unknown piano composers?

[chopin_89]

Currently I'm hunting around for relatively unknown composers from the classical or romantic period who wrote prolifically for piano. I know that there is a fair number of composers whose music was popular and widely circulated, but now is completely out of print. Can anyone help by giving examples?

[mikey6]

This looks like a Thal area.
Depends how unknown you want to go - CPE Bach (or any Bach son), Clementi, Reger? Sort of known but not widely played.

[thalbergmad]

Most of my experience is with the early romantics and i am only reasonably knowledgable with works for piano and orchestra, but for the classical era, Eberl, Dussek, Cramer & Woelfl have provided me with the most pleasure. Some of the Sonatas of Woelfl are simply divine.

For the early Romantics, Herz and Hunten ruled the roost until Chopin and Liszt came onto the scene. A couple of the Herz nocturnes are tearfully lovely. Pixis and Moscheles are worth a visit and even more so Kalkbrenner with his stunning Effusio Musica. It is impossible to play De Meyer without a smile (or cringe).

For mid to late romantics, Volkmann & Raff should provide some interest and the transcriptions by Tausig are as good as anything by Liszt. Only my opinion of course. There are zillions more to discover.

Happy hunting.

Thal

[slow_concert_pianist]

There is an enormous amount of late Russian music sadly overlooked. Here's some works I've had a crack at:

Balakirev

Sonata No 2, Scherzo's, Capriccio, Variations on the life of the Csar, Toccata, Tarantella

Tanayev

Polonaise

Lyadov

Preludes

Lyapunov

Trascendental Etudes, Toccata & Fuge, Humoreske

Glinka

Mazurkas

Cui

Cappricio

......to name a few

[chopin_89]

Thanks so much!

[teccomin]

Don't know if he is considered "unknown": Anton Rubinstein.

[ianmoozick]

I recently discovered a relatively unknown Russian composer Sergei Bortciewicz who wrote quite a large no. of pieces for piano which  are all grade 7 to 8+ standard including two concertos. On first hearing, his works sound very derivative of Rachmainov with shades of Chopin, although I found more original features the more I play through his works. Above all he writes great melodies and I feel that the first movement of his first piano concerto has two main themes which live long in the memory. A quick trip to Wikipedia will help you and explains why he is relatively unknown. I played a solo piano tranposed version of the aforesaid concerto at a local concert some months ago and the audience reaction was fantastic with a large number of people approaching me for more information about him. See what you think.

[retrouvailles]

I played a solo piano tranposed version of the aforesaid concerto at a local concert some months ago and the audience reaction was fantastic with a large number of people approaching me for more information about him.

Did you just play the solo part with the orchestral parts filled in? I am curious as to how someone would do a transcription of it. It has rather involved orchestral parts. All three of his piano concertos are like that.

[fbt]

    Ernst von Dohnanyi-(1877-1960)
                 I know his dates suggest modern but his style is Romantic and concervative,influenced by Brahms

[ianmoozick]

Did you just play the solo part with the orchestral parts filled in? I am curious as to how someone would do a transcription of it. It has rather involved orchestral parts. All three of his piano concertos are like that.

It was in fact just the first movement. my "transcription" was homemade, using the usual two piano version as a starting point, where I did use some of the orchestral parts as well as combining the piano and orchestra parts where it made more sense. I don't know whether you have seen the solo piano transcription of the first movt. of Rachmaninoff's 2nd but I took a similar approach. Unfortunately I can't recall who produced it.

[shaulhadar]

I think Alkan is not known enough. He was one of the greatest piano players ever, right there with Liszt, Thalberg, and Chopin.  And he wrote extremely demanding music, which is beautiful, check it out if you have some time

[redrobin62]

I recently acquired an album called Les Brises d'Orient. The composer is Felicien David and the pianist is Daniel Blumenthal. I like discovering unknowns like this because they enrich my listening experience. These particular pieces have a Chopinesque feel - very tender and melancholic. Another unsung composer is Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski. His Piano Concerto in A flat major also has tinges of Chopin and Liszt.

[redbaron]

Balakirev  Toccata

One of the most criminally overlooked pieces of the Romantic era.

[emrysmerlin]

This looks like a Thal area.
Depends how unknown you want to go - CPE Bach (or any Bach son), Clementi, Reger? Sort of known but not widely played.

I heard Reger's music was not that popular even back in his days.

[49410enrique]

i just uploaded some liner notes as part of my research for a taneyev work i just started to learn.

here's the bio, one of the best short ones i've read. he is probably the most important and influential teacher, composer and pianist most people have either never heard of or have forgotten.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/114654044/Sergei-Ivanovich-Taneyev-Piano-Concerto-Music-for-solo-Piano#fullscreen

[j_menz]

i just uploaded some liner notes as part of my research for a taneyev work i just started to learn.

He is probably the most important and influential teacher, composer and pianist most people have either never heard of or have forgotten.

I have heard of him for his teachin (pupils included Scriabin and Rachmaninoff - at the same time!), but must confess to not having heard or played any of his own works.  I have a collection in my pdf collection.

What one are you doing?  The P&F?

[49410enrique]

I have heard of him for his teachin (pupils included Scriabin and Rachmaninoff - at the same time!), but must confess to not having heard or played any of his own works.  I have a collection in my pdf collection.

What one are you doing?  The P&F?

indeed, something new i learned from that bio, was the influence past some of his students, that is, who some of taneyev's students taught:
"...
Taneyev’s influence on Russian composers was far-reaching. He recognised musicaltalent in the young Prokofiev and recommended that his parents hire Gliere (then Taneyev’s student) as a teacher of theory and composition. Some of his students, such as Nikolai Zhilyaev and Goldenweiser, became respected teachers at the Moscow Conservatoire and taught such figures as Shebalin, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Lazar Berman, Ilya Ginzburg and Nikolai Kapustin. Taneyev’s infuences can be heard in the harmonic language of Scriabin’s early piano pieces, in the complex contrapuntal textures of Glazunov’s and Medtner’s piano concertos..."

and it is that command of counterpoint (he was I believe Rachmaninoff and Scriabin's counterpoint instructor at one point ), that scares me half to death of that prelude and fuge. it incredibly complex and just as interesting, but I do not yet have enough control of multiple lines and subtle coloration at the keyboard to have an even decent chance of navigating that thing on my own (I will not have my current piano instructor anymore after a few weeks from now, so I'll be starting with someone else for a while, and we will probably focus some more on the jazz idiom while perhaps working on one or two less demanding standard works).

the piece i'm working on im keeping under 'public' wraps for the time being until a few weeks of work on my end to make sure i make enough satisfactory progress on it to make it a worthwhile project. i'll pm the piece to you and a recording of it i purchased about a year ago when it put it on my watch list.

he is most definately worth exploring.

[thesixthsensemusic]

- Peter Benoit (Belgian composer who sounds suspiciously like Brahms)
- Julius Röntgen (German-born Dutch composer of also Brahms-like music)
- Carl Verbraeken (contemporary Belgian composer who writes in a neo-romantic style that sounds often like Chopin)
- Jan Ladislav Dussek (his later works, from 1800 onwards, resembles Beethoven a lot)
- Franz Xaver Mozart (the son of...)
- Louis Moreau Gottschalk
- Ignaz Moscheles
- Vincent D'Indy
- Carl Czerny (who wrote very Beethovenesque pieces, and not just etudes, he wrote many concert-worthy sonatas and concertos)
- Johann Nepomuk Hummel
- Józef Wieniawski (pianist and brother of violin virtuoso Henryk)
- Richard Wagner (who wrote a couple of very Beethoven-like sonatas in his early career)