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Same sound world as Canning's Fantasy on a Hymn Tune.

Exactly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnpC0vfHMnw

Thank you both for finding the piece!

Nor do I, sadly. However, there is, I am sure, a piece of music very much like VW's Tallis Fantasia written (I think) by an American composer. Trouble is, I can't remember who.

If you ever remember the American piece, I would love to hear it!

I have done a bit more research - there's a good chance that this is original music for the film. However, it's very likely not by Robert Folk. The film has had a very troubled production (over 30 years in the making!), and Robert Folk's soundtrack was written for an official studio cut (called the Princess and the Cobbler), while this clip is from a fan reconstruction of the original material; also, Folk's music is very Disney-musical-esque, and his soundtrack can be heard on YouTube.

The man who lead the team effort to reconstruct the movie from its original material, Garret Gilchrist, had this to say about this opening music:

"Much of the music in The Thief workprint isn't known to us. Some of it is clearly original, including the opening overture. Some of it we've been able to identify, including the frequent use of Scheherezade.

The Recobbled Cut has included classical pieces and portions of the Princess and the Cobbler/Arabian Knight score, but the additional music has not yet been added to the Mark 4 version."

(Here is the page this quote comes from: https://orangecow.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3&p=559&hilit=opening#p559)

If this music truly is part of an original soundtrack, my personal hypothesis is that the composer may have used the Tallis Fantasia as an inspiration. This is based on another video of an early animation test of the same opening sequence, but which actually uses the Tallis Fantasia as the background music. Perhaps this piece was written in a similar way to the soundtracks in the Star Wars franchise, for which John Williams basically made his own versions of existing pieces (Rite of Spring, Rachmaninoff's Symphony no. 2, etc.).

However, being that no definitive answer exists as yet, I think there is still a possibility that this piece does come from a less-known work of classical music, as it was clearly composed and orchestrated to a very high standard, comparable with most known romantic pieces. While there are other apparently original tracks in the film's score which are comparable to classical pieces, a lot of other known tracks aren't similar to this one at all. As such, I leave the question open, as there may be someone here or elsewhere who will recognize this piece. (My guess is that the hypothetical romantic-era composer of this piece would have been from Great Britain, judging by the style.) In any case, I'll do some more research on the topic.

Hello everyone,

This is a bit of a silly question, but I can't figure this out - does anyone recognize the piece in this video? It's from the opening of the animated film "The Thief and the Cobbler", but I ask as the soundtrack makes use of a number of existing classical pieces, and this seems like it could be one of them. There are playlists on YouTube that include various pieces from the movie, but this piece isn't really included - also, IMDB provides no information on the classical tracks in the music at all. Initially I thought it might be from Vaughan William's Tallis Fantasia (as the soundtrack includes the piece), but the theme doesn't appear there and woodwinds can be heard towards the end. It's possible this is a really famous piece that I just don't recognize (as there are some more famous composers I don't really listen to), but I'd still like to know. It's clearly a romantic piece, and a very lovely one at that.

If anyone knows, please let me know!
Theodore

Hello everyone,

As suggested by the OP Christopher, I'd like to share a score of a piece by Eizens (Evgeny) Bukke, the Romance in C-sharp minor for violin and piano (kindly scanned for me by a friend in Riga). I'm not aware of any recordings of this piece, but reading through it, it's clearly a very lovely composition, I'm sure any violinist would be happy to perform it as a short concert piece - on that note, the score also includes the violin part. Interesting to note the Romance's premiere by the composer and Prince Georgy Dulov, it seems he helped publish the piece as well, judging by the front and back pages of the score, under the legend "Полный курс скрипичной игры: заключающий в себе упражнения, этюды и песны, расположенныя по степеням трудности и составленный из произведений знаменитых скрипачей и композиторов - Преподавателем Московской Консерватории кн. Г. ДУЛОВЫМ" (adapted to modern Russian Cyrillic from the Imperial spelling).

Anyway, here's hoping the piece will get a recording!

At last! It's the charming set of English Folk Dances by Ernest Tomlinson, starting with "Jenny Pluck Pears". now I can sleep easy! 

A bit late, but this is great news! Thank you for finding this piece.

Hello again,
It's true, I have sent Bartje Bartmans a number of these Svetlanov pieces. However, almos everything he's posted was already on the internet, except for the Aria for viola, which is from a vinyl in my collection.

A friend of mine has been digitizing from a vinyl with several piano pieces, which he's been posting on his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE6dHsIqDJs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8w5jJxq494

In other news, I now believe the Svetlanov Violin Sonata recording with Eduard Grach may be held in the studios of GOSTELRADIOFOND in Russia (they have a few channels on YouTube, with digitized TV broadcasts and reel-to-reel phonogram tapes, among other things). My friend actually wrote about digitizing a couple other broadcasts in their collection, but found out that the price for a digitization can be anywhere from 5-100 euros per minute. We'll probably just have to wait for either a new recording of the Sonata (and other pieces recorded reel-to-reel), or wait for GOSTELRADIOFOND to release the recordings of their own volition.

Hello everyone, a little update. I've been talking with a friend about Svetlanov's music (and I've also come across several interesting recordings never previously digitized, which I'll soon share here), and he sent me a PDF of a book with the complete discography of Svetlanov as of 1987, including his own works. What's interesting is that in this book, the catalogue numbers of these recordings are also included. As there has been discussion regarding the recording of Svetlanov's Violin Sonata in G minor by Eduard Grach and the composer, this is the information given about that recording:

Соната для скр. и ф-п. Э. Грач и Е. Светланов.
Д.з.29.10; зап. 1967: Д-78914
(the last "4" may or may not have a space before the previous number, it's a bit hard to tell.)

This recording is part of a section titled "Фонограммы Всесоюзного радио" ("Phonograms of All-Union Radio"); after this is a section called "Грамзаписи Всесоюзной студии «Мелодия» и фирмы EMI (Великобритания)" ("Recordings of the studio 'Melodiya' and the firm 'EMI' (Great Britain)"). The Violin Sonata is only mentioned in the former section and not the latter, suggesting it may not have been released as a vinyl on "Melodiya". However, this does not necessarily mean the recording is lost, because another recording from the former section, Svetlanov's Cello Sonata, has been rereleased as a track on a CD in 2014 ("Evgeni Svetlanov - Piano Works, Vol. 7" from Russian Disc).

I'll share the pages with Svetlanov's compositional discography, as well as the section containing a list of compositions up to the publication of the book:

Фонограммы Всесоюзного радио
Грамзаписи Всесоюзной студии «Мелодия» и фирмы EMI (Великобритания)
Каталог Сочинений Е, Ф, Светланова

This is indeed a strange mystery! I'm having a look around on the internet, and now I have to wonder if anything but the fact it's a 3-movement concerto for clarinet and strings is correct, like the credited musicians. At the very least, it's very probably not by Nikolai Myaskovsky.

I did see that the conductor Vladimir Ponkin is online and has social media (his own website and a VK account) - perhaps he'd be able to help solve this mystery, considering part of it is under his own name, after all.

J.B. Priestley took great delight in Moszkowski's music, as he made clear in an ess

"If I pass him by, who will praise Moritz Moszkowski? The musical scholars and critics are eternally busy - and quite right too - with their Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms. Little Moritz has no place among the great. No music of his will ever disturb or challenge the soul. Neither I nor anybody else has ever come away from a composition of his, reeling and enraptured. His symphony, his opera, his concerto and concert studies are forgotten, and, although stranger things have happened, it is unlikely that any of them will be rediscovered and reviewed. In his day he had his triumphs, but now every garland has been dust these many years. Yet here and now, ignoring the giants who are always willing to take another bow, I crook my finger and, to the astonishment of the company, cry "Maestro Moszkowski, forward!" For has he not given me delight, hours and hours of it, glittering like the Carnival at Nice and yet as innocent as a baby's birthday? And all those who, like me, have pounded away at his "From Foreign Parts" and his Spanish Dance duets, should join me in this place, clapping the hands that still seem to ache from his "Bolero", and shouting "Bravo, Moritz Moszkowski, Bravo!"

- J. B. Priestley, chapter seventy-nine from "Delight".

I have much to be thankful for in both Moszkowski and Priestley, two brilliant artists in their crafts, both of whom one would wish they could listen to and read more of, though in their own times both were heralded as among the modern greats. Priestley, for his wondrous spiritual writings of time, the soul, and social justice; and Moszkowski, for his tuneful and colorful works for the orchestra, piano, and chamber ensembles. I am very happy to see that Moszkowski's Symphony will finally receive a proper recording, and for just this once, I believe we can happily prove the great Priestley wrong!

By the way, I'll also be keeping an eye out for a recording of his Piano Quintet - that piece seems like it should be very interesting...

There is one other piece by Svetlanov for which I don't know if it has been recorded - "Родние Поля" ("Rodniye Polya"), or "Native Fields", a 5-movement cantata for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra written in 1949. So far, the only part of the cantata which has definitely been recorded is the orchestral prelude called "Рассвет в Поле" ("Rassvet v Polye"), or "Dawn in the Field", which has a score video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOZx1XCKRcA. It's a gorgeous prelude, one of my favorite pieces by Svetlanov, so I think it can be safely assumed the rest of the piece is probably also very beautiful; a couple Russian articles suggest it had a successful premiere.

The complete orchestral and vocal manuscripts for the cantata can be found on the online archive of the Glinka Museum of Music.

Delicious and the score doesn't seem too difficult or exhausting to read. Makes me want to try out some passages myself

I hope you enjoy playing it!

I look forward to hearing this recording. I am familiar with the lovely 1913 Piano Trio in D Major so the solo piano music by Cadman sounds quite enticing. I wonder what his 'Indianist' compositions sound like?

The Piano Trio is a really lovely piece He also wrote a number of pieces on Indian melodies, and the movements available on YouTube of his Thunderbird Suite for piano are gorgeous, especially "Before the Sunrise".

Good afternoon everyone,

Today I wanted to share a recording I made a few years ago of a piece already (partially) posted on this forum, the Piano Sonata in A major Op. 58 by Charles Wakefield Cadman. Prior to playing it, I hadn't known that the 2nd movement had already been recorded twice (including by the composer himself, as this forum has shown), but I am not aware of any other performances of the whole sonata besides my own. Here is Bartje Bartmans' score video of my performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea0u3xAOP6U
Also the playlist with the original videos from my channel (separate movements): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLic1pNbbwq3gTYz5qmeFwX5ZzE_X4Z8xZ

Ever since recording the Sonata, I have taken an interest in Cadman's music, he really does have a unique style of his own, and I think his music is really beautiful. Generally, it seems most of his substantial pieces have been recorded, though I wonder about his "Aurora Borealis" fantasy for piano and orchestra...

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy

It's a beautiful piece, very passionate and inspired, and I'm very glad this piece managed to get performed. Why on earth must it take 90 years for such pieces to get performed? What a world of difference the general perception of classical music would be if more pieces like this were played, and with frequency at that! If only more performances like this happened with American romantic composers...

Martin, that would be absolutely wonderful! I really hope the project can take off, especially with the sonata. I actually found a PDF online of the violin sonata, in case anyone wants it (full score and violin part): https://thecellist.ru/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/svetlanov-e.-sonata-for-violin-and-piano.pdf

Also, since you were thinking of doing all the violin pieces, these's one other piece that's also similarly obscure in terms of recordings, the Waltz in D major: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14qZicgZ4n6zYNXlggza2gDiBJ-31lMw3/view?usp=drive_link. Supposedly this piece was also recorded by Grach and Svetlanov, but that recording also seems out of reach.