The most UNDERRATED composer.

[moi_not_toi]

Well, we've all talked Sorabji into the grave by now, so lets stop beating a dead horse (not that he was a horse. NO FUNNY COMMENTS ON THAT) .

Who do you think is underrated enough to deserve a worldwide broadcast of his/her music?

I have several votes:
Charles griffes
Philip Glass
Steve reich
Scarlatti
Telleman
Thomas Tallis

and then of course there are those that don't get the attention they deserve:
Liszt
Schubert
Bach
Handel
Haydn

[steve_m]

Rameau definitely doesn't get enough recognition.

[thalbergmad]

Thalberg
Pixis
Kalkbrenner
Moscheles
Herz

[jre58591]

medtner, arensky, bortkiewicz, dohnányi, scharwenka, sauer, litolff, korngold.....
the list goes on and on and on and on......

[ahinton]

Well, we've all talked Sorabji into the grave by now, so lets stop beating a dead horse (not that he was a horse. NO FUNNY COMMENTS ON THAT) .

No, not everyone has done this here by any means - although he did die almost 18 years ago.

Who do you think is underrated enough to deserve a worldwide broadcast of his/her music?

I have several votes:
Charles griffes
Philip Glass
Steve reich
Scarlatti
Telleman
Thomas Tallis

Philip Glass deserves MORE broadcasts? Ye Gods!

Georg Philipp is spelt "Telemann", by the way - and he wrote so much music that some wisecracker once commented
"Hey, Mr Telemann
Write me a sonata
(Daylight come
and I want to go anywhere that I can't hear it)..."

Best,

Alistair

[sissco]

Medtner, bortkiewicz, schumann...And I think Schubert and Chopin deserves the attention they get. Liszt is overrated....

Sissy

[prometheus]

'Everyone' knows Liszt, Schubert, Bach, Handel and Haydn. A lot less people actually know their music. So how can they be underappreciated?

Even people like Sorabji and Medtner aren't that underrated. The fact that we talk about them proves the opposite It is just that people like the above mentioned and the standard 'overrated' list that are way too overrated.

All famous people are overrated.

[moi_not_toi]

No, not everyone has done this here by any means - although he did die almost 18 years ago.
Philip Glass deserves MORE broadcasts? Ye Gods!
........................................................................................
Best,

Alistair

Well, yes, I know that, but those who do do it TOO much.

Yes, I do think that Philip Glass deserves more.
Even though he's an american, I have never in all my short life seen any broadcasts of his music.

[contrapunctus]

Let's see, Beethoven, Chopin, etc. The list goes on and on.

[sevencircles]

Buxtehude there is no doubt about that.

Some of his fugues are as good as J.S. Bach´s fugue´s and they were earlier.

[ahinton]

Well, yes, I know that, but those who do do it TOO much.

Yes, I do think that Philip Glass deserves more.
Even though he's an american, I have never in all my short life seen any broadcasts of his music.

OK, so are you based in US? and are you referring to broadcasts (or the lack of them) there? We certainly have his work broadcast over here (in UK) and he is much discussed.

Best,

Alistair

[houseofblackleaves]

THEY ALL ARE.


Liszt isn't recognized?

[kony]

Moszkowski. his works are fantastic.. but people generally exploit them only for those showy encores.

[moi_not_toi]

OK, so are you based in US? and are you referring to broadcasts (or the lack of them) there? We certainly have his work broadcast over here (in UK) and he is much discussed.

Best,

Alistair

Yeah. I'm in the US. Also, because of my age, I believe I've been slighted as his golden age (in my opinion) is gone.

No one here really talks about him.
Course, when you're stuck in the Bible Belt (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and north to Kentucky) you really don't get much culture. I live right outside of Atlanta, Georgia, surrounded by hoods and rednecks. The occasional classical pianist is found out here, but other than that, music wise, it's a barren wasteland of culture.

God what I wouldn't give to live in the British Isles. (or Ireland for that matter). Perhaps when I retire I'll go back to my roots in Wales.

[xavierm]

Medtner, Prokofiev, Prokofiev, Prokofiev, Schubert, Prokofiev

edit: ohh... tcherepnin, tcherepnin, tcherepnin

[xavierm]

tcherepnin, tcherepnin, tcherepnin

I guess no one disagrees. Yay.

[jre58591]

i wouldnt say that tcherepnin is underrated. hes just unheard of. i really love his music, and i think that most people that have heard it would agree with me to some extent.

[xavierm]

True. And his solo output isn't TOO terribly large, although he has SIX wonderful concertos.

[jre58591]

True. And his solo output isn't TOO terribly large, although he has SIX wonderful concertos.

yeah, his piano concertos are great, especially his "fantaisie" piano concerto. back on topic, herz has gotten a bad rap for being too similar to his contemporaries (copin, liszt, hummel, etc). the truth is that his music, especially his piano concertos, arent inspired at all by his contemporaries. the new release of his concertos 3-5 show his uniqueness. the earlier release (concertos 1,7,8), on the otehr hand, shows his similarities to hsi contemporaries.

[sergei r]

Wow, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Alkan yet.

But yeah, Scarlatti and Alkan.

[paulmt]

Kodaly and Dohnanyi composed some really nice pieces.

[orlandopiano]

and then of course there are those that don't get the attention they deserve:
Liszt
Schubert
Bach
Handel
Haydn

Liszt underrated as a composer? If anything, I think he is overrated.

From that list, Haydn and Handel may deserve slightly more attention, but they are still considered giants.  And Bach... many sources tag him the greatest and most important composer of all time. What more do you want?

[stevie]

Wow, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Alkan yet.

yes, if a composer is judged by his best works, alkan is as great a piano composer as there has ever been.

[jre58591]

alkan is in the same boat as tcherepnin. both are unheardof. both have really great works. both are simply not known enough to be underrated. if people listen to their works, im sure that they will grow to love them.

[netzow]

I'd have to go with Scarlatti he wrote a lot of very good keyboard music that you (at least me anyway) never hear anyone talking about. I never heard of him till about a month ago when one of my friends played one of his pieces at a concert.

[moi_not_toi]

I never said that they were'nt paid attention to. I just said that they didn't get as much as they DESERVE. DESERVE being the key word here.

[jre58591]

and then of course there are those that don't get the attention they deserve:
Liszt
Schubert
Bach
Handel
Haydn

these people get far too much attention. jsut look at the requirements for college auditions. case closed.

[dreamplaying]

Gabriel Fauré was under rated for sure.

[xavierm]

I've changed my mind.

Hovhaness.

Ten bucks no one knows anything about him.

One million dollars in fifty years he will considered a true genius.

No one believes me, but you heard it here first.

[prometheus]

I never said that they were'nt paid attention to. I just said that they didn't get as much as they DESERVE. DESERVE being the key word here.

How can you measure this? Do you consider how much attention a person has to give in computing this? I mean, a lot of things deserve more attention that they can possible receive.

Overall, I think western classical music gets more attention than it deserves because human attention is limited and a lot of it goes to western classical music because western classical music, and all other forms of western culture, are pushed because of western wealth. People want western music because we are rich and they want to look rich.

As for subjects and the alike that get too much attention...

[paulmt]

Xav,
   You mean Alan Hovhaness? If you so you owe me $10.00

[steve_m]

3

[jre58591]

did anyone mention ernő dohnányi? i absolutely love his music and can't understand why his music is so neglected. i rediscovered his piano concerto no 1 recently (ive always liked no 2 and the variations) and have been high on it ver since. its definitely a great piece of work, along with the 4 rhapsodies and 6 concert etudes.

[xavierm]

Xav,
   You mean Alan Hovhaness? If you so you owe me $10.00

darnit!!!! 

 

[xavierm]

Heh, me too.  The CD of Fritz Reiner conducting Hovhaness, Prokoviev and Stravinksy is amazing.  His piano music though, I think, is very hit or miss.  Some of it is great and some isn't.

I agree. I more mean his orchestral music, which IMO, is spectacular, innovative, and of great quantity (which I think is where he gets his bad rep, even though 90% of his stuff is worth listening to... and for a guy that has opus numbers reaching into the 400s I think that's pretty good)

BTW - I can't afford to pay both of you so you'll have to settle for some cookies. Virtual ones. Eat up.

[pianote]

bolcom, kapustin, barber, thalberg, scriabin, etc.

[jre58591]

bolcom, kapustin, barber, thalberg, scriabin, etc.

bolcom, kapustin, and thalberg surely arent mentioned enough to be called underrated. great composers nonetheless.

[panic]

Glad to see a bunch of people saying Medtner right off the bat. In terms of textural complexity and ingenuity, his piano music is (seriously) the best I've ever seen, along with Chopin's.

[lol_nl]

Underrated:
Sibelius (for piano music at least)
Scharwenka
Hummel

[frau]

Philip Glass deserves MORE broadcasts? Ye Gods!

I SECOND THAT WITH A BLEEDING HEART.

I love Philip. He is a good exercise. But there is better out there!!!

[pianote]

bolcom, kapustin, and thalberg surely arent mentioned enough to be called underrated. great composers nonetheless.

my apologies

[superstition2]

Alexander Tcherepnin
Nikolay Roslavets
Nikolai Myaskovsky (particularly sonatas #2 and #3)

Myaskovsky is a special case because his music is well-known in Russia, albeit the later symphonic music that is more accessible. His early sonatas should be performed more often. Like Tcherepnin, Myaskovsky suffers from Murray McLachlan syndrome (which is when great pieces are available on CD only from that mediocre pianist, or can be found without him only on obscure live discs or on historical LPs).

Contrary to what some have said, Tcherepnin IS vastly underrated. The online reviews I've read have been condescending and dismissive. For instance, his masterpiece of a symphony, #3, is routinely dismissed as a "weak attempt to imitate Chinese culture". I've read three reviews of the symphony, and each of them uses the work's pentatonic flavor to discredit it, as if it's a crime to not be Chinese and to not make a carbon-copy of Chinese classical music. It's a matter of fact, to me, that the Tcherepnin 3rd symphony is one of the greatest symphonies ever written.

The Tcherepnin 5th concerto is superb, and I'm going to order the #2/#4 disc soon.

[superstition2]

bolcom, kapustin, barber, thalberg, scriabin, etc.

Scriabin? I think that was true prior to the 1960s or 70s. During his life, he was very respected and influential. It was after his death that he was forgotten, probably because of the revolution the Soviet chill regarding "formalist" music. However, I do think his piano concerto and 7th sonata are not performed as often as they should be, particularly the 7th sonata. Given the immense difficulty of that piece, it's not surprising that it's rarely played.

I don't think we can call him underrated now; there are too many recordings of his pieces for that.

[jre58591]

Alexander Tcherepnin
Nikolay Roslavets
Nikolai Myaskovsky (particularly sonatas #2 and #3)

i hope that these composers get the attention they deserve. id want to add dmitry kabalevsky to the list. he also suffers from murray mclachlan syndrome (the 24 preludes). tcherepnin doesnt fully suffer from that syndrome. martha braden has also recorded some tcherepnin solo works and she plays them superbly. roslavets's music has only been played by hamelin i think. i can somewhat see why his music is neglected, for its much harder to grasp than tcherepnin or myaskovsky. i quote hamelin when i saw that roslavets is like "scriabin on acid". i also encourage you to buy that disk with tcherepnin's 4th piano concerto on it. it has some nice chinese inspired themes in it and is very fantasie-like, hence its nickname.

[superstition2]

Hamelin's quip about Roslavets may be somewhat misleading. Contrary to the randomness of hallucinogens, Roslavet's music is coherent and concise. But, I do see the psychedelic atmosphere present, at least in his recording. I have to wonder how Roslavets' music would sound if played by another pianist, like Richter. I think Hamelin's Roslavets recording is great, unlike his Scriabin, which is good, but not my choice when listening to the composer.

[burstroman]

Carlos Chavez

[arensky]

Carlos Chavez

Manuel Ponce

[desordre]

 It's my very humble opinion, but there is a composer that history did not yet fully aclaimed: Mr. Charles Ives. The unique possible paralell of Herr Beethoven, despite the fact that the later was much much much (....) more influential.
 There is poetry, inovation, geniality, deep meaning as well as irony, wherever you listen to: piano music, songs, orchestral works, chamber music.
 Best wishes!
 
 PS: the following topic has a lot of underrated and forgotten composers/music
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,19500.0.html

 
 
 

[jre58591]

ives is a hated one among these forums, due to his "unmusical" music. i personally think the guy was a genius.

[da jake]

Balakirev and Alkan are, for their obscurity, the most underrated composers.

Alkan's Symphony for Solo Piano and Balakirev's Sonata are - without exaggeration - two of the most important works of the 19th century.

Balakirev's famous Islamey is one of the best virtuosic showpieces ever written, and Alkan's Festin D'Esope is easily the best theme and Variations of the 19th century.