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I'm with you Steve.  Always liked Ponti, maybe mostly because he was a leader in bringing us the early "unsung" piano concertos (also my favorite genre......).  Sadly, the Minnesota never brought him to Minneapolis. 

Alan is absolutely right on - many folks simply don't know any better.  If they listen to public radio here in the States, they might.  But they surely won't learn it in the concert hall.

Friday night, after a fire alarm evacuated Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis (a short in the elevator) we got a Rossini Overture, Dvorak 8th and the Cello Concerto of William Walton.  Now, on Saturday, how many of the 2000 listeners will remember ANYTHING about the concerto?  Except that it wasn't particularly pleasant listening.  I kept thinking,, why not one of Julius Klengel's concertos?  Or Emil Hartmann?  Or even Victor Herbert? 

And it goes onand on, season after season.  For 50 years I've tried to get them to do Dream of Gerontius - without succcess.  And that doesn't even put them into "unsung" territory. 

Ah, the Moszkowski = the finale = now THERE'S a romp....

Well here I am the contrarian - I'm an old fan of Delius and I think I have a recording of everything of his that's been recorded in the last 50 years.  No, he wasn't a symphonist - do we hold that against him?  Sadly, he's not on the hit parade of the Minnesota Orchestra.  They did one of my favorites, Sea Drift, gosh, it must be 30 years ago.  A lovely performance.  The recording I come back to from time to time is Idyll: I once passed through a populous city.  While many of our unsung heroes were somewhat imitators (or to be more politically correct, "influenced by") other more famous names, one has to admit that Delius had a style and sound all his own.  And, like a Mahler, it's hard to mistake it for someone else.  I guess as someone pointed out, he's probably an acquired taste.

Interesting how our tastes differ.  I'm a little late getting to this thread, but I chuckled back aways when someone heralded the Bruckner 8th.  I love the Bruckner symphonies but #8 is my least favorite.  9, 3 and 6 top my list.  Esoecially the Bruno Walter 9th.

Here are a couple of my favorites, I suppose they wouldn't qualify as "monumental" but they move me.  One is the Symphony #2 in Eb of Alfred Hill - subtitles "The Joy of Life".  The closing choral finale grabs me every time.  About the same can be said for the Symphony #3 in E of Joseph Guy Ropartz.  This one's also for soli, chorus and orchestra.  I guess I'm a sucker for big choral works - Mahler 2 and 8 are among my "desert island" collection too......

Someone mentioned the conducting of Svetlanov.  But I don't see anyone referring to his compositions.  His music is quite 19th century and there was a Melodiya set of Lps some year ago which I think have reappeared on Cds which I think are worth exploring.  Included a Symphony in b, a Piano Concerto, a work for violin and orchestra, a sym. poem, among other goodies.

Kriton, my original post about the Concertante gives about all the information there is to give about the radio broadcast.  It was probably 20 years ago and was one of the Friday night Minnesota Orchestra concerts broadcast weeklu by National Public Radio in collaboration with Minnesota Public Radio.   The CD I have, I can't tell you which one as I'm in Colorado at the moment and my collection and computer database are a thoiusand miles away in Minnesota.  If you'd like a copy of the broadcast, I'd be happy to make you one when I get home.

Again, I wish we had a place here to upload stuff like this.....

Well this is not exactly a biography but it's one of my favorite books on music history - Harold Schonberg's "The Great Pianists:  From Mozart to the Present".  It chronicles many of our favorite composer/pianists of the 19th century with many good stories and anecdotes.  And of course, it's not really "to the Present" anymore as the author has been dead for some years.  Mostly 19th and early 20th century pianists.    Still available, I believe, from Amazon.

One of my favorite pieces by Moscheles is his Concertante in (F?) for flute, oboe and orchestra and I don't have the opus number here.  There was a commercial recording of it that was quite blah but I have a transfer from a Mn. Public Radio broadcast of a performance some years ago by the Mn. Orchestra with the principal flute and oboe doing the solo parts.  I was there and it was a stunning performance.  My biggest disappointment is that they've never repeated it.....

I'm anxious to hear some of these unsung composers, but I went to Tiroler Landesmuseens website and I guess my German is way too limited.  And I don't see an English translation.  Anyone have any helpful hints about finding things there and ordering, etc.?  Thanks.

Jerry

Yes, thanks for the repairs.  I thought maybe I'd said something to offend someone and couldn't imagine what it might have been......I do occasionally get outspoken in my old age.....

I recall thinking that one of the Robert Herman Symphonys sounded quite Brucknerian but I don't recall which one and I'm not a home to check it out.  Maybe #1.

You folks may already know about the Gallo release of works by Butini.  if so, forgive me.  Tracks include the Concerto #6 in G for piano, flue and strings "La Suisse".  Four Pieces for organ, Sonata #1 for piano and Divertissement avec rondo a la polacca for piano, clarinet and bassoon.  Judging from her age, most of these works must have been written after 1800.  This is one I'd never heard of before.

Edit 3/8/14: Audio samples here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caroline-Boissier-Butini-Concerto-Suisse-Divertimento/dp/B009H1CY66/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1407096309&sr=8-3&keywords=Caroline+Boissier-
Butini
Alan Howe

I've had similar problems - not on this site and so now when I type something lengthy, before I send it, I highlight it and copy it to the clipboard.  Beats the swearing that accompanies the alternative.

A minority of one, I suspect, but one of my favorites in Martucci's......but then I'm a sucker for a lovely melody.....