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What an evening! A few weeks ago I picked up the Sterling CD of Buttner as part of a scoop in bargain basements in London (and what a scoop from which, financially, I am still recovering). I had never heard of Buttner, and the CD ended up in the bag simply because it was a Sterling disc (and because the notes told me he was a pupil of Draeseke). The disc seemed to have got put to one side, and I finally listened to it tonight - twice!

This music - Symphony 4 - is utterly magnificent. I have seen fleeting references to Buttner on the site, but nothing substantial. Heavens, this really is an unsung composer because, other than this Sterling disc, a lengthy trawl through the ether reveals no other recordings of his music. He also seems a quite invisible figure, for the same trawl demonstrates there is very little information about him save some very bare facts. Nothing whatsoever in Grove 5, or even New Grove.

Why this almost total neglect? There are, presumably, at least 3 other symphonies. And a string quartet. What else? Are the scores published? Is he ever performed? Can fellow members of the site enlighten me? Can anyone else help relieve the great urge to hear more Buttner?

I'd give a most warm recommendation to a 2CD set of the 4 Piano Trios (Opp. 34, 112, 121, 191a) by the Trio Parnassus on Dabringhaus und Grimm. Lovely stuff!

Then there is the Nonet Op 139 and Sextet Op 191b by the Consortium Classicum on the same label.

I'm in partial disagreement with another view on an earlier posting (can't remember who!) re. some of the orchestral music. It strikes me as fine stuff - and little to do with terrier dogs!

Deeply grateful to edurban for his painstaking research on the Olsen Sisters.

I guess it is no less than Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen who so memorably recorded the piano duet version of John Taverner's 'The Celestial Sigh: Variations on a Languorous Episode' [transcribed for Euphonium and Byzantine Xylophone] on the now defunct EMI label?

And just to add to the mayhem, neither Ole or Otto is to be confused with Poul Olsen - a Danish composer who died in 1982, and who wrote a short 'interesting' (i.e. make up your own minds) opera 'Belisa', after the play by Lorca.

Incidentally a thumbs up for Otto Olsson who has a rather fine and beautiful Requiem written just after the symphony in 1901. A good recording exists on Proprius.

Any more Olsens or Olssons? As one of my more ignominious students once memorably put it, "All these continental johnnies sound pretty much alike".

Hello again, Dennis. We clearly have more in common than sagging bank balances! Re my posting yesterday, I hastily scribbled 'Kilpinen' when in fact I meant to refer to '(Jouni) Kaipainen'. I certainly don't withdraw the nomination of the former: but he was a Finn with a limited worklist, almost all of it devoted to some often quite beautiful and wistful songs. No, in company with others on the list. Kaipainen is your man. A contemporary composer (b.1956, and hence far younger than me). A few very tempting CDs around, but then he's composed far far more than has been recorded thus far. There's a nice, but limited, article on him on the invaluable Finnish Music Information Centre. And finally, not for anything, would I do without Kaija Saariaho. But I'm sure you know of her.

Apologies for confusing Kilpinen and Kaipainen. Either are a lot more fun than poor old Grechaninov!

Kind regards,

Peter

Braunfels? Yes, indeed. Maybe not a major figure. I suppose the world would go on rumbling on in its way quite indifferent to unsung composers had B not existed. But my world has been made slightly better by the presence of some well performed and good recordings of Braunfels on my shelves. I'd recommend another cpo recording of the quartets 1 & 2 performed by the Auryn Quartet (CPO 999 406-2), and one of the dramatic & moving Te Deum - a large-scale work for T, S, Chorus, Organ, & full orchestra recorded on Orfeo (C 679 071A). Then, above all, is the 1920 opera 'Die Vogel' derived from Aristophanes, and recorded in the Decca 'Entartete Musik' series of a few years ago. Marvellous piece! He wrote the Te Deum, post-WW1, after a conversion to Catholicism. Despite the acclaim bestowed on B with this piece, being both Jewish and Catholic, his fortunes quickly changed throughout the 1930's. He withdrew from public life and kept himself well hidden near Lake Constance. In those years his music underwent a wholesale transformation to a far more austere style in which religion was uppermost. Some years ago the mystery play 'Verkundigung' was recorded (by German EMI, I think), but I have never heard it. These final years, until his death in 1954, also saw the opera 'Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna', which the reference books tell us is one of B's most significant achievements. From the little I've heard of Braunfels I find him more rewarding than the long hours I've spent in the company of the somewhat dreary Pfitzner (with the exception of course of 'Palestrina'!) Some more work here for Braunfels on the part of the indefatigible and indispensable CPO to whom we owe so much!

Apologies, Dennis, I meant to have left you a note sooner. Klami is hardly a romantic composer - and certainly not an unsung one! He is much performed in Finland, and the music has been often recorded. There are some super CDs on both BIS and Ondine (conductors such as Vanska, Kantorow, Oramo, Ollila). Most of the 40 odd works are shortish: thus between different labels you're going to acquire duplicates galore! Whatever you do, on no account miss the Vn Concerto - wonderful work! Highly regarded in Finland is the Psalmus of 1936, but that only seems to be available in an older recording by Soderblom on Finlandia (hard to find). I find Klami exciting stuff. He studied under Melartin and then Ravel (touches of both in his music). The music is also thoroughly suffused with the spirit of Finnish folklore and nationalism, but then he so transforms the latter that he can't be called a straightforward nationalistic composer. As far as I know there is no chamber music - or songs for that matter. He started a ballet (Whirls), but left it incomplete. Thus, apart from Psalmus & a few other things, nearly all the music is orchestral. Enjoy it! I suspect we'll attract a 'tut, tut' for gossiping about Klami on a site largely devoted to unsung romantic composers! If you want to explore more Finnish music do try Leevi Madetoja, Kokkonen, Kilpinen, Rautavaara and Englund. All of them stand under the shadow of Sibelius. And careful of the bank balance! Best wishes to you.

It is a quite idle threat and will leave everyone else quite unaffected, but the next time I see a Brahms versus Herzogenberg posting I shall turn off my computer! Consider the plain facts: they were born 10 years apart, B (despite the cigars) outlived H by 7 years; they lived in approx the same place; participated in the same broad culture and had similar audiences; both had a veneration for JSB and the tradition; they wrote approximately the same amount, and for orchestra, chamber, keyboard and voices (the B worklist is in fact slightly longer, and contains more songs, but then he had 7 years longer at it than H). So inevitably there are 'similarities' between their musics.
But this (typically male!) preoccupation with whether one is 'better' or at a 'greater level' (and what on earth do those easy tags mean?) is plain daft. Whether we wished it or not we all had B embedded in our minds before we learnt to play conkers - at school, the first music lessons, the culture in which we grew up. Even now we bump into B in lifts, public spaces, TV adverts. There is a long history of B performance. People have strong views on 'right' and 'wrong' ways to perform B. It is a measure of B's utter glorious greatness as a composer that we want to go on listening to B, and most times, except in the hands of Mr Gardiner, with immeasurable joy.
Now H, for good or ill, hasn't experienced that. My teachers hadn't even heard of H. We only discovered H a few years ago, and felt very very lucky to have done so. There is no real performance history with H. The man on the Clapham omnibus still hasn't heard of H. H isn't in our bloodstream or musical genetic makeup in the way that B is.
Now when we ask 'is X a truly great composer?' I think in a way we're asking 'can X withstand the test of time?', 'Do we want to go on listening to X, and with huge satisfaction, despite already knowing these works very well?'. To my mind B passes that test with the most radiant flying colours. H hasn't yet had that opportunity. Thus we just can't go about asking whether one is greater than the other. Who knows? Only time will tell.
As for me, I couldn't now do without either B or H, and will only finally be comforted if I receive an assurance that I can go on listening to them in the hereafter (when I can finally escape the likes of many who have been recorded in the Naxos American Classics series). And I put anyone to the test: just listen to a few passages in either B or H. Unmistakenly it could just not be written by the other, anymore than a passage of Mozart be confused with one of Haydn. 'Is Haydn on the same level as Mozart?' What a very silly, time-wasting, and futile question! So, please, an end to this B vs H debate!

Many thanks, Martin! Gosh, I don't think I've ever had before a personal message from the founder of a CD company. I feel most chuffed! And what a company: for Toccata has become very much part of the indispensable furniture of the universe. Decidedly arrogant I know, but speaking on behalf of humanity we're all deeply grateful for the work that you've done. Truly. Each of the Toccata discs I have on my sagging shelves is a gem.

And whilst I don't hesitate to pronounce on behalf of humanity, I must exercise caution and insist I'm not entitled to speak on behalf of this website. However I feel real sure that no member here resents an occasional genteel commercial plug from you. Good news is something to be shared.

Immensely looking forward to your David Matthews release later this month. He's a terrific composer. Several inches of those shelves are already occupied by Matthews, and living close to Aldeburgh I'm most lucky in occasionally hearing Matthews in the flesh. I do hope the orders come piling in!

Kindest best wishes to you - and once again my gratitude.

Apologies for initiating what will hopefully become a new thread - but having recently discovered the site I'm enthused about the prospect of informed and courteous responses! To the point: after the excitement of a few years ago with the rediscovery of the Hans Rott symphony (however one might finally judge it, an astonishing first symphony by one not yet in their 20s - and now with 4 or so generally excellent commercial recordings) I'm surprised there is little awareness of his string quartet. I chanced upon a middle of the night BBC broadcast - about 30 years ago! - and was enthralled by what seemed wonderful music. I recall a staggeringly beautiful slow movement, and ever since I have yearned to hear the quartet again.
There appears to be a recording by the Mainz Qt on an obscure label called Acousene. Does anyone know this: is it worth some perservance (and probable expense) in tracking it down? Might it be on the short list of some enterprising record company to issue the quartet in a more accessible CD? Fingers tightly crossed - the fate of all who care much for unsung compositions!

I shall be up at the crack of dawn staring at the letter box for I was told on Friday that the Toccata disc is in the post.

Surprised that other enthusiasts for Gernsheim haven't mentioned an Antes disc issued a few years ago of the Arensky Trio performing Piano Trios 1 & 2. And pretty good it is.

Then, very recently released, on Brilliant Classics is a recording of Piano Quartets 1 & 3. Gernsheim on a budget label - the sun peeps out from behind the clouds!

Any wise fellah out there with thoughts about Draeseke's Christus?

I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain the stomping big Bayer box containing this tetralogy of oratorios across five CDs, together with thick booklet of full notes & translations, for an irresistible £20 (on Amazon it nearly always attracts a price that would involve extending the mortgage!).

To my complete embarrassment I've spent 2 weeks peeling off the cellophane and idly reading the notes, and finding every excuse to delay listening to it. I provide an absolute assurance that I am immensely looking forward to exploring the work(s). I know the symphonies via the CPO recordings, and some of the (rather good) piano music. But this ain't the kind of thing you can get a crude and basic hang of within 30 minutes before settling down to more serious listening.

I hope others recognise the phenomenon. Maybe I'm by nature a serious ditherer. After all this is the person who read the first 14 pages of Proust 7 times before venturing on - I didn't want to miss out on anything! So what is the way into it? Any clues or pointers? Contributions most gratefully received!

I've learnt from experience that there are few compelling reasons to take Mr Hurwitz with the seriousness that I'm sure he thinks he commands. I don't intend to insult him, but by gosh, I do relish annoying him. On occasions I've been maddened by his unthinking dismissal of much that is good. Once wrote him a very polite and considerate mail telling him, in effect, to shut up.

I don't think anyone should be swayed by his comments on Brian, Boult, or the quality of the Testament recording. Sapere aude, and trust your own judgements.

Ooops, must have been dozing since Feb 1 and have only just noticed Alan's question.

There's (to my mind) a most mouth-watering recording of the complete opera, with Eva Marton, and conducted by Gardelli on Hungaroton HCD31197-98. It was reviewed in The Gramophone in July 1993. I remember enjoying it very much, though confess it hasn't been pulled off the shelves for a few years. (That's not a comment on the opera; more a comment on the finitude of precious time and my wayward ways!)

Peter

A new kid on the block, but a firm believer in the principle that enthusiasms should be shared.

Bravo (as nearly always to CPO) for their Gouvy project. Keep them coming!

I've just picked up the K617 CD of Gouvy's sole Violin Sonata. If other astute members get their fingers to the keyboard quickly they will notice that Harmonia Mundi (via Amazon) are offering this CD for £3.99. A bargain indeed. The Sonata, being French, is inevitably somewhat cranky but a veritable cracker. The disc also includes two sets of the Duettos for Vn & Pf. And first class notes thrown in.

Enormously glad to have discovered the Unsung Composers site. Each night, tucking up in bed, is now always delayed by an hour.

Joyful felicitations to all,

Peter