Are there any significant anniversaries in 2011 involving unsung composers? My nominations:
Hiller (b.1811)
d'Indy (b.1851)
Wilhelm Berger (b.1861)
Ah,D'indy! A complete commercial cd recording of 'Fervaal' would be a great way to celebrate this composer's anniversary.
Yes, Fervaal is certainly a hole worth plugging...
I like to nominate Wilhelm Berger (1861-1911).
Others are Taubert (b.1811) and Thuille (b.1861).
It's hard to assess Hiller since so little of his mature work is available. He was initially weak in precisely those areas where Mendelssohn was strongest, but he took Mendelssohn's criticisms to heart, especially after he stopped hoping for success in opera, and subsequently reinvented the concerto form with his second piano concerto, which, unlike Chopin's (or his own) of a decade earlier, eschews the successful but now predictable conventions of Field and Kalkbrenner. Mendelssohn and Liszt were working in the same direction, of course, but it was Hiller's new model that Schumann adopted, and later all of the Schumann imitators, such as Grieg. It's also evident that by the time of Mendelssohn's death, Hiller could write an internally coherent Durchführung with the best of them. In achieving the mastery evident in the few late scores of his that are readily available, Hiller sublimated his passion a bit more than Mendelssohn needed to, and this I believe has contributed to Hiller's unsung status. He did, however, have his own voice. And he pushed both himself and the musical culture of the communities where he worked very hard in the direction of high artistic ideals. It is because of musicians like him that the last third of the 19th century produced so much extraordinary music, perhaps the best overall that Western Culture has seen so far.
Nothing in Hiller can match the sublime slow movement of Berger's Piano Sonata, Berger's stunning fugues, many of Berger's chamber works, or Berger's second symphony (the content of his first being unknown to me). But then few musicians have produced so much music that was both spiritually deep and technically accomplished.
Since joining this forum, my experience with D'Indy has been twofold: I have found new things to like in works I've known most of my adult life (like the first symphony) and many new pieces (such as Rivages) that strike me as being of the first water.
I will raise a glass to Loeffler and Catoire (1861)
Might do to Bate and Reizenstein (1911)
Definately not to Hovhaness.
Thal
We need a recording of Hiller's Symphony in E minor, Op.67 Es muss doch Frühling werden (ca.1849)...
I'd raise a glass for the best of Hovhaness,but not every one of them!
Quote from: chill319 on Friday 17 December 2010, 19:02
It's hard to assess Hiller since so little of his mature work is available. He was initially weak in precisely those areas where Mendelssohn was strongest, but he took Mendelssohn's criticisms to heart, especially after he stopped hoping for success in opera, and subsequently reinvented the concerto form with his second piano concerto, which, unlike Chopin's (or his own) of a decade earlier, eschews the successful but now predictable conventions of Field and Kalkbrenner. Mendelssohn and Liszt were working in the same direction, of course, but it was Hiller's new model that Schumann adopted, and later all of the Schumann imitators, such as Grieg. It's also evident that by the time of Mendelssohn's death, Hiller could write an internally coherent Durchführung with the best of them. In achieving the mastery evident in the few late scores of his that are readily available, Hiller sublimated his passion a bit more than Mendelssohn needed to, and this I believe has contributed to Hiller's unsung status. He did, however, have his own voice. And he pushed both himself and the musical culture of the communities where he worked very hard in the direction of high artistic ideals. It is because of musicians like him that the last third of the 19th century produced so much extraordinary music, perhaps the best overall that Western Culture has seen so far.
Nothing in Hiller can match the sublime slow movement of Berger's Piano Sonata, Berger's stunning fugues, many of Berger's chamber works, or Berger's second symphony (the content of his first being unknown to me). But then few musicians have produced so much music that was both spiritually deep and technically accomplished.
I've adored the 3rd PC from the 2nd time I heard it.
How about these. They're just the hundreds and the fifties. If you go every ten years, the list gets unmanageable....
Ludwig Abeille (1761-1838)
Jehain Alain (1911-1940)
Anton Arensky (1861-1996)
Stanley Bate (1911-1959)
William Boyce (1711-1779)
Pierre de Breville (1861-1949)
Georgy Catoire (1861-192?)
Jan Cikker (1911-1989)
Raffaeke d'Alessandro (1911-1959)
Arkadi Filipenko (1911-????)
Franz Freystadtler (1761-1841)
Mikhail Grechev (1911-????)
Philip Green (1911-1982)
Wilhelm Jeral (1861-1935)
Jan Keotsier (1911-2006)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Edward MacDowell (1861-1908)
Gian Menotti (1911-2007)
Jan Mul (1911-????)
Christian Palmer (1811-1875)
Auguste Quelle (1911-????)
Reizernstein, Franz (1911-1969)
Nino Rota (1911-1979)
Bernhard Viguerie (1761-1819)
Disclaimer: Just gecause a composer is on this list does not necessarily imply that his/her music is worth hearing. Heh heh.
Jerry
Three more born in 1861: Marco Enrico Bossi. known I think for organ music, but some intriguing chamber music's been uploaded to IMSLP- some of it recorded a little I believe but I know I haven't heard it; Fritz Volbach (two piano quintets at IMSLP) ; Heinrich Gottlieb Noren (1861-1928) - again, several works at IMSLP...
Liszt? Oh no! He's another one who stays in 'the box'!
Bought the Stanley Bate 4th from Dutton when it came. A tougher nut to crack than his 3rd,but I think he's a composer worth investigating.
Rota's the 'Fellini bloke'!
Catoire sounds as if he might be interesting.
I for one am really looking forward to the Liszt anniversary, there is so much of his massive output still to be heard, especially with the orchestral works many of which have even to be published. I did ask Chandos if their excellent symphonic poems series with Noseada was going to include the rest of the orchestral works but this obviously fell on deaf ears! There is a vast amount of chamber music too, especially with the 2 piano and 4 hand pieces.
If you think you don't like Liszt, try some of the late pieces, especially in the chamber arrangements (especially La Lugubre Gondola for 'cello and piano)...
Walker's biography (especially re-reading book 2 on the Weimar Years) got me to re-listen to Liszt's works, his middle as well as late works, with a fresher ear and especially with fewer preconceptions, I think. Especially, with much more enjoyment. The beautiful St Elisabeth oratorio (in a cut version on Koch Schwann, as nla as the label itself; hopefully the newer version on cpo is at least as well-done and uncut to boot) found its way into my collection eventually after that, for example...
Agree thoroughly about the Alan Walker volumes on Liszt. A labour of love, and after reading it (and yes, steadily working my way through every volume of the Howard piano recordings on Hyperion - due, I think, soon for a medium priced re-release in a mighty big box) I began to appreciate the true extent - and stature - of Liszt's achievements.
I haven't tried the CPO recording of St Elisabeth for surely (I don't know for sure) it must be pretty much truncated being a 2 CDs as opposed to the 3 of the Arpad Joo recording on Hungaroton. That's a wonderful recording if the Hungaroton set can be tracked down.
Another 'plug': the Alan Walker book on Hans von Bulow, published this year by Oxford, is another eye-opener. Very well written and illuminating.
Peter
Don't get me wrong,I'm no Liszt expert,and besides,his output is so vast. But the symphonic poems don't really bring me back for more than the occasional encounter. Though,some of them are quite good fun & have some quite good tunes. The Piano Concerto's are pleasant enough,but seem like empty rhetoric,underneath all the pyrotechnics!
The 'Symphonies' just seemed to bore me.
Going back to the 'Symphonic poems',I don't have the Chandos cd's,I have the Haitink recordings. I had Vol 1 for years,but only recently bought Vol 2. I played it about twice & that was it.
Funnily enough,the one that seemed to appeal to me the most was, (looking at the box,to make sure I get the spelling right),'Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne'. (I hope Philips got the spelling right!). It goes on a bit too long for it's own good, I suppose, but the music has a mysterious,enigmatic quality.
A bit like the man himself! Oh and, 'Mazeppa's' great for late night listening! The music conjures all sorts of colourful images.
I will have another go at Vol 2 later,and take note of your suggestions.
(Oh-oh! Someone just posted....)
Of course his solo piano output is supposed to be his best music,silly me! Not wanting to splash out on every one of the Hyperion series,a quick 'google' around,seems to suggest that Vol 39 (Annees de pelerinage), might be a good place to start. And Alan Walker!
There's a lot of Loeffler, big works and small--something for every performing and recording pocket book. It all sounds gorgeous (or looks on the page as if it should sound gorgeous,) and just about all of it is at the Library of Congress.
http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.scdb.200033553/default.html (http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.scdb.200033553/default.html)
He's been shamefully neglected by recording companies (exceptions being Naxos' string chamber music disc, anything Loeffler wrote for solo oboe, and New World's lp-era disc of orchestral music. If anyone knows of a post-lp version of A Pagan Poem, I'd like to know about it...) But then, Loeffler, with his 'advanced' European tendencies, just doesn't seem 'Murkin enough for our musicians. Time for some 'furners' to come to the rescue!
David
Just a quick plug for Menotti's Violin Concerto...an excellent, melodious late Romantic piece. The pattering drum passage in the finale always stays with me. The Piano Concerto, though, is pretty second-rate, but I have to admit the finale is exhilarating enough! The whole concerto is full of that clean two-part writing Shostakovich makes use of in his Second Piano Concerto giving the music a neo-classical feel.
Just for the record, Edward MacDowell should be taken off jerfilm's interesting list. He was born in 1860. Any recent reference that perpetuates the 1861 birth date is not well researched.
I agree with David that Loeffler is a marvellous, quite undeservedly unsung composer. His neglect reminds me of Melartin's in that both were inspired craftsmen whose voice was too cosmopolitan for convenient pigeonholing. Loeffler's chamber music is a treasure.
Loeffler Pagan Poem: hrm, I only seem to be able to turn up a WorldCat record of a performance (possibly from 2000- a Google search turns up a page mentioning a 5/7/2000 performance of the Poem by the same orchestra - New England Conservatory- and conductor - Charles Pittman - from that year, the Worldcat record only specifies the date, May 10, but no year ?!?) preserved on a library cassette. Otherwise, it's mostly remasterings of a Stokowski LP on EMI all the way, so far as CDs have gone...
Liszt was a genius.
And Hyperion is releasing a 99 disc box set of his piano music in February to celebrate this.
(Me, I'll just be getting the final 2CD set coming out in January...)
Obviously he's not unsung, though a large amount of his music is. I have a number of Hyperion's series, and I would agree that Vol. 39 is a good starter, though I'd go for Vol. 12 the 3rd Annee myself. Les Jeux d'Eaux a La Villa d'Este is one of the most beautiful pieces ever, and it anticipates Debussy in a big way (and then there's the 'late pieces', many of which one has to boggle that this was written by the same guy that wrote the Hungarian Rhapsodies and Paganini Etudes)
For more of an 'unsung' Liszt flavor, Volume 27 - National Songs and Anthems is a very nice disc. Despite the title, most of the works are 'original' (in the pre-350 part of the catalog), they just happen to use existing themes as a starting point (as many Liszt pieces do). It also contains two versions off an (assumedly) complete original, Canzone Napolitana which is one of my absolute favorite little pieces ever.
Everyone's heard of Liszt, (well everyone who likes classical music),but I have always got the impression that allot of the music he composed is,if not exactly unsung,is still a bit controversial in terms of it's actual quality. I think this applies mostly to the orchestral music & possibly his choral & vocal works.
Incidentally,I put on Vol 2 of the Haitink/ Symphonic poems after reading some of the postings here. I think I must have been in the wrong mood,or something,when I first played it. The first item on cd 1 is 'Heroide funebre'. What a cracker! And that's just the opener!
Vol 12? I'll make a note of that. What about Bolet,though? Any thoughts.
Well not so unsung but I nominate Glazunov solely for his 7 string quartets and 8(9) Symphonies which are criminally neglected. Just listen to his 4th and 5th symphony and 3rd quartet and see..............
Quote from: FBerwald on Sunday 19 December 2010, 16:01
Well not so unsung but I nominate Glazunov
Unfortunately there is no significant anniversary for Glazunov in 2011...
Quote from: Alan Howe on Sunday 19 December 2010, 16:40
Quote from: FBerwald on Sunday 19 December 2010, 16:01
Well not so unsung but I nominate Glazunov
Unfortunately there is no significant anniversary for Glazunov in 2011...
Woopsss!!!!!!! ;D Well then Alan Hovhaness for sure!!!
And death anniversary
Johan Svendsen (1840–1911) , Percy Grainger(1882–1961) and York Bowen(1884–1961),
Here's to Glazunov,anniversary or no anniversary,I say........but maybe not in this thread!!!
Regarding Hovhaness,I would like to see 2011 bring a commercial cd recording of his 8th 'Arjuna' symphony,which is one of his best.
Hope,I got the name & numbering right,there are so-ooooooooooooo many! This is the one with the piano in it!!!! Some of them do sound the same,but this one really rocks! If Naxos do it,I hope it's better than their recent cd of Roy Harris's 5th & 6th. Positively comatose! A pity since the 5th was,particularly, in need of a new recording. Very,very,VERY disappointing!
The extremely neglected American composer,Henry Cowell,(1897-1965), could do with an anniversary too. I wouldn't mind hearing some more of his symphonies...........but you can't invent anniversaries,can you? Even for Glazunov (1865-1936). (The ever enterprising Botstein has recorded some downloads of Cowell,I see).
Incidently, re: Liszt, Hyperion already has the liner notes for the box set up on their site for DL. It's free -- and it's a great read by Howard himself. It also includes the notes of every single volume (apparently not included with the physical set).
I'm kind of surprised there's no other decently known 1811 composers though, really...
Quote from: TerraEpon on Sunday 19 December 2010, 20:59
I'm kind of surprised there's no other decently known 1811 composers though, really...
To balance the abundance of well-known 1810 composers (Chopin, Schumann, ...)?
btw not a composer and not unsung (but definitely music-related), but 1811: Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
unsung composers (not passing judgment on quality until I've heard more by them and admitting unshamefacedly that http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Geboren_1811 (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Geboren_1811) is my friend. apologies for duplications...) from 1811: Louis Kufferath, Vinzenz Lachner (the other other brother), Ernst Methfessel, August Gottfried Ritter, Wilhelm Taubert (hrm. the fellow whose b minor symphony I was asking about awhile back, yes? :) ), Leopold Friedrich Witt.
more 1861: Franz von Blon (can't remember if he's been mentioned- maybe by me even), Pierre de Bréville, Henry-Charles Kaiser, Gustav Lange, Ludwig Sauer, Ernestine Schumann-Heink (alto), Ludwig Thuille (probably already mentioned in this thread), Rudolf del Zopp (tenor).
Sorry about including MacDowell. Must've made a typo when I set up my database. Then in retrospect, I wonder why we didn't hear more about old Edward om 2010.......
Allan Pettersson (1911-1980). :)
Less unsung but not tremendously known - Jehan Alain (1911-1940).
I think Stanley Bate's been mentioned in this thread but I'm not quite sure!
René Cloërec (1911-1995) (Apparently a film composer on the whole.).
Gábor Steinberger/Darvas (1911-1985).
MacDowell's birth date was given incorrectly as 1861 for more than a century.
Since it is still 2010, I am posting something about MacDowell under "A 2010 Unsung's Anniversary."
A death anniversary - Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Although a 20thC composer, some of Dupré's music is very expressive and romantic. Most of it is for organ solo, but he left also a symphony for Organ and Orchestra as well as some fine chamber music and piano works.
I neglected to mention Camille Stamaty.
I intend to play through a couple of his sonatas over the Winterval if i can keep away from the Guiness.
Thal
Hello - I'm new, ignorant, but wanting to learn ! Having only just discovered Hovhaness this year, he currently rates as one of my favourites (along with Florent Schmitt, Ropartz, Sgambati, Rautavaara etc..).
He doesn't seem to figure too highly with one or two of you; why's that ?
Quote from: TerraEpon on Sunday 19 December 2010, 20:59
I'm kind of surprised there's no other decently known 1811 composers though, really...
actually, it occurs to me that the lack of decently known 1811 composers to memorialize will be more than made up for this year by one 1911 composer whose music (which I have come to enjoy very very much- this remark is not out of personal distaste!) will I suspect be the focus of quite a lot of attention this almost-begun (begun in some areas I think?) year, along perhaps with Liszt's - Mahler's -
Eric
I'll bite, Eric. I'm not sure who you mean, but I think a reassessment of Menotti's work is overdue in the States. On the other hand, I don't think Pettersson, Rota, or even Herrmann are likely to generate much interest here.
Mahler died in 1911, Chris.
Quote from: JimL on Sunday 02 January 2011, 19:55
Mahler died in 1911, Chris.
Yes- that's what I meant. I was being a bit circuitous :
2010 was a big anniversary year for sung composers (Chopin and Schumann for example);
I sort of took TerraEpon to be indirectly implying (not true, true!) that 2011 had fewer sung-composer-anniversaries to crowd out remembrance of the unsung (not that it works that way, true);
but 2011 is an anniversary/birth or death centenary/bicentenary year for both Liszt and Mahler respectively, so - same situation this time around.
Eric
Quote from: cjvinthechair on Monday 27 December 2010, 15:43
Hello - I'm new, ignorant, but wanting to learn ! Having only just discovered Hovhaness this year, he currently rates as one of my favourites (along with Florent Schmitt, Ropartz, Sgambati, Rautavaara etc..).
He doesn't seem to figure too highly with one or two of you; why's that ?
Hi! I think that Hovhaness is a significant voice, but that his enormously prolific output puts many people off exploring (he makes Havergal Brian's catalogue seem positively stingy).
Hovhaness certainly produced some remarkable beautiful and powerful works, including his Symphony No. 2 (
Mysterious Mountain, 1955), the Magnificat (1958) and Symphony No. 50 (
Mount St Helens, 1982). Perhaps his style did not develop significantly over his career, but that should not deter sympathetic listeners from exploring some very rewarding music. It seems as though his centenary will not pass by totally unnoticed:
http://www.hovhaness.com/News-Hovhaness-Centennial-Concerts-Seattle.html (http://www.hovhaness.com/News-Hovhaness-Centennial-Concerts-Seattle.html)
Quote from: chill319 on Sunday 02 January 2011, 19:54
I'll bite, Eric. I'm not sure who you mean, but I think a reassessment of Menotti's work is overdue in the States. On the other hand, I don't think Pettersson, Rota, or even Herrmann are likely to generate much interest here.
Certainly Herrmann is likely to have film music releases. Certainly there's a new recording of a couple of his scores on the way (though reletively unrealted to his anniversary). I think someone said on the FilmScoreMonthly board that the Moby Dick cantata is being recorded as well.
Good news re Herrmann. I'd love to hear his second symphony, written 30-odd years after the first. So far as I know it exists only in manuscript. I suspect it has been performed once and that parts exist somewhere, but have no information to support that speculation.
Re Hovhaness, New Age composer par excellence: without pretending to be a scholar of Hovhaness, there are actually several ways to designate periods in his compositional life (not including the earlier, purportedly Sibelian scores he is said to have destroyed [as Harry Partch destroyed his own early, more conventional scores]): (1) before and after his discovery of aleatoric scoring; (2) before, during, and after his intense focus on third-related half-diminished harmonic sequences (as in some symphonies numbered 20-30); (3) before and after his introduction of Japanese modalities to his melodic vocabulary. No doubt other, better distinctions could be pointed out. That said, you can expect a fugue and a trumpet solo in an awful lot of what AH wrote.
Today I was fumbling my way through a fantasy by Arthur B Whiting and then I discover he was born in 1861.
Happy aniversary Arthur.
Thal
To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Percy Grainger, Chandos are repackaging all 19 discs of their Grainger edition in a box due out at the end of the month - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/llf/-/Grainger%2BEdition/1 (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/llf/-/Grainger%2BEdition/1)
Vinzenz Lachner 1811-1893 does not seem to have been so prolific or successful a composer as his two elder brothers, but he appears to have produced some large scale choral works and plenty of lieder in addition to the two string quartets which are only works of his I have managed to get hold of on CD under the Amati Label of Rudolf Bayer, who also include all the surviving quartets of his elder brothers in their catalogue. I gather most of his time was taken up with conducting opera at Mannheim where he was in charge of the orchestra for 37 years.
Like the other Lachners he was musically conservative and being eventually being forced to conduct Wagner triggered his application for early retirement.
Might you be interested in this CD from the Innsbruck museum, John...?
http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_72 (http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_72)
Thanks Alan. It seems the TLM have stretched across the border into neighbouring Bavaria.