Taking stock: which orchestral pieces do you think really deserve a revival?

[Mark Thomas]

I'd forgotten about the Bronsart Piano Concerto, and I wholeheartedly agree that it should be in the repertoire, it's a great piece.

[4candles]

As it is more my wheelhouse (although I hasten to add I'm no expert or avid collector), there are a few unsung keyboard concertos that I would love to see in concert halls, to which I believe audiences would respond positively:

• Adolf Wiklund: Piano Concerto No.1 – a work that made a great impression on me, in large part due to the impassioned opening. With big-boned writing, readily singable tunes and virtuosity aplenty, lovers of Rachmaninov would certainly take to it. The recording done by Hyperion is my favourite, which reminds me again of how sad it is that they have discontinued their remarkable efforts in this genre.
• Joseph Marx: Castelli Romani - I'm choosing this rarity only because Marc-André Hamelin is playing the very deserving Romantisches Klavierkonzert on a few occasions this year. Marx's second concerto is much less bombastic than its wonderful predecessor, inhabiting a rather more spacious, cinematic world. Reminiscent of Respighi, among others, it is wonderfully colourful in its orchestration, and characterful too - generous to both soloist and full orchestra. As well as it's overall sweep, there are some spine-tingling moments throughout, for example the opening of the second movement, 'Tusculum', and a few minutes into the final movement, 'Frascati', where there are two short sections which to me evoke the sun breaking the horizon at daybreak - just magical. I prefer the unreleased recording with Hans Petermandl as soloist to the David Lively recording - even though the sound is better in the ASV recording, Petermandl 'feels' the music more.
• Alexandre Guilmant: Symphony No.2 for Organ and Orchestra - although you almost need a cathedral setting for a concert (Ian Tracey's recording from Liverpool Cathedral is stunning), this work gets my vote. Wonderfully written and balanced for soloist and orchestra, with (again) gorgeous, well-developed themes, satisfying contrapuntal writing, which takes you on a joyful ride from start to finish.

[tpaloj]

1) Draeseke's String Quartet no.3. Ah, Draeseke just needs to be played more. I choose no.3 over no.2 as I find it just slightly more compelling in the long run. Having listened to it more than a couple of times, it does grow on you. Perhaps so would be the case with an interested audience: to be hungry for repeated performances of Draeseke quartets isn't a bad thing.

2) Hiller's Symphony in C major. I'm going to be biased to Hiller, having studied so much of his music. For piano music, there's a couple of very repertoire-worthy pieces dormantly waiting for more exposure, and some fine choral and chamber music too. But if his most audience-friendly pieces are considered, it's a toss-up between the C-major symphony and the Symphonische Phantasie for me. The latter is a strong and effective piece, helped by a relative quick succession of moods and atmospheres due to its compact 5-movement structure. It would be a difficult piece to program: I can't quite place it as a concert opener, but perhaps it could work together with a concerto or a symphony in the latter half of the program? In contrast, the easily programmable C-major symphony just works so well, and it shows the best of Hiller: a work of much fire and passion, humor and well-measured orchestration. I have a feeling it would be a great hit.

3) Julius Otto Grimm's symphony. The work garnered quite a lot of discussion here, initially with Martin's synthesized version and then later as the recording appeared. In mood, style and the circumstances of its composition, it's quite an important work with a lot of gravitas behind it. I feel it would be easy to program due to the relevance it has to the evolution of the symphony genre in the romantic period. And in the end, it's great symphonic music, and that's really all that counts. It just needs a little more exposure to get itself to the concert hall.

[Vitaly]

For me, being Russian romantics lover and resident of Saint-Petersburg, almost all Russian orchestral music seems to be totally unsung, you name it. For instance, last year in Saint Petersburg there has been performed NONE of 3 symphonies by Gliere (150th anniversary) and of 8 and 1/'4 by Glazunov (160th anniversary). There were some Shostakovich, quite a number of Rachmaninov concertos and once - Borodin's Second. That's it. Though I might have missed something... (I am not talking about opera as they massively staging Rymsky these days in Kirov's for some reason). Funny enough Russian romantics are more often performed in Novosibirsk (i.e. Taneyev). That is where Russian music resides nowadays..

Anyway, from all those hugely unsung Russians I would choose just one and the only. If I hear it live or thoroughly recorded until I am dead I would be quite happy. And this is Lyapunov's Second, written in 1917 in the midst of Revolution, 75 minutes' of meditative,  very neatly crafted work which to me sounds as a farewell or as postcriptum to the whole era of Mighty Five and their successors. At the moment there are only two recordings both by Svetlanov (in 70's and early 90's), and as both are live, there are equal quantities of music and audience's coughing.

[eschiss1]

2026 seems promisingish in Russia (Shostakovich piano works orch. in concert in Moscow yesterday, his Lady Macbeth in Moscow 20-22 March, the Gamblers in Moscow on 26 March, in a piano concert on 23 April in Moscow and orchestrally in Nizhny Novgorod on 16 May, just for example. A concert with Weinberg's cello concerto took place in Moscow last week, I think I see- and it is the 30th anniversary of his death after all. I see some Medtner (a personal favorite...) listed as being performed or having been performed in Moscow this month too...) Some outside Russia, too (e.g. his F minor piano sonata in a program at Wigmore Hall on May 28.)

Re Svetlanov sym.2- ah, I see- one's with l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the other with the USSR State Symphony. Sinaisky never did record the 2nd, clearly...

[Vitaly]

Sorry for offtop.. Moscow is too far from StP so I can't judge. However, neither Shostakovich nor Weinberg are from my scope. Medtner is a fair call, however I am not sure his music is quite Russian (remembering his origins too). Once I red a curious opinion by someone from those times who wrote that of all three great piano writers of the beginning of XX c. Skryabin and Medtner are autentical figures whereas Rachmaninov is an epigon of a latter ))

[eschiss1]

Ok, it's interesting to see a list of the three great piano writers at the beginning of the 20th century (presumably not actually meaning 1900, as Medtner only graduated in that year, though the first movement of his piano quintet, and one of the songs quoted as one of its main themes, were done as early as 1903) that's Scriabin, Medtner and Rachmaninov but not, e.g., Busoni, Ravel...

[Vitaly]

If I remember correctly, this opinion dates from 1910s or even later. And it meant - of Russians.

[jimsemadeni]

I agree with Vitaly, Russian romantic orchestral music is very high on my list. I have no access (or money) for live orchestra, but I think those who do would love Taneyev's Symphony No. 2 (even if finished by someone else), and any music by Kalinnikov. Then, entering another "high on my list" musical realm, romantic French music, I can't imagine a live performance of either of Marie Jaell's piano concertos would not be a peak experience for anyone lucky enough to hear it.

[Christopher]

It's long enough for one concert, and has generated huge (very positive) discussion on here (possibly the longest thread of the forum?) - I would love to see a live performance of the Ilya Muromets Symphony No.3 by Ukrainian composer Reinhold Gliere. A massive sweep of a work. I must have 7 or 8 different recordings of it, but I imagine a live performance would be a different experience altogether.

[Ilja]

I have created a Spotify playlist for the pieces mentioned sofar (in the order in which they were mentioned) here.

Excluded are the chamber works (it'll soon be evident why) and Hiller's C major symphony, nominated by Tuomas but also only available thanks to his own effort on YouTube. I'll add more works as they're mentioned by members.

Disclaimer: yes, I know Spotify pay artists a pittance, but it's a larger pittance than YouTube do (roughly over twice as much) and Presto Streaming doesn't allow for creating playlists.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Ilja, that's really valuable. More nominations, please!