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I have, until about two weeks ago, made ample use of the well-stocked site called 'The Opera Database' (http://theoperadatabase.com) where thousands of operas were listed - useful for finding obscure opera composers and operas. The site seems to have disappeared. Does anybody know what may have happened to them, or recommend other sites, where similar searches could be made?

[Anna Kuzina]

The recent discussion on Corentin Boissier reminded me to check whether we have a thread on Anna Kuzina (1984 - )

Anna Kuzina is a Ukrainian romantic composer, not to be confused with the Ukrainian actress of the same name. Some years ago YouTube asked me whether I would like to look at her compositions, and it was a very pleasant discovery. Here are some examples of her numerous works on YouTube (I use their English titles):

Piano Concerto

Symphony-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra

The Melody for Soul No. 1 to 10 (possibly an incorrect translation – rather Soul Melody?)

Breath of Life

In Memoria for bass, mixed choir and orchestra

Spring awakening

Psalm 76: My voice is unto God for mixed choir

I'll be Young for bass and piano.

The PC is an impressive romantic work; many of her works are tranquil, like the Soul Melodies, which are beautiful pieces with varying orchestration; there are often religious themes, like psalm settings, and a preference for the bass soloist.

It would be nice if someone could give us a more complete list of compositions.

[Ebenezer Prout]

Over a period of some three decades I have been trying to collect recordings of romantic works for organ and orchestra. My attempts so far have produced a mere 50-odd works, of which I give a extract below. I would be delighted if members could help me by adding or correcting.

My norms are that the organ part should be fairly prominent, e.g. it would exclude works like those by Liszt or Respighi, where the organ is just added for effect in the finale, and that the orchestra should at least include strings. Also, obviously, choral works like requiems or masses would be excluded. I do include works that originally may have been composed for other instruments but were then re-orchestrated for organ and orchestra.

Of course, as the discussion below shows, there are many compositions that have been composed but of which recordings do not exist. My list excludes those works of which I could not locate any recordings.

I only collected a handful of modern composers, and of course they fall outside our remit, but included in my original list are Dupré, Langlais, Lovelock and Marģeris Zariņš.

My three favourites are: The organ concerto by Poulenc (which I regard as the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard), the concerto by Zariņš (Concerto Innocente for Organ and Orchestra) and Respighi's Suite for Organ and Strings.

Here is my very short list (some sung composers included):

Ebenezer Prout (1835 - 1909) Concerto No. 1 Op. 5 (1870)

Guillaume Lekeu (1870 - 1894) Épithalame pour orgue et orchestre (1891)

Hendrik Andriessen (1892 – 1981) Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (1950)

Léon Boëllmann (1862 – 1897) Fantaisie Dialoguée for Organ and Orchestra Op. 35 (1896)

Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) Suite for Organ and Orchestra Op.88 (1915) – Based on his PC

Marco Enrico Bossi (1861 – 1925):
•    Fantasia Simfonica per Organo e Orchestra Op 147 (1923)
•    Concerto for Organ and Orchestra Op. 100 (1900)
•    Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra Op. 130 (1908)

François-Joseph Fetis (1784 – 1871) Fantaisie Symphonique for Organ and Orchestra (1866)

Eugène Gigout (1844 - 1925) Grand Chœur Dialogué (1881)

Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) – Some of Gounod's works for pedal-piano have been arranged for organ and orchestra:
•    Fantaisie sur L'Hymn National Russe (1885)
•    Concerto for Pedal-Piano and Orchestra (1889)
•    Suite Concertante (1885)

Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (1837 – 1911) – As far as I know most of these were not originally composed for both organ and orchestra:
•   Adoracion
•   Allegro for Organ and Orchestra Op.81
•   Cantilene Pastorale Op. 15 (1864)
•   Elegiac Marche
•   Fantastic Marche
•   L'Organiste pratique, Livre 2: Deuxième marche funebre Op. 41 (1874)
•   Finale alla Schumann sur un Noël Op.83 (1893)
•   Marche Fantaisie sur des Chants d'Eglise Op.44
•   Meditation sur le Stabat Mater Op.63 (1886)
•   Organ Symphony Op. 42

Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen (1838 - 1915) Reformationshymnus: Symphony No. 5 for large orchestra and organ.
(This new discovery (for me) is a Sterling recording by our own Adriano with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra!)

Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) Sursum Corda Op. 11 (1894)

Joseph Jongen (1873 – 1953):
•   Alleluia for Organ and Orchestra Op. 112 (1940)
•   Hymn for Organ and Orchestra Op. 78 (1924)
•   Symphony Concertante for Organ and Orchestra (1926)

Horatio Parker (1863 – 1919) Concerto for Organ and Orchestra   Op. 55   (1902)

Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings (1938)

Ture Rangström (1884 – 1947) Symphony No. 4 for Organ and Orchestra

Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936) Suite for Organ and Strings (1914)

Josef Rheinberger (1839 – 1901):
•   Organ Concerto No. 1 Op. 137 (1884)
•   Organ Concerto No. 2 Op. 117 (1894)
(Rheinberger also composed some works for solo violin and organ. I wish someone would re-orchestrate them for full orchestra and organ.)

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921):
•   Symphony No. 3 Op. 78 (1886)
•   Cyprès et Lauriers Op. 156 (1919) (Part 1 - Cyprès - is organ only)

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 – 1924) Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra Op. 181 (1921)

Charles-Marie Widor (1844 – 1937)
•   Overture Portugaise (1865)
•   Allegro Vivace Op. 42 No. 5 (1882)
•   Scherzo La Chasse (1868?)
•   Symphony No. 3 for Organ and Orchestra Op.69 (1894)
•   Symphony for Organ and Orchestra Op.42 (1882)

Hans Fährmann (1860 - 1940): Simfonisches Konzert Op. 52 (1905) (Organ rather inaudible in the recording I found)

Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949):

•   Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter des Johanniter-Ordens Op. 103 (1909)
•   Festival Prelude (1913)

Josef Suder (1892 - 1980) Symphonische Musik No. 1 (1941)

Jaromír Weinberger (1896-1967): Passacaglia für Orgel und großes Orchester (1932)

I would be happy to send my complete list (which includes modern composers) privately to anybody who is interested.

I have been searching UC for info on all composers named Richter. This lead me to discover Paul Richter, about whom there does not seem to be a thread yet. On YouTube I found a recording of his piano concerto, which is a stunning, melodious work, well constructed, even though the sound quality is not too hot. An internet search lead to a brief biography in Romanian on Wikipedia. Recordings of his works seem to be difficult to find. Can anyone assist with more information, and perhaps also help me with other composers called Richter?

A brief search of the UC board shows that Ildebrando Pizzetti's lovely piano concerto has so far been mentioned only briefly. I bought the Marco Polo CD some years ago, and as I have done before, I did not listen to it properly and relegated it to the backwater of my little collection. This week's listening enabled me to discover some wonderful music. In particular, I was thrilled by the last few minutes of the final movement. Listen to the magnificent timpani score. There is a version available on YouTube.

A recent discussion about unsung Rachmaninovian PCs has helped me to add some valuable unsung PCs to my collection.

I would therefore like to introduce a new question: If you are listening to a piece of music in the background while doing something else, say reading, what music has the power to make you stop what you are doing and listen intently, tapping your feet or nodding your head, and saying Wow!? Let's try to confine ourselves to examples that are generally shorter than 5 minutes.

I have just listened to such a piece: Kurt Atterburg's Symphony No. 2, 2nd movement, from about 12'00 to the end at 15'55 on the cpo recording. Note how the brass, timpani and strings combine to make this a winner.

More examples?

Gerhard

Amazon puts some CDs with works by Andreas Hallén into my list of recommended buys. I can't find any samples of his music there. I also notice that on UC there has not been a thread on him so far. I would love to read some discussion on him.

Amazon threw up a recommendation that I should buy Montemezzi's opera L'amore de tre re. On Amazon a search for Montemezzi does not show any other compositions (but see Wikipedia). They have more than one version of the opera available on disc.  Reviewers rave about the Moffo-Domingo recording of the opera, the only complaint being Moffo's voice supposedly in decline. However, it is not possible to listen to the any of the recordings of the opera on Amazon's site. Any suggestions where one can listen to any of Montemezzi's compositions?

Does anyone know of any Bruch 'Organ Suite' recordings?

Searching 'Organ concertos' recently, I found a site 'http://www.agohq.org/docs/pdf/Organ_Orchestra_List.pdf' with a list of organ + orchestra works. There is so much there that it will take months to research. One of the first jewels I found was that Bruch had composed a suite for organ and orchestra. A search on Unsung Composers shows that Kriton has referred to this work in 2010. A search on Amazon shows one CD, an EBS label. The orchestra name is not visible on the small picture. A customer reviewer says:

'If you are wondering why I gave this CD 5 stars - it is simply because of the Organ Suite. I've never heard it before and this is a magnificent find! I believe it's the only recorded version and anyone who loves rich, thick, Bruch orchestrations with a bonus of a beautiful organ part - should buy this CD. It is simply beautiful and worth the price of the CD alone.'

My problem with this CD is that it is rather expensive, AND I'll have to bear with a violin concerto on the rest of the CD :-(.

On Youtube there is a recording of the same work. If it is the same recording, I must say I find it excruciatingly slow.

I regard Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani as the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard. And yet, I have never heard anyhting else by Poulenc that I like. Any comment on the merits of Poulenc as a composer?

Gerhard