaderboard

Underrated: 1. Cherubini - Fantastic composer in all genres. His Requiem in C minor is a masterpiece and he wrote excellent chamber music as well. Beethoven held him in very high regard which is no mean thing. 2. Bruckner - I can see how his music is not everyone's cup of tea but I definitely fall into the camp that he is the great symphonist after Beethoven. Since Mahler has risen in popularity, suggesting a tolerance for longer works, I would hope Bruckner would get more recognition, especially since I think his music is more accessible. 3. Charles-Valentin Alkan - I consider him, not his more celebrated friend and neighbor, Chopin, the premiere piano composer of the Romantic era. His music may be more uneven compared to the more polished Chopin, but I daresay, no other composer has ever written such music with a range of emotion and scope (a significant part of his lack of popularity is the difficulty of his works). Overrated, almost any late 20th century, 21st century composer. Some examples: John Cage (most famous work is 4'33" of silence which should tell you something), Sorabji, Stockhausen