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I've heard Johan Albert's Op. 18, it was broadcasted on a dutch radio and can still be heard right here : http://deklassieken.radio4.nl/uitzending/3068/de-klassieken.html

It's fairly mendelssohnian indeed, and I enjoyed it ( actually, I'm quite interested in mendelssohnian music these days, by Mendelssohn or others). I've seen some bios of Johan Albert and I've heard some short excerpts of other music (was it Lucifer??? Can't remember quite well, but I was not convinced so much). It would be nice to hear something else.

I see that Gerrit Jan's Violin sonata is available on YouTube as well. Closer to Schumann IMHO.

I've done some research on the man... There's a bio (in German) in the Rheinische Musiker http://books.google.ca/books?id=dFo9AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Brandt+stammte+aus%22&dq=%22Brandt+stammte+aus%22&hl=fr&ei=H8qpTtnjKMfm0QHO07ipDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=6&ved=0CEEQ6wEwBQ

He seems to have written some chamber music with oboe (which is essentially why I've been interested, though I haven't find anything about this music yet, or seen any scores). From what I've read, he was a lawyer in Düsseldorf. But be careful, there's also a few other Frtiz Brandt (one who worked with Wagner, another one born in 1902) in the musical domain!

Simon

I must add :

Mikhail Starokadomsky : Concerto for Orchestra, op.14 (1937), published by Shirmer (I mentioned this work previously in another post, yet Starokadomsky seems truly forgotten these days!).

Simon

John Kersey's latest recording "The Circle of Brahms Vol. 5" http://rdrecs.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/the-circle-of-brahms-vol-5/ includes some interesting music, including some very brahmsian (indeed!) music by Ernst Rudorff, a fisrt recording, I believe. One can here his Capriccio appassionato, op. 48 here http://soundcloud.com/johnkersey

Enjoy!

Simon

Hi,

What do you think of Mikhail Leonidovich Starokadomsky (1901-1954)? I know he wrote a Concerto for Orchestra, an Organ Concerto and a Violin Concerto, and some chamber music as well, but the only thing I've heard of him is his Pieces for bassoon and piano (similar to Prokofiev, IMHO)... Anyone else?

Simon

hrm. mysterious fellow, Mr. Rice. his quintet is at IMSLP. will see if I can turn up anything... about the main subject as well of course. (born 1851, New York, death date don't know yet.)

I wonder if it was a pseudonym?  Eduard Reuss was born in New York in 1851 too...

I have some doubt about Rice and Reuss being the same person... Reuss was probably more of a Lisztian/Wagnerian than a Brahmsian (he studied with Liszt and his entry in the Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie says that he took part at the Bayreuth Festival for many years; on the other hand, his Quintet op. 2 sounds quite Brahmsian in style).

There's also one thing about his birthday : IMHO, it's seems surprising that an almost 50-year-old man would move to Germany to study with Iwan Knorr and would then publish his opus 2... But NH Rice might still be a pseudonym!

...who Alexander was I have no idea!

Lesley and Alexander were two different individuals, I believe.

It seems quite unlikely, since his death is reported in The Monthly Musical Record, Volume 40, p. 5 ("death of Mr. Lesley Alexander, who for many years offered prizes for chamber music"). Also, in an article published by The Musical News, Volume 16, p. 422 about Duncan's Quintet, Lesley Alexander is described as an "enthusiastic musical amateur". Even more, the Zeitschrift der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft (1904, Volume 5, p. 297) claims he is "member of the Musical Association". In the same issue, we learn that it is Fritz Kauffmann who won that year's prize for his Woodwind Quintet op. 40.

Even though it is great to have the winners names, I would be glad to learn who the runner-ups were. For instance, was N. H. Rice Quintett for piano and winds op. 2 written for the 1898 competition? And Percy Sherwood's Trio for oboe, horn and piano, for the 1901 competition?

Simon

From what I have found on Google Books, the Lesley Alexander Prize for Composition at the end of 19th-beginning of 20th century seems to have been a milestone in the career of some European composers. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Joseph Holbrooke, Edmondstoune Duncan, Percy Godfrey, David Stephen and many others distinguished themselves in this chamber music competition. Yet, many of these are still unsung. What else do we know about the Lesley Alexander Prize? Is there a list of all contestants who entered in this competition?

Thanks!

Any thought on Sherwood's chamber music? I'm wondering if I should order a copy of his Trio for oboe, horn and piano...

Hello,

Did you ever heard of Peter Fassbänder? According to wiki, he's a German/Swiss composer who lived between 1869 and 1920. I've found some of his chamber music (Trio for oboe, horn and piano) in a Swiss library, but I'm not quite sure if I should order a copy of it. Any opinion on this unsung composer?

Thanks!

Simon

Last summer, I ordered a photocopy of the manuscript of his Oboe Sonata in G major Op. 105 (completed on July 29, 1937) from the Sachsisches Staatsarchiv (I believe many works by CS are kept there).

This is conservative German Romantic music, kind of interesting since there are only a few Romantic oboe sonatas. In 4 movements : Allegro amabile, G major (the first theme of which - very lyrical - reminds me of Brahms); Andante molto sostenuto, E minor (a dark sarabande); Scherzo - Allegro molto, C major (maybe the weekest movement here IMHO); Allegretto poco mosso, G major (with some "Volkstone", to paraphrase Robert Schumann).

How about Felix Mendelssohn's Cello Concerto? If I remember correctly, Mendelssohn had completed the first movement. It was then sent to his dedicatee, the cellist Alfredo Piatti, but unfortunately lost in the mail.

By the way, Taubert wrote either 3 or 4 (acc. to Wikipedia, 4) symphonies, one of which (his 2nd, I believe- I'm not sure of the numbering; my labeling it as no.2 at IMSLP and elsewhere was a guess based on some evidence but still a guess) is available for free download from a Danish source and from IMSLP.  (http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.2,_Op.80_(Taubert,_Wilhelm))

Hi there,

I'm new here. Just want to let Eric know that according to Fetis' "Biographie universelle des musiciens", Taubert actually wrote 5 symphonies, of which Op. 80 is the fourth. By the way, I'm the one who asked last week the Danish Royal Library for the .pdf of Taubert's Symphony Op. 80 as well as his Chöre zur Medea des Euripides. Op. 57. They have a huge collection of 19th-century music, and they are always helpful and glad to share it. So if you're looking for some "unsung music", that's a good starting point.

Simon

P.S.: Sorry for my English, it's not perfect, it's my second language.