Under-appreciated pieces

[superstition2]

Please list a maximum of two per composer. Try to list pieces you think are excellent but which don't get the respect they deserve.


Scriabin: 1st piano sonata, by far. This piece doesn't seem to be taken seriously even by most Scriabin fans.

7th sonata is my second choice. No one seems to play it, unless it's part of a compulsory "complete sonatas" set. Horowitz didn't. Sofronitsky didn't. Unlike the 1st, though, people seem to respect it.


Rachmaninov: 4th concerto (original or 1927). This piece is getting more respect with time, probably because people have heard the 2nd and 3rd so much and need something new.

My second choice is the 1st sonata. The last movement may be a bit too long, but I've heard it played with cuts, and the cuts didn't work.


Prokofiev: sonata #9. A bit bland, but enjoyable. It's like listening to a 20th century Mozart sonata.

2nd symphony is my second choice. It's somewhat well known, though.


Tcherepnin: 3rd symphony. Tcherepnin's music doesn't get the respect and play it deserves.

5th piano concerto is my second choice.


Myaskovsky: 3rd sonata. Like Tcherepnin, Myaskovsky's early piano sonatas don't get nearly enough play and respect.

2nd sonata is my second choice.


Roslavets: three etudes. Hamelin is the only one I know of who has recorded his solo piano music.

5th sonata is my second choice.


Dvorak: 4th symphony. The first two movements are fantastic.

I wish a talented composer would revise the 1st symphony.


Tviett: 1st piano concerto.

5th piano concerto is my second choice.


Ornstein: A Morning in the Woods.

7th piano sonata is my second choice.

[cherub_rocker1979]

Liszt: Fantasia and Fugue on the name BACH, Reminiscences de Robert le Diable

Scriabin: Sonata in E-flat Minor

[stevie]

my alkan nominations -

symphony for solo piano

sonatine

his 2 greatest works IMO, the sonatine is incredible

[JCarey]

I'm not going to say what I really think, because, chances are, I'll be flamed for it.

I'll go with Godowsky's sonata and Busoni's concerto.

[superstition2]

I'm not going to say what I really think, because, chances are, I'll be flamed for it.

I'll go with Godowsky's sonata and Busoni's concerto.

Say what you have to say. If people flame, that's their problem.

[pita bread]

Scriabin: 1st piano sonata, by far. This piece doesn't seem to be taken seriously even by most Scriabin fans.

7th sonata is my second choice. No one seems to play it, unless it's part of a compulsory "complete sonatas" set. Horowitz didn't. Sofronitsky didn't. Unlike the 1st, though, people seem to respect it.

The First Sonata isn't innovative at all, and I find it to be rather boring. The Seventh isn't really underplayed, plenty of people have recorded it. However, it is horrendously difficult.

My votes:

Bridge - Sonata -  Mysterious and demonic. If you like late Scriabin and Debussy, you should check this out.

Manuel de Falla - Fantasia Baetica - everybody knows the groovy rhythms of the Ritual Fire Dance, but what about this catchy and turbulent piece?

Scriabin - 5 Preludes Op. 74 - The 5th prelude is basically a mini-7th Sonata.

Scriabin - Etude Op. 42 #6 - Just as lovely as the Poem Op. 32 #1

[superstition2]

The First Sonata isn't innovative at all

I don't agree. I don't have any other piece that sounds like it. As for being innovative, I don't think that's a requirement of great art, but it was innovative for Scriabin to use a funeral march as the final movement. Tchaikovsky did that shortly after in a symphony. Plus, I think the first movement is exceptional.

and I find it to be rather boring.

To each their own. As with any Scriabin (and probably anything else), the performance can make or break the piece. I don't care for performances where the initial material is repeated. That optional repetition drains it. Hamelin, Taub, and Szidon all play the repeat. Ashkenazy, my choice for the piece, doesn't. The only problem with the 1st sonata is that the 2nd and 3rd movements can be rather bland if the pianist doesn't work wonders with them. This is typical of the earliest Scriabin attempts at large-form composition. The E flat minor is a much more obvious example of Scriabin's early difficulty with scale. Unlike the E flat minor, I think the F minor is a mature piece, although it requires an exceptional pianist to keep its from bogging down after the first, absolutely brilliant, movement.

As for student-grade, that's my opinion of the E flat minor sonata. I especially loathe the clumsy opening material. The piece would have been much better without it. The simple melody that follows it is superior. The piece has some moments of brilliance, or near-brilliance, including in the possibly worse "Allegro Appassionata" condensation/revision.

The Seventh isn't really underplayed, plenty of people have recorded it. However, it is horrendously difficult.

I know it's difficult, which is why most of the recordings out there aren't very good. But, I don't think it's played as frequently as it should be. Every recording I've seen of it has been part of a complete sonatas collection, even Glemser's, although he hasn't yet recorded them all, as far as I know.

[ahinton]

I'm not going to say what I really think, because, chances are, I'll be flamed for it.

I'll go with Godowsky's sonata and Busoni's concerto.

I think that, by so saying, you have succeeded in any case in declaring your thoughts here - at least to those who know anything about you at all! - and I must agree that a major work for piano solo that's been around for, let's say, three-quarters of a century but which has so far been performed by only five pianists is indeed a suitable candidate for the category "under-appreciated piece".

Godowsky's Sonata is certainly under-appreciated; yes, it may be just a little long for its material, but it remains one of the major piano sonatas of its time. Neither Cherkassky nor Bolet included it in their reportoires (as one might have expected them to), Rakhmaninov overlooked it - and even today there is only one really worthwhile recording of the work in its entirety. Even Sorabji, whose admiration and respect for Godowsky was almost unparalleled in his day, omitted consideration of it in his chapter on the "Modern Piano Sonata", which is perhaps the most surprising fact of all.

I'm not so sure about the Busoni Concerto, however. Yes, it is one of the peaks in the entire piano concerto repertoire and, yes, no recordings of it were released until John Ogdon's in 1969, 65 years after its world première performance (although, as we now know, at least one was actually made during that period), but it has had quite a few recordings since, by Donohoe, Banfield, Ohlsson, Postnikova(!), Hall(!), Hamelin and others, as well as the recent first release of the Mewton-Wood recording from way back when. The male chorus in the finale is probably the principal factor which determines that it gets fewer performances than might otherwise be the case, but I would say overall that, whilst somewhat under-appreciated, it's doing a good deal better than some of the pieces so far mentioned in this thread.

I think also that it would be a good idea to distinguish between the "under-performed" / "under-recorded" and the "under-appreciated"; the first two do, of course, largely signify under-appreciation by performers, whereas I think that the thread originator may have been thinking more of "under-appreciation" by listeners (correct me if I'm wrong here).

Best,

Alistair

[demented cow]

Mozart:
-Piano concerto no 14 (Not his greatest concerto, but check out the beautiful slow movement. It has as much melodic appeal as the slow movt of number 21. But it happened not to be used in a film, so hardly anyone knows about it.)

Chopin:
-Allegro de Concert, op 46. Why does hardly anybody play this thing? It doesn't have the teeth of the 4th ballade, but the melodic beauty and effective piano writing make me think that it deserves more airplay. It will appeal to anybody who likes the 1st movements of the concertos and of the 3rd sonata.
BTW Don't judge the piece by Biret's super-slow recording. Arrau did a good job (and I've heard no others).

[phil13]

Sibelius Sonata in F, Op.12

Scriabin Etude Op.8 No.9 (at least I think so)

Scriabin Prelude for the Left Hand, Op.9 No.1

Mozart Double Piano Concerto K.365

Beethoven Sonata, Op.22 in Bb

Chopin Krakowiak, Op.14

Chopin Rondo, Op.1

Schubert Moment Musicaux No.4 in C# minor (not sure about this one)

That's all I can think of right now.

Phil

[brahmsian]

Kapustin- Suite in the Old Style
             -Variations Op. 41

Lecuona- Rhapsodia Negra for Piano and Orchestra

Ornstein- Sonata No. 4

Rach- 4th Piano Concerto

Hindemith- Piano Concerto

[cherub_rocker1979]

I don't agree. I don't have any other piece that sounds like it. As for being innovative, I don't think that's a requirement of great art, but it was innovative for Scriabin to use a funeral march as the final movement. Tchaikovsky did that shortly after in a symphony. Plus, I think the first movement is exceptional.To each their own. As with any Scriabin (and probably anything else), the performance can make or break the piece. I don't care for performances where the initial material is repeated. That optional repetition drains it. Hamelin, Taub, and Szidon all play the repeat. Ashkenazy, my choice for the piece, doesn't. The only problem with the 1st sonata is that the 2nd and 3rd movements can be rather bland if the pianist doesn't work wonders with them. This is typical of the earliest Scriabin attempts at large-form composition. The E flat minor is a much more obvious example of Scriabin's early difficulty with scale. Unlike the E flat minor, I think the F minor is a mature piece, although it requires an exceptional pianist to keep its from bogging down after the first, absolutely brilliant, movement.

As for student-grade, that's my opinion of the E flat minor sonata. I especially loathe the clumsy opening material. The piece would have been much better without it. The simple melody that follows it is superior. The piece has some moments of brilliance, or near-brilliance, including in the possibly worse "Allegro Appassionata" condensation/revision.
I know it's difficult, which is why most of the recordings out there aren't very good. But, I don't think it's played as frequently as it should be. Every recording I've seen of it has been part of a complete sonatas collection, even Glemser's, although he hasn't yet recorded them all, as far as I know.

It is true that people can have very different opinions.  I love the the opening material of the E-flat Minor Sonata and how it keeps coming back!