Jump to content

Underappreciated Composers/Works?


Qmwne235

Recommended Posts

Well in AriDzona there are a lot of unappreciated composers...especially on the Phoenix radio...the classical station plays NOTHING but the Mozart barfett and the un-hiding of Haydn.... they must be scared of major 7ths! No...don't add a C# to a D major chord...why when you can make it a C NATURAL?? :w00t:

:dry:

Edit: I should note my father does all the unappreciated composer stuff. That actually sounds good.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Someone said Jacques Hetu and I almost poo pooed my pants. Great bassoon concerto :P

As far as unappreciated, I'd say Mosolow (listen to ZAVOD) is definitely up there, Alkan (aesop's feast), Webern (I'm biased-I love his stuff), Crumb Crumb! and Kabalevsky to name a few. Also, if you're not in Scandinavia, I think Aho doesn't get enough credit.

Others: Phillipe Hersant, Takemitsu.

I think Szymanowski gets pummeled by his friend Prokofiev simply because Szymanowski wasn't as daring and was also a homosexual. Krol Roger is BRILLIANT.

Boulez is great too, but I don't know if he falls as underappreciated. My two favorites of his NOtations pour Orchestre and Marteau sans Maitre.

edit: I'm almost embarassed to say it, but I don't know much of Griffes music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

What of Erkki Melartin? The dude was practically overshadowed by Sibelius. I listened to his violin concerto by chance, it was on some classical music station. It was absolutely beautiful and I looked more into him. I have the score of his 6th symphony on my computer and interestingly enough it actually contains almost direct quotes from Mahler's 7th symphony. Melartin himself was influenced by some of Mahler's music, even leading the premiere of his 2nd symphony if memory serves me correctly. Anyway, yes, Melartin is absolutely amazing, it surprises me how relatively uknown he is in comparison to other composers. I was actually more pleased with his 6th symphony than I have by any Sibelius outside of the 7th. The same with the violin concerto. But eh, that's me.

Oh, and Griffes. My god, one of his pieces almost made me cry it was so beautiful. He died young though, that's probably why he's so unknown.

I had a listen to some Melartin on YouTube (that wonderful depository for all kinds of music) and if you like his symphonies you might like to investigate Kurt Atterburg, a Swedish composer of a similar era.

The most underapreciated figure in Nordic music is the Estonian, Eduard Tubin. His ten completed symphonies are a fascinating commentary on his and his country's fortunes in the middle of the twentieth century, ranging from the quasi-impressionist First and Second 'Legendare' of the Thirties, the patriotic Third 'Heroic' and Fourth 'Lyrical', and the later symphones which are rather darker dating from his exile in Sweden. His style has occasional shades of Prokofiev, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams and later Berg, but nonetheless a very individual style and a brilliant sense of symphonic pacing as well as effective orchestration. The Eighth Symphony is probably his greatest work; listen to the devastating climax of the finale before the music dies to a single dissonant chord in the strings.

Alban Berg and Bela Bartok are pretty well-known but don't get nearly enough attention given what they wrote. The same is also true for Bohuslav Martinu who has been mentioned already.

There's a brilliant contemporary of Brahms by the name of Friedrich Kiel; mostly a chamber music composer but wrote a symphony and, I believe, violin concerti as well. He particularly contributed to the viola repertiore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Paderewski is a bit underrated in my country.

Discovered also:

- Rheinberger

- Ton Bruynel

- Bazinni (NOT his 'La ronde des Lutins but his Stringquartets etc.)

- Ciprian Porembescu (He wrote Violin Concerto wich I can't find on YouTube. He is famous for his Balada ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8pgEKsrIs ) but wrote Violin Concerto's as well)

- Henri Vieuxtemps

- Anton Rubinstein (listen to his Piano Concerto 4:

)

- Martynov

- Karmanov

- Taktakishvilli

- Vladigerov

- Urmas Sisask

- Szeligowski

- Otto Olsson

- Komitas

- Kurt Atterberg

- John Fernström

- Johan Ludwig Bach

- Johan Michaël Bach

- Vorisek

- Svetlanov

- Alfvén

- George Lloyd

- Bortkiewicz

- Arkhangelsky

- Diepenbrock

- Stanford

- Tansman

- Znedek Lukas

- Hubay

- Koechlin

Check for more composers this channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/HenriVieuxtemps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Yes :)

Alright, well...

Frank Zappa was best known for his rock music, but he originally set out to be a modern composer. Towards the end of his career he began recording music with more classical-like ensembles. For instance, his work with the London Symphony Orchestra, (Check out Frank Zappa, LSO Vol. 1). The Ensemble Modern (Check out The Yellow Shark, there are videos of it on youtube.... Dog/Meat, also Then Ensemble Modern plays Frank Zappa: Gregarry Peccary and other Persuasions) and his work with Pierre Boulez's Ensemble Intercontemporian (The Perfect Stranger). All of his studio albums are great too. Particularly Roxy and Elsewhere, Hot Rats, One Size Fits All, there are sooo many.

Toru Takemitsu is a japanese composer (20th century) who was influenced by Debussy and Messiaen. His work is really interesting because he blends elements of Eastern and Western culture, philosophy, and musical ideas. Check out

Conlon Nancarrow is this crazy guy who was from Arkansas, but involved with communism and all this crazy political stuff and ended up an exile in Mexico. He was discovered by Ligeti, I believe. He wrote a lot of music for player piano that is unplayable by humans. It is really, really wild stuff. I also like his string quartets 1 and 3.

Oliver Knussen might also be worth mentioning but I havent really heard that much of his stuff. He was friend and interpreter of Takemitsu and his music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...