Might have beens

[chill319]

From Bradley Stockwell on the Furtwängler FB page: In 1927 Furtwängler wrote about wanting to conduct the Draeseke Third Symphony:

"For three years I have considered adding the Tragica of Draeseke; This year I - reluctantly - put it aside again, at the last moment, because other "newer" works (i.e.. those which tend, unlike the Draeseke, to only have a one-day existence!) got in the way." (,,Seit drei Jahren habe ich die Absicht, die Tragica von Draeseke aufzuführen; ich mußte sie dieses Jahr – ungern – im letzten Moment wieder beiseite legen, weil andere ,,aktuellere" Werke (d. h. solche, die im Gegensatz zu Draeseke nur ein Eintagsdasein führen!) dazwischen kamen.")

Nothing against John Adams or Philip Glass ... but: sound familiar?

Can anyone think of another specific instance where a major conductor (not just a Toscanini but, say, a Sir Mark Elder) wanted to conduct an unsung work appropriate to this forum but didn't get the opportunity?

[sdtom]

What is your opinion of his symphony. I've never heard it.
Tom

[Alan Howe]

Whose? Draeseke's 3rd? IMHO it's one of the greatest of the 19th century.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Hear, hear!

[Alan Howe]

We may argue here about the status of this piece or that, but Draeseke's 3rd ought to be played as often as Brahms' 4th or Bruckner's 8th from the same decade. If folk here haven't heard it, I suggest a swift purchase (of the cpo version, not the MDG).

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, it's a masterpiece without any doubt.

[MartinH]

Re: the original question - one of the great missed opportunities was Bruno Walter's death before he got the chance to record Mahler's 3rd. It was scheduled, but sadly didn't happen. Now you might think that the Mahler is hardly unsung, but 55 years ago it most certainly was not well-known, and Mahler recordings then were scarcer than Raff is today, by far.

[Delicious Manager]

I'm cheating - listening to Draeseke's 3rd on Spotify (the cpo recording) now. So far, so good.

[dwshadle]

I love Draeseke's Third!

[Mark Thomas]

Masterpiece though it is, I wouldn't say that I love Draeseke's Third, but I respect it mightily.

[Alan Howe]

...whereas I do love it. Especially the glorious outpouring in the trio of the 3rd movement. The first movement coda I regard as one of the most exciting in the entire symphonic literature.

[sdtom]

I'm convinced
Tom

[chill319]

Apart from the most tangential of historical circumstances, there's just no accounting for Draeseke's relative obscurity. The glorious clarinet sonata, the profound string quintet, the top quality piano and string quartets, the superb songs, the innovative piano sonata, the ingratiating orchestral serenade, and not least three magnificent symphonies plus one delightful and surprising late one... I haven't heard the operas, but it would be no surprise to find them musically and dramatically cogent. And, really, we owe almost all of our listening opportunities to the indefatigable and lately lamented Alan Krueck plus the enterprising CPO and MDG labels, who put their money where my mouth is.

What we don't have yet is a Furtwangler quality performance of Symphony 3, where the conductor understands what musical notation in the 1880s intentionally omitted,* where the high point of the last movement lies, and how to make of it a soul-stirring experience.

------------
* Because music, being a re-creative medium in a prerecording era, was not seen as requiring its scores to be reducible to single definitive sound patterns.

[Alan Howe]

I think that's 100% spot-on. I recall a conversation with the late and much lamented Alan Krueck (I only knew him for the last 5-6 years of his life, unfortunately) in which he said that the Draeseke catalogue is full of masterpieces. Add to that the fact that his music couldn't be mistaken for anyone else's and we have quite a conundrum. Some say that his music is 'difficult' or 'tough to crack', and there is a certain amount of truth in that. But so is, say, Nielsen's or Reger's and their music is far more frequently played. Draeseke is more or less absent from concert programmes of any kind. But then, so is Raff. Now Raff is a much more uneven composer than Draeseke, but a great one nevertheless.

After years of exploration of the unsung repertoire, Draeseke, Raff, Berger (Wilhelm) and Rufinatscha are the composers whose music I have found to be utterly individual (rather than 'footnotes' to other composers). No doubt there are others. But these are the ones that really stand out for me.

[Alan Howe]

In case anyone might like to explore the Draeseke discography, try here:
http://draeseke.org/discs/index.htm