Uncommon Works

[shasta]

Anything by George Crumb.  Check out his stuff --- pianist Andrew Russo has been a big champion of his music.

[xvimbi]

Anything by George Crumb.  Check out his stuff --- pianist Andrew Russo has been a big champion of his music.

Didn't do him any good in the Cliburn Competition, which tells a lot about what the "establishment" thinks about George Crumb. It's a pity.

[shasta]

Didn't do him any good in the Cliburn Competition, which tells a lot about what the "establishment" thinks about George Crumb. It's a pity.

Yeah.  I'm glad Russo takes the path less trodden.  **** the establishment.   

[ash120]

Some of my favorites:

-Liszt - Valse Impromptu in A flat major, s. 213
-Liszt - Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude.
-Liszt - Venezia e Napoli
-Alkan - Etude sans opus (WoO, Encyclopedie Du Pianiste)
-Prokofiev - Scherzo Op. 12 no 10
-Mozart - Fantasia in d minor, k. 397
- Beethoven - Sonata Op. 26 in A flat major
- Beethoven - Polonaise op. 89
- Scriabin - Preludes op. 11 (with the exception of No. 11 in B major. That's the famous one.)

[russmpiano]

Here’s one I having seen mentioned. What about Poulenc?

My local college (Jacksonville State University) had a Poulenc themed concert that you should check out. It was live streamed on YouTube I believe.

[dizzyfingers]

the very best thing to do - to discover new works, are to get this special kind of piano album -
examples are -
marc-andre hamelin - kaleidoskope
marc-andre hamelin - composer-pianists
stephen hough - the piano album
stephen hough - the 'new' piano album
stephen hough - the english piano album

these are all amazing albums full of awesome piano playing and great neglected works. and i love them to death.

does anyone know any other similar albums available?
i love this type of albums.

ASH120, thanks for bringing this old (2004!) post back to life, definitely a worthy topic.  Possibly repeated since then in a new post, but the above discussion has some real gems.  The post I've quoted is notable because, apart from being on-the-money, one can now easily research the albums and get a list of pieces. And here it is (from Hamelin composer-pianists)

Toccata in G flat major Op 13 Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)
Poème tragique Op 34 Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Étude No 9 in F minor 'after Rossini' Marc-André Hamelin (b1961)
Étude No 10 in F sharp minor 'after Chopin' Marc-André Hamelin (b1961)
Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter BWV650 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), arr. Samuil Feinberg (1890-1962)
Symphony No 94 in G major 'Surprise'Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), arr. Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) Movement 2: Andante
48 Esquisses Op 63 Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)
Book 4 No 46: Le premier billet doux
Book 4 No 47: Scherzetto
Fantasia after J S Bach BV253 Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Moments musicaux Op 16 revised Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) No 2 in E flat minor
Études-tableaux Op 33 Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) No 7 in E flat major: Allegro con fuoco
Deux poèmes Op 71 Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) - Fantastique, En rêvant, avec une grande douceur
Berceuse Op 19a Samuil Feinberg (1890-1962)
Trois morceaux Op 31 Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951)
Pastiche on the Hindu Merchant's Song from 'Sadko' by Rimsky-Korsakov
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988)
Étude No 12 in A flat minor 'Prelude and Fugue' Marc-André Hamelin (b1961)

[thorn]

one can now easily research the albums and get a list of pieces.

Yeah I think that's one positive about technological advances (not all are so good). Also YouTube. If you listen to a few channels dedicated to uncommon works, or uploads of the above types of album, then the algorithm soon starts throwing out things you've never heard of. It gave me a wonderful piano concerto by Takashi Yoshimatsu last week.

Personally I tend to go down rabbit holes of one or two uncommon composers at a time. My current one is Florent Schmitt (heard about him a few years back but now listening to a playlist of his complete works).

[dizzyfingers]

Personally I tend to go down rabbit holes of one or two uncommon composers at a time. My current one is Florent Schmitt (heard about him a few years back but now listening to a playlist of his complete works).

Perhaps do a post on what you find in some of these rabbit holes?

[ash120]

Personally I tend to go down rabbit holes of one or two uncommon composers at a time. My current one is Florent Schmitt (heard about him a few years back but now listening to a playlist of his complete works).

Same. Recently found Ignaz Moscheles and I love his etude op. 70/8 in E flat minor.

[thorn]

Perhaps do a post on what you find in some of these rabbit holes?

I suppose I've been posting them along the way if a relevant thread topic has come up (I posted the Yoshimatsu concerto in the 'what are you listening to thread' for example).

As for Florent Schmitt, I'm still exploring his music but so far I've enjoyed:

Ombres- often compared to Gaspard but I find the writing very different, Impressionism done by a Romantic vs. Ravel who was a Classicist at heart

i=ADtMwxySIPYcF3--

Crépuscules- smaller scale pieces, more varied in style

i=yfjqPC_s1fLfUmY4

Soirs- as above

i=uVB__-EuPDh6DEVi

Nuits Romaines- apparently the 2nd piece was a lesser known inspiration for Ravel's Jeux d'eau (they were both in Faure's class in 1901)

i=wf6N8tuPHPREHYXq

Edit: forgot Mirages- the 1st mvt (written in tribute to Debussy so in that style). Not really a fan of the 2nd mvt in piano form, it has a better orchestration though

i=EEpnDWj5M6M10sQ2

[dizzyfingers]

Thanks!
I kinda was thinking a dedicated thread, so that it could be built up and commented on over time, but I guess some people are new post shy ...

[thorn]

Thanks!
I kinda was thinking a dedicated thread, so that it could be built up and commented on over time, but I guess some people are new post shy ...

I've been thinking about something like this too. My initial thought came from the Musical Madness contest- how it's great for bringing people together to listen to music, but limited by difficulty/works that have 100+ mentions in the forum search engine. It'd be nice to have something similar but with a wider remit and not in a contest format.

But even in MM people aren't particularly keen on commenting/discussing- there's loads of people voting but in most threads only 2-3 people posting. And that's obviously out of the control of whoever starts the thread. Idk if it's because of mindless scrolling culture these days where clicking a vote button is easy but most can't be bothered to talk anymore, or if it's because there's too many pieces for people to keep up with. I mean even in my own post above I definitely shared too many pieces for the average member to go and listen to and come back to share what they think.

Anyway, rambling now. Basically I agree with you but I'm not sure what to do about it.

[kosulin]

I would add that all pre-Bach composers are underplayed, especially French and British ones. From Bird to Rameau who was J.S.B. contemporary.
C.P.E. also deserves much more attention IMO.