I don't know who is behind this youtube channel of digital renditions of obscure composers, maybe someone on here?
https://www.youtube.com/@musicaobscuram9701/videos
List of compositions:
Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht: Pour le jour de la première neige vieux Japon
Béla Kéler: Österreich-Ungarn Walzer, Op. 91 (Austro-Hungarian Waltzes)
Henri Dallier: Symphony No. 1 in F, Op. 50
Edward Noble Catlin: Bright Light Medley Quadrille, Op. 89
Konstantin Antipov: Allegro Symphonique, Op. 7
Ödön Mihalovich: Festival Prelude
Daniel Protheroe: In the Cambrian Hills. Symphonic Poem, Op. 59
Gaston Borch: Mountain Music
Edward Noble Catlin: Golden Rod. Schottische, Op. 126
Vladimir Rebikov: "Christmas Tree" Suite
Ödön Mihalovich: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor "Simphonie pathétique"
Alexandre Bernn: La Danse du Faune et du Satyre. Scene pittoresque, Op. 60
Aleksandr Yurasovsky: Les Fantômes. Symphonic Poem for Large Orchestra, Op. 8
Wilhelm Tschirch: Am Niagara. Concert Overture, Op. 78
E.N. Catlin: Bonnie Scotland. Overture, Op. 83
Ödön Mihalovich: Musical Introduction for Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"
Sergey Yuferov: Ballet Suite, Op. 49
Aleksandr Tinyakov: Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 8
Hugo Daffner: Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 20
Edward Noble Catlin: Park March, Op. 111
Ödön Mihalovich: La Ronde du Sabbat. Symphonic Ballad
Sergey Yuferov: Concert Fantasy in B-Flat Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 34
Oliver King: Among the Pines. Concert Overture, Op. 36
Hugo Kaun - Symphony No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 96
Paul Ertel: Hero and Leander. Symphonic Poem, Op. 20
Ödön Mihalovich - Hero and Leander. Symphonic Ballad
Sergey Yuferov - Mélancolie, Op. 43 No. 2 for Viola and Orchestra
Sergey Yuferov - Song of the Swan (Chant du Cygne), Op. 43 No. 1 for 'Cello and Orchestra
Aleksandr Yurasovsky - In the Moonlight, Op. 6. Symphonic Fragment
Irénée Bergé - Symphonette (in four parts - on one theme)
Julius Röntgen - Symphony in G Minor "Wirbelsymphonie"
Ödön Mihalovich (Edmund von Mihalovich) - Symphony No. 1 in D Minor
Erwin Lendvai - Sym in D Major
Hugo Kaun: Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 22 "To My Fatherland"
Paul Ertel: Der Mensch. Symphonic Poem, Op. 9
Béla Kéler: Die Glücksgöttin, Op. 99. Polka Francaise
Mikhail Bagrinovsky - From Russian Fairy Tales, Op. 1
Erwin Lendvai - Festival March
Gaston Borch - Dante's Inferno. A Tone Poem
Charles Sanford Skilton: Suite Primeval
Walter Niemann - Eine kleine Wassermusik, Op. 32
Rudolph Aronson: The Nation's Hero. Funeral March
Erwin Lendvai: Archaic Dances, Op. 30
Paul Ertel - Belsazar. Symphonic Poem for Large Orchestra, Op. 12
Vladimir Rebikov: Suite Miniature
Timothy Moore: Psalm 150. A Fanfare for Concert Band (2009, rev. 2021)
Walter Niemann: Kleine Suite, Op. 102
August Bungert: Auf der Wartburg. Symphonic Poem, Op. 29
Ludwig Bonvin: 2 Symphonic Movements, Op. 71
Willem de Haan: 2 Symphonic Movements, Op. 14
Ole Olsen: Symphony in e minor (incomplete)
Sergey Vasilenko: Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 10
Walter Niemann - Der Kuckuck, Op. 38
John Lodge Ellerton: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor "Wald-Symphonie", Op. 120
Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin: La Forêt. Symphony in F
William Edwin Thomas: Symphony in F Major, Op. 101
Béla Kéler: Mazur Przemyslki, Op. 97
Walter Niemann: Romantic Miniatures, Op. 33
Grzegorz Fitelberg: Symphony in E Minor, Op. 16
Sergey Yuferov: Antony and Cleopatra Suite, Op. 24A
Timothy Moore: A Short, Fast Sleigh Ride
Béla Kéler: Lerchen Schwingen. Waltz, Op. 110
Walter Niemann - Suite, Op. 87
Timothy Moore - Diatonic Suite on Ancient Christmas Melodies
Frederick Stock: Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 18
Andreas Hallén - Die Todteninsel, Op. 45. Symphonic Poem
Gustav Strube - Elegy and Serenade, Op. 9
Walter Niemann - Spitzweg Suite, Op.84
Johan Selmer - Scène funèbre, Op. 4. "L'année terrible 1870-1871"
Béla Kéler: Wiederseh'n Polka, Op. 41
Guillaume Lekeu - Adagio for Wind Band
Ingeborg von Bronsart - Kaiser Wilhelm March
Walter Niemann - Das weisse Haus, Op. 80
Gustav Strube - Symphony in B Minor
Béla Kéler - Russian March, Op. 127
Oliver King - Night. Symphony in F, Op. 22
Béla Kéler - Turkish March, Op. 128
Ole Olsen - Mandarin Polka
Walter Niemann - Anakreon, Op. 50
Gustav Strube - Puck. Comedy Overture
Edgar Stillman-Kelley: Alice in Wonderland
Adolph Martin Foerster: Fest-Marsch, Op. 32
Béla Kéler - Friedens-Palmen, Waltzes, Op. 27
Walter Niemann - Japan, Op. 89
Sergei Yuferov - Fantasie funèbre, Op. 42
Victor Kolar - Americana. Symphonic Suite, Op. 20
Grigory Lyubormirsky - Danse Orientale No. 1
Béla Kéler - Rosige Träume. Waltzes, Op. 72
Walter Niemann - Silhouetten, Op. 47
Sergey Yuferov - Myrrha: Act II Entr'acte
Vasily Zolotarev - Symphony No. 1 in F# minor, Op. 8
George Schleiffarth - The Turkey's Patrol
Béla Kéler - Polemische Takte. Waltzes, Op. 124
Walter Niemann - Suite after words by Hermann Hesse, Op. 71
Joseph Huber - Symphony No. 4, Op. 12 "Gegen den Strom"
Nicolas Sokolov - Divertissement, Op. 42
Béla Kéler - Rheinlust! Polka, Op. 85
Timothy Moore - Lovecraft Suite
Walter Niemann - The Garden of Orchids, Op. 76
Joseph Huber - Symphony No. 3, Op. 10 "Durch Dunkel zum Licht"
Béla Kéler - Entre Calais et Douvre. Grand Galop, Op. 105
Paul Lincke - Ballet Overture
Walter Niemann - 24 Preludes, Op. 55 (Books I and II)
Victor Herbert - Suite Romantique, Op. 31
Béla Kéler - Berliner Kinder. Waltzes, Op. 77
Kurt Striegler - Symphony No. 4
Walter Niemann - The Magic Book. 6 Phantasmagoria, Op. 92
Giacomo Meyerbeer - Ouverture en forme de Marche
Béla Kéler - Deutsches Gemüthsleben Waltzes, Op. 88
Henrique Alves de Mesquita - Zig Zig Zig Tong. Célèbre Tango de Ali Baba (Orch. by Francis Popy)
Andrey Arends - Salammbô Suite
George Schleiffarth - Jolly Bears (version for variable instrumentation)
George Schleiffarth - Jolly Bears (orchestral version)
Paul Lincke - Winter-Landschaft. Waltz
Bela Keler: Jubiläumsfeier Fest-Ouverture, Op. 132
Herman Finck - Children's March (for Playful Scenes)
Alexander Ilynsky - Noure and Anitra Suite, Op. 13
Cyrill Kistler - Jubiläums-Fest-Marsch und Hymne, Op. 50
Bernhard Sekles - Little Suite for Orchestra, Op. 21
Bela Keler - Ouverture Comique, Op. 74
Heuberger - Overture to Byron's "Cain"
Edgar Stillman-Kelley - New England Symphony: IV. Allegro- Allegretto pastorale- Allegro con moto...
Edgar Stillman-Kelley - New England Symphony: III. Lento ma non troppo- New England Hymn- Var. I-V
Edgar Stillman-Kelley - New England Symphony: II. Larghetto misterioso-Allegretto pastorale
Edgar Stillman-Kelley - New England Symphony: I. Lento maestoso - Allegro appassionato
His renditions do not sound that great, but I'm particularly grateful that he made me acquainted to Hugo Kaun's fabulous First Symphony. I would rate it one of the finest symphonies I've heard this year.
I'm intrigued by Sergei Yuferov (1865-1927,born in Odesa), several of whose works Musica Obscuram has digitised. Yuferov wrote a substantial amount of music but only a few chamber works have ever been recorded (by Naxos, among others). Yes I know volume is not the same as quality, but I'm still intrigued. I wonder if not being from Moscow or St. Petersburg was a hindrance to him. There's a list of his works on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Yuferov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Yuferov)
(Interestingly there's no wikipedia for him in Ukrainian or russian.)
Gerhard Helzel (http://www.romana-hamburg.de/Kaun.htm) also produced a synthetic performance of Kaun's First Symphony, which is quite different from MO's but marginally easier to listen to.
Unfortunately, I fear that both are out of business now. I've tried to reach Helzel to no avail, and MO hasn't uploaded anything for quite a while now.
I'm afraid that I find Musica Obscuram's digitisations too difficult a listen to be rewarding. I need to be able to "suspend disbelief" when listening to such efforts, and that's easy enough to do with those produced by our friends here at UC, but MO's lack their subtlety and it's too difficult a job, for me at least, to continually translate what I'm hearing into what the music might actually sound like. My loss, I appreciate, because there are some very intriguing scores on that list.
Quote from: Ilja on Tuesday 04 November 2025, 13:55Gerhard Helzel (http://www.romana-hamburg.de/Kaun.htm) also produced a synthetic performance of Kaun's First Symphony, which is quite different from MO's but marginally easier to listen to.
Unfortunately, I fear that both are out of business now. I've tried to reach Helzel to no avail, and MO hasn't uploaded anything for quite a while now.
Apparently Mr. Helzel died this year (someone just told me on my channel), so that would explain why you weren't able to contact him.
Quote from: Ilja on Tuesday 04 November 2025, 13:55quite different from MO's but marginally easier to listen to.
It indeed sounds better, and is radically slower and more solemn. I first expected he only take the introduction at a very slow tempo, but he keep the tempo slow in the mainbody...
Yes, but I can entirely relate to Mark's inability to really enjoy these performances. They both use rather outdated methods of rendering audio (MIDI synthesizers and Garritan, respectively) and we've come a LONG way in the last years. Although I'm hopeful that in a few years from now we'll be shaking our heads that we could ever listen to NotePerformer renderings.
Quite intrigued by the list of works, though - Mihalovich's symphonies plural, Daffner's 2nd, Striegler's 4th, Zolotarev's 1st. Daffner's F minor...- some of which I've skimmed and been hoping to hear.