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...wiki says it's there, it's square, it was assigned the key of G minor and the opus number of 38...

Does anyone of this clever lot know if there is a (commercial...) recording of this piece - or perhaps if one's being planned? I reckon we could do with one!

Cheers,

K

Dear all,

I'm wondering who of you has heard of the Polish composer Apolinary Szeluto? I hadn't heard of him until today, but reading on Wikipedia I saw he was born in 1884, a student of Godowski, and his catalogue of works comprises, among (a great many!) other things,

5 piano concertos
1 violin concerto
1 cello concerto
25 symphonies (!)
70 opera's (!!!)

Apparently he promoted modern music, but that doesn't have to say anything; I wonder if his compositional style is old-fashioned enough for me to like...

I feel slightly ashamed that a 19th/early 20th century composer of 25 symphonies and 70 opera's has remained unknown to me until today. Can someone shed light on his style?

I'm thinking of ordering a fairly new Dux-CD with his violin sonata, cello sonata, and a string quartet. Perhaps someone here has this CD already?

(apologies if he has already been discussed elsewhere on the forum)

In addition to the new Schönberg topic, another composer "turned evil". I actually do appreciate the music of the 2nd Viennese school (Adorno follower...); the composer I dislike most of everyone "modern" (not counting after 1950...) is Stravinsky. I never try and miss an opportunity to bash him. I accept his Sacre as one of the greatest musical revolutions ever (it's right up there with the Eroica, Tristan and 4'33), but that's not to say I like it. And the later the Stravinsky, the worse it gets for me.

Early Stravinsky for romantics - recommendations, anyone? I like his 1st piano sonata in f sharp minor, his 1st symphony in e flat major and adore his firebird - although I have little appreciation for the butchered up suite that was created out of the ballet, which is more like a tone poem in itself. The Sacre may be (for me!) a smack in the face of music history, but there is some nice romantic music preceding it. Any more works like the ones I mentioned?

In a review of the recently released 6th volume of Albéniz' piano works, containing also 2 of his works for piano & orchestra, I read that next to the orchestrations of the composer's Rapsodia española by Enescu, Halffter, & Torres, there also appears to be one by Bréton.

Does anyone know if a recording exists?

Might be that you already heard this, but apparently Moscheles' 8th piano concerto has been orchestrated by Ian Hobson (who also recorded the rest of them), and will be released next year. It was new to me, and I'm really looking forward to this release!

I'm wondering if any other piano & orchestra works of Moscheles remain unrecorded...

Dear all, just a small question. Remembering Rheinberger was from Liechtenstein, I was wondering if there would be any other composers from Europe's smaller states. They would have to be unsung, because - without wanting to sound arrogant - I've never heard of them - or I just haven't got my facts straight...

I'm thinking of:
- Monaco
- Andorra
- Luxembourg
- San Marino
- Malta
- Vatican City

A composer from that last state would probably have written a lot of masses...

Anyway, thanks for possible responses!

Worth a mention, since he was one of the first to publicly support not yet famous, a.k.a. unsung composers!

I decided to pick up a Schumann CD (with relatively unsung works - I'm stressing this, because I don't want to be thrown off the forum for talking about a not very unsung composer...) that was on my wishlist, the recent release on Ondine with both of his concert pieces for piano & orchestra and his beautiful Ghost Variations, also containing his etudes in canonic form in the Debussy transcription for 2 piano's. Just a word of warning, if any of you might ever consider buying the same CD: it's the most exaggerated late Schumann I know of. Very, very elegiac, everything played so unbelievably poetic and careful, that you almost get the impression the music 'stands still'. Not a really good introduction to those of us that don't really know their way around in late Schumann. A very nice CD for those who appreciate silence over music... 

I LOVE them! Unfortunately, I don't know that many. Of course there are the famous examples by Chopin and Saint-Saens, and there's a fun Franck disc on Naxos including his endearing piano concerto. The Ballade by Fauré is played every now and again, but I must admit to liking his later Fantasy much better! Hyperion gave us all of Pierné's works for piano & orchestra, and those by Hahn & Massenet, and both aforementioned labels did Alkan. The only other piece I can think of, that is fairly well-known, is the Symphonie with piano by D'Indy.

The rest of the works I know are the 1-movement works by Vierne, Le Flem, D'Ollone, and Chaminade, and the concertos by Cras and Lalo.

And then I'm stretching it with mentioning:
- Boieldieu (hardly romantic...)
- Schmitt (a quasi-romantic Symphonie Concertante)
- Debussy's Fantasy (which is actually a concerto in all but name, and in my opinion very romantic - unlike those noisy pieces by Ravel)
- Biarent's Rhapsody (which is actually a concerto as well - but its composer isn't really French)

I've seen Hyperion will be doing both Widor concertos - I can hardly wait! But, in all, that's hardly 20 composers of romantic French works for piano & orchestra, against a tidal wave of german-austrian and anglo-american works. Looking at the form of most of them, it's rather obvious the French wanted to compose as un-germanic as possible, although Wagner's influence of course haunted them until the early 20th century.

But, I was wondering if any of you could recommend to me further works consistent with the title of the topic. Would be nice if recordings exist. I think I've read about concertos by Castillon and Diémer once, but have yet to find a score or recording.

Not really sure where this belongs - in the 'New Recordings' or the 'Problem' section? - but I'll give it a go here.

I always used to buy my CDs physically, so to speak, and it is only since a couple of months that I started ordering on line. I know, I'm probably old-fashioned, and was able to get a lot of rare recordings via contacts, but I acknowlegde the advantage that the internet brings as well. I just don't like waiting for the mail(wo)man...

One thing that really drives me crazy (and I can hardly exaggerate here!) is that some CDs that have been deleted - even if only for a few years - and that I do not even consider to be important recordings, I find for prices circling around 200 or even 300 euros/dollars/pounds. Only while they've been deleted? Are there people insane enough to pay such amounts of  money?

Just to be clear: I'm talking about SINGLE CDs, which originally didn't cost more than 15 eu/d/p... I'm thinking: if the CD is worth that much to you, why sell it? I have a hard time believing it's worth that much for others...

Am I going insane, or is it just the world around me?

(Or am I missing some kind of NB that's telling you can start the bidding at 10 eu/d/p?)

3 Questions regarding unsung Brahms:

- Does anyone know of a recording of Brahms' Horn Trio with a viola substituting the horn?

- Does anyone know of a recording other than that on Crystal of Brahms' clarinet quintet with a viola substituting the clarinet?

There are plenty of recordings of Brahms' other clarinet works (the 2 sonatas and the trio) with viola instead of clarinet, but the 2 works above don't seem to be all that popular in a viola version.

- Does anyone know if the 2 wind trios by Brahms are ever performed with a standard piano trio setting (piano, violin & cello)?

Hope someone can shed light on (all) this!

Being a Schumann fanatic, I couldn't resist buying the new RCA 3CD-set with his complete works for piano & orchestra. This set contains, of course:

- The famous piano concerto
- Both concert pieces for piano & orchestra
- The concerto for 4 horns & orchestra in the version for piano & orchestra (a version which apparently is not, as often stated, by Raff, but by Schumann himself)
- The piano concerto movement in D Minor (reconstructed by Beenhouwer)

So far so good - we already had recordings of those. Interesting it becomes with the next first recordings:

- The piano concerto in F Major (reconstructed)
- The fantasy for piano & orchestra in A Minor (or better: the 1st version of the 1st movement of the famous piano concerto)
- The ABEGG-Theme for piano & orchestra

And 2 pieces of works by other composers, orchestrated by Schumann:

- Henselt: piano concerto in F Minor, op.16
- Clara S.: piano concerto movement in A Minor

I'm listening to the first cd as we speak. The ABEGG-Theme in this version is cute, but probably only recorded for the sake of completeness. The piano concerto in F Major is quite another matter. In the booklet a parallel (regarding key) is being drawn with (to?) Hummel's last concerto. I must admit, in the music itself, I hear Hummel too - although more inspired. Of course this youthful work couldn't (and shouldn't!) be measured with its endlessly more famous A Minor counterpart, but it is a pleasureable listening experience all the way. As to the fantasy: sadly, the only differences I could discover on a 1st hearing, are in the opening and in the cadenza, but I'll give it a listen with score. The concerto movements (one by Clara) are what we already know. I'm looking forward to playing the other 2 discs!

The recording satisfies, although I find it rather 'harsh' at moments of orchestral tutti. Impressive, nonetheless. A note regarding the pianist: Lev Vinocour appears not only to be a fine musician, but also a musicologist and music philosopher. He wrote an extensive essay accompanying the CDs, from which I quote the following sentence:

"Ideally, the higher task of this encyclopedic recording resides in making every music lover realize, solely with the music, that it is high time to form a fresh view of these romantic works, a view free of preconcieved doctrines."

I'm going to add the term encyclopedic recording to my vocabulary, since it applies to more favourite recordings of mine. To those of us who aren't particularly fond of Schumann, but rather listen to, say, Thalberg (...): this set doesn't hold much of an interest. For those who are prepared to take a shotgun to Thalberg anytime, for lovers of romantic rarities for piano & orchestra - even if reconstructed by others - or Henselt fans, I think this recording constitutes a must-buy.

Switching to disc 2!

Dear all,

Are there people here who are familiar with the Polish/German composer Emil Bohnke? He didn't die as young as Guillaume Lekeu, but didn't leave us much music alltogether. A couple of years ago I got my hands on what I thought was the only recording of his music; a 2-CD-set with most of his chamber works. I remember liking not all of it, but my attention was immediately grabbed by the slow movement of his B Flat Minor Piano Trio. The rest of the music (well, at least the solo sonatas) I found rather strange, and I consequently decided not to pursue this composer. Now, years later, I've returned to the trio (and to his other chamber works) and I'm hooked. The music still has strange twists and turns, but apparently, over time, I've come to appreciate this more. Looking on wikipedia, I saw that Bohnke did not compose a great many things, but there's pieces in almost every favourite genre of mine: sonatas for piano, violin & cello, a piano trio, a string quartet, concertos for piano & violin, a symphony...

Really unknown, wikipedia only has entries in German, Russian and some Asian language. Sadly, his violin sonata remains (if I've done my research well) unrecorded, but I've discovered 2 "old" CDs on Koch with his concertos and orchestral works. The CD with the piano concerto & symphony is still available, and I've ordered a copy immediately. Does anyone of you have this CD? The concerto appears to be played by the composers son (deceased). The second CD, with his violin concerto and the remaining orchestral works seems to be not only out of print, but unavailable on Amazon as well. Any ideas on how to get this? Anyone know if it's any good?

The MD+G-set with chamber works I can heartily recommend to any lovers of (over-)ripe Austro-German romantic music - think along the lines of Rudi Stephan and Karl Weigl - and especially the piano trio is surely (IMHO...) one of the most beautiful examples of that medium around 1910. I reckon that anyone who likes Reger, gets along with Bohnke pretty well.

Admittedly not very unsung, but I just can't withhold this broadcast from you; it's the most painful, and therefore funniest thing I've ever experienced in the field of orchestral "playing"... (b.t.w., the playing starts I think at 2:30 or something, after a lengthy introduction) Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzPxObs2NtQ&feature=related

No use crying over spilled milk, I know, but the last postings in the RPC 50 thread gave me an idea. Although most of us love Hyperion's series, after 50 volumes there have been some strange (not to say dissapointing) decisions. I'm not talking about the recordings, or their musical value, but about the outlook/organisation of the series. I reckon everyone, like with vol. 50, has raised their eyebrows once or twice regarding specific cds, as well as thought of better ideas. A fantasy topic, I hope you don't mind!

Firstly, I am a staunch supporter of completeness (in the CPO philosophy), so I regret the exclusion of pieces that not necessarily constitute as concertos. Either way, the line between concerto & Konzertstück is very thin, especially in the late-romantic repertoire - the Vianna da Motta cd is a case in point. I would like to see one or two "bonus" discs released (numbered 1a & b, or something like that?), containing some (or preferably all) missing pieces. My comments on the series:

Vol. 1: I love it, but I miss the Paderewski Polish Fantasy

Vol. 3: ridiculous. Bad, uninspired and way to serious playing of Mendelssohn pieces that should be in the definition of the word "fun". But, if they're going down this road anyway, it would be nice to see other romantic concertos for 2 pianos & orchestra

Vol. 4: another one of my favourites, but a complementary Bortkiewicz disc with the rest of his piano & orchestra works would be nice

Vol. 6: can there ever be enough recordings of Dohnányi's Nursery Variations? They'd be perfect for a bonus disc!

Vol. 8: the Medtner quintet is one of my favourite pieces of chamber music, but there have been better recordings; anyway, it's a quintet. What happened to the concert pieces?

Vol. 11: another one of my favourites; owning the 2nd concerto on Danacord, I understand why they didn't go for the obvious coupling - I'd still like to see it, though!

Vol. 16: the sheer fun and playfulness of Schelling's suite made me hope for a recording of his Impressions of an Artist's Life...

Vol. 18: please, Hyperion, give us the Castelli Romani!!!

Vol. 20: don't we miss 2 Konzertstücke, or does anyone know of another recording of those?

Vol. 23: Holbrooke's 2nd concerto...

Vols. 35 & 40: why???     

Vol. 38: what's with the other Rubinsteins? What I have on Marco Polo I love, especially the 5th

Vol. 43: nice, since Lyrita already gave us Sterndale Bennett's other concertos. But does that mean Hyperion shouldn't do them? I mean, if they release Tchaikowsky...

Vol. 46: what I have on Dutton is amazing stuff, but I guess that's a reason for Hyperion not to bother with it anymore...

Of course, we're still waiting for rediscovieries of the 0th D'Albert concert, the 1st Litolff and the orchestral parts of Moscheles 8th. But wouldn't we love to have Hyperion record those beautiful variation sets for piano & orchestra by Moscheles?

Just to be clear: this was no Hyperion-bashing! I love the series (and learned from my parents to be satisfied with what we have). The price collectors pay (apart from those 13 quid) is that they have to know the series by heart, because otherwise they'd have a hard time finding specific items in their collection - vol. 11 near the cds of Scharwenka orchestral works or Sauer's piano music? - and of course that's a small price!

But, in conclusion, some complementary recordings of the stuff we (they) missed the first time around would be nice, wouldn't they? In any case think most costumers to be rather loyal to the series, so I can't imagine it being a financial risk.

Dear people,

What a wonderful forum; it's nice to find out there's a place on the web where those who love unknown composers can get together. I have been reading through a lot of old threads and posts, and hope that the topic I open has not already been extensively discussed elsewhere - as I hope it's not a problem for new members to start with opening a new topic!

At the moment I'm listening a lot to french piano quintets around the turn of the century (1900, that is). I've collected a few of these works, but regret to say that I've found out not many of them are available on cd. I reckon we all know the Fauré and Franck quintets, and most of you probably know those by Hahn, D'Indy, Pierné, Schmitt and Vierne as well.

I wanted to ask if anyone is familiar with a recording of the 2nd Widor quintet? And if anyone has heard of the Dubois quintet in a recording with the "normal"  2 violins instead of violin + oboe? Also, it appears that Lalo and Séverac wrote quintets as well, has anyone ever heard these?

Thanks for any help, I look forward to exchanging information about unsung composers!