I would like to broaden my musical horizons so I was wondering if there are any obscure composers anyone would recommend for someone who adores Alkan, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Elgar, Faure, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Paganini, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Satie, Scarlatti, Scharwenka, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, and Von Weber (or even obscure works by the above composers).

Thanks.

Bortkiewicz is one I've discovered thanks to Thracozaag. (Thanks!!!!)

Highly recommended.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5RxiKKhRo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27nqf583x4

You would love Raff. I discovered him by accident.

Here's his concerto:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Fwc2ws6Nk&feature=PlayList&p=B7F5E2FF0671C939&index=0&playnext=1


Matt

Felix Blumenfeld, Sergei Liapunov, Anatol Liadov, Pancho Vladigerov, Henryk Pachulski, Georgy Catoire, Vladimir Rebikov, Eugene D'Albert, Benjamin Godard, Ignaz Friedman, Carl Preyer, Alexander Krein.....

The repertoire is so vast, it's practically endless.

Manuel M. Ponce. He is, in essence, the Mexican Chopin. He used a huge amount of Mexican folk tunes and turned them into classical pieces.

Here is the first movement of his piano concerto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjvOcL7KF1E

You can find the other movements on there as well if you like the first.

I recently performed his Balada Mexicana which received a great reaction from the audience. In fact, several people told me it was as beautiful, if not more, than the Chopin ballades. Unfortunately there's no recording of it on youtube.

Thanks a lot, guys. I'll make time to listen to all these composers. I've listened to some Bortkiewicz, Liapunov, and Ponce so far.

I never thought of him as "obscure" but Granados is great!

Mompou


Hough plays Girls in the Garden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gCquIhX20w

Song of the Soul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfUqsn2iFZs&feature=related

Hough plays Secreto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfUqsn2iFZs&feature=related

Rubinstein plays Song and Dance No.6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szk5_mi0vyQ&feature=related

Mompou plays his Songs and Dances Nos.1-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uOtOI2xvE&feature=related

Joseph Achron (1886-1943) is amazing. Definitely check out his Symphonic Variations and Sonata , and also his Dream, Op. 56 No. 1 . His violin music is really great, especially the "Dance Improvisation" , "Hebrew Dance" , and "Scher". All of this has been recorded by Jascha Nemtsov (pianist) and Ingolf Turban (violin). He also wrote some amazing songs: the unpublished "In a kleiner shtibele" and "A kapelle kontertisten" have been recorded by Helene Schneidermann, "Mir sogn der baleboste" by Louis Danto, and I wish there were a recording of "Acharon" , but alas, I suppose that will have to wait...

His "Children's Suite" is very cute -- 20 short pieces about childhood. It's originally for piano, and Jascha Nemtsov recorded 5 or 6 movements of it... but in 1925, Achron orchestrated the whole thing for clarinet, string quartet, and piano, which Nemtsov has also recorded...

Other obscure composers that were very good: Moses Milner ( "In Chejder" for voice and piano ), Alexander Krein (10 Dances Op. 50 for solo piano were recorded by Nemtsov), Mikhail Gnessin ( 4-hand variations and "Song of the Wandering Knight" for cello or violin and piano ), Solomon Rosowsky ( Fantastic Dance for Piano Trio , "Poem" for solo piano ), Lazare Saminsky ( "Little Esther\'s Song" ), Joel Engel ( "5 Piano Pieces Op. 19" ). Ephraim Schkljar's song "Farn Obscheid" is very good. I don't really know much of Jacob Weinberg's music, or Ilya Aisberg or Samuel Alman, but you can find some of their piano music (and a bunch of songs and violin music) at this website:

Russian-Jewish composers

Wow, Bortkiewicz musics are great! I need to look into this composer more!

A few more for the list. I'm never sure anymore who's "obscure" or not, but these are some of my favorites and it'd be great to share the names for anyone interested:

Stevenson, Mosolov, Protopopov, Roslavets, Reubke, Busoni (apart from his Concerto, which everyone knows these days), Weissenberg, Kapustin, Bolcom, Gorecki, Yeddida, Sorabji (he wrote more than just the Opus Clavicemablisticum; I recommend his Transcendental Etudes even to Sorabji-haters), Godowsky (again, not just the Chopin studies--try his Java Suite, Sonata, Passacaglia, and his waltzes, not to mention some of his other gorgeous transcriptions), Wolpe, Reger (hit-and-miss, but some wonderful stuff), Rzewski, Finnissy, Barrett, Fox, Bussotti, Boulez, Bernstein (it's easy to forget he was an excellent composer as well), Franck (not obscure, although most of his music is), Liszt (ditto--only an extremely small portion of his music is ever played), Messiaen, and Ligeti.

There are hundreds and hundreds of composers worth listening to, and it's a shame that so many performers are content to just stick with the same old pieces, great as they are. I do understand too that it's an issue of what audiences will pay to listen to, but let's not open that can of worms again.

In case you've overlooked Hummel, here's one of his best piano concertos, Op. 85 in a minor—an unqualified masterpiece:

Allegro moderato (part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPrM4mpeqYQ

Allegro moderato (part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlLdv1azneU

Larghetto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibWSFkGm14

Rondo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaZPk9EDoxc

Steven

Thanks again for the many suggestions. I'll have to remember to look into all of these composers when I have time. In the mean time, I made a discovery on my own: Moscheles. I had a CD of Romantic etudes lying around and I started listening to them and I was pleasantly surprised by the charm and originality to the point that I've been thinking of starting a piece of his. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Wow Goldberg , you read my mind. Although I must say it takes quite a while to explore just 1 composer in semi-depth, enough to familiarize yourself with their musical style and works. To your long list, I would like to highlight Roslavets. His violin sonatas are musical gems.

As for Liszt, it's very true that a very small portion of his music gets played. Everytime I went for a Liszt cd, I kept seeing the same pieces over and over, until Howard blessed the CD industry. xD

oh please check out Villa-Lobos as well.. he has 5 Piano Concertos .. and 2 Prole do Bebe Suites, not 1 ..

Check out Scelsi's 11 Piano Suites... and Sciarrino's 5 Piano Sonatas ...

too much to name ...

I've been a fan of Moscheles for a long time, ever since I heard an old Ponti LP of a concerto and a handful of etudes, back in the Dark Ages. Anyway, a couple of recommendations - the Gigue, op. 58 is a lot of fun in a neo-classical sort of way, and it is musically trickier than it appears on the surface. I've been enjoying working on one of his op. 51 pieces - it's no. 2, titled "La Leggerezz" - it's a witty scherzo and quite difficult at the suggested MM marking (which I am no where near approaching). Although it's not called an etude, it works well as one in finger dexterity and lightness of touch.

Finally got the search box to work for me....digging up an old thread here. Does anyone know how to get a hold of music written by Carl Preyer? Only one piece of his on IMSLP and it's not printable. Any other source we can go to for music that's out of print? Thank you!