Recommend a Romantic Era obscure composer/ solo piano work

[pianiststrongbad]

I've found a lot of composers and solo piano works I've liked in the past, but am looking to see if others like any lesser-known composers/works which are similar to what I like. I'm open to transcriptions and original works of various lengths.

My favorites that are underplayed from this time period:
Moritz Moszkowski - The E major waltz, several pieces from Op. 36 among several other works
Sergei Bortkiewicz - several Etudes
Leopold Godowsky - Schubert, Bach and Chopin transcriptions
Pavel Pabst - Tchaikovsky Transcriptions
Anatoly Liadov - Several preludes
Anton Rubinstein - Sonatas, and Barcarolle Op. 93, No. 3

Anyone have any recommendations for similarly underplayed works/composers? Thanks!

[outin]

I don't think I am very good in judging what is obscure or lesser known, because I listen to and try to play a lot of things rarely played/recorded...

Anyway, you could take a look at:
Cui's preludes
Nocturnes by Dobrzynski
Franck's Fantaises (transcriptions for piano)
Piano works by Selim Palmgren (he's output varies in quality, but there are several gems)
Piano works by Liapunov
Heino Kaski: Nacht Am Seestrand op 34-1, Prelude op 48-1

[coda_colossale]

I guess Scriabin doesn't qualify as obscure, but still, Fantaisie, Sonatas 1-2-3-4-5...
Stanchinsky- Sonata in Ebm
Glazunov- Sonata 1
Raff- Fantasie Sonata
Syzmanowski- Sonatas
Dukas- Sonata
Feinberg- Sonatas, esp. 6.
Medtner- Sonatas, esp. Night Wind, Fairy Tales
Lyapunov- Barcarolle
Respighi- Preludes on Gregorian Melodies
Lots of Thalberg.

[outin]

Medtner- Sonatas, esp. Night Wind, Fairy Tales

And we should not forget the Forgotten tunes op 38 & 39 

[visitor]

Later than what asked for but not any less lovely

[visitor]

[promusician]

Later than what asked for but not any less lovely

A very good piece but lack a readily available score, I can't find a 2nd recording other than this.

[coherence]

Syzmanowski- Sonatas

Seconding this! I learned Szymanowski's Sonata No. 1, it's a lot of fun. My teacher was skeptical at first, but I think he came around

(I'll also second the Scriabin rec, even if it's not "obscure" enough!)

[pianiststrongbad]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'd heard a few of these before but not all - I'll be sure to check them out.

[cbreemer]

The list is endless ! Some good suggestions given here (though some, like Dukas, don't really qualify as Romantic Era). Some other suggestions which I find particularly rewarding:

Alkan - Le Tambour bat aux Champs, Capriccio alla Soldatesca
Balakirev - Sonata
Dvorak - Theme and Variations
Glazunov - Theme and Variations
Glazunov - Concert Waltz Op.41
Janacek - Tema con Variazoni
Liadov - Variations on a Polish Theme Op.52
Smetana - Czech Dances
Tchaikovsky - Dumka

[outin]

Balakirev - Sonata

I would also add his Scherzo in B minor.

[cbreemer]

I would also add his Scherzo in B minor.

Absolutely ! It's a  real masterpiece, much better in quality than the ubiquitous Islamey.

[blazekenny]

Well, since I am Czech, I could mention the pieces everybody plays here, but not everyone knows abroad.

Janáček - On an overgrown path - books 1 and 2
Janáček - In the mists
Janáček - Sonáta I.X. 1905
Smetana - Czech Dances
Smetana - Concert etude g sharp minor "On the sea shore"
Smetana - Concert etude C major
Smetana - Fantasy on Czech folksongs
Dvořák - Silhouettes
Dvořák - Piano concerto g minor op.33
Kabeláč - 8 preludes op. 30
Novák - Vzpomínky op.6 -> Triste, Inquieto, Amoroso
Novák - Sonáta Eroica op.24
Novák - Ballade op.2 e minor "Manfred"


Lol that was some of the czech music Some may not be romantic, but are generally played as romantic pieces.

[cbreemer]

<amny riches in the Czech repertoire. Actually there's much more of Dvorak that is worthwhile (e.g. Waltzes, Poetic Tone Pictures). And Smetana's charming polkas. I'm also very fond of Josef Suk's cycle "About Mother".

[blazekenny]

<amny riches in the Czech repertoire. Actually there's much more of Dvorak that is worthwhile (e.g. Waltzes, Poetic Tone Pictures). And Smetana's charming polkas. I'm also very fond of Josef Suk's cycle "About Mother".

Yes, and Suk´s Love Songs are also beautiful.
I didnt mention the other Dvořáks - nobody plays them, because they are soooo unpianistic and unrewarding. The three Janáčeks are probably the most played Czech pieces here

[visitor]

let's please remember Zygmunt Noskowski (see info box of video for bio info etc)
Aen Automne Op 29 No 1 (give her about 1 minute to start playing but once it starts, it was worth the wait!)

[visitor]

and a nice transcription
Rozycki/Ginzburg Fantasy on the Waltz from Casanova

[visitor]

Stojowski

amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing ^^

[visitor]

Leschetizky

[cbreemer]

I didnt mention the other Dvořáks - nobody plays them, because they are soooo unpianistic and unrewarding.

Unpianistic, maybe some of them. Not more so than Janacek anyway. Unrewarding - seldom ! Unless you want glitter and virtuosity. You Czech should be more proud of Dvorak's piano oeuvre !

[thalbergmad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0vHj0knv2s
The Czechs should be more proud of Dreyschock as he composed this. I know of no other work that sums up the romantic movement as much as this.

It can be played as a solo, but I failed miserably.

Thal

[visitor]

Speaking if Czech , I'm inda mood sometimes for Fibich.  Not really obscure more like Fringe or known more to pianists. Not too unlike Scriabin.
Prob his most well known solo though IMHO certainly not the best of his work

[visitor]

[mjames]

Prob his most well known solo though IMHO certainly not the best of his

That's usually the case with every composer.

[blazekenny]

Unpianistic, maybe some of them. Not more so than Janacek anyway. Unrewarding - seldom ! Unless you want glitter and virtuosity. You Czech should be more proud of Dvorak's piano oeuvre !

All of Dvořák´s music is awfully written for piano. The theme and variations is even one of the hardest pieces my professor has played, because it just feels like its written for an orchestra instead. Also, we are very, very proud of our national music (and I mean national music - mainly Smetana, Janáček, Dvořák - lol Dreyschock). But, truth to be told, outside of Czech republic, nobody is really horny to hear our music. Like if some czech pianist plays Smetana beautifully at a major international competition, nobody cares. So yeah, Czech music is generally very unrewarding to play in the world. Sometimes a person who knows Janáček piano sonata appears, but thats it.
Actually, only on this forum are some "weirdos" who only listen to obscure music. But audience is like little kids, they want to hear the same fairytale over and over again. The mainstream music simply works better.

[outin]

Actually, only on this forum are some "weirdos" who only listen to obscure music.

But how amazing it is that so many weirdos have found each other

[thalbergmad]

I am proud to be weirdo

[blazekenny]

Haha I didnt mean it negatively, you know. Yet, its obvious that the mainstream music is much more practical.

[promusician]

Being post-romantic, here are two pieces composed by Tyzen Hsiao based on folk idioms. Beautifully crafted.

#1 'Prelude' & 'Memories' from suite "Memories from home"

#2 An Angel from Formosa

[visitor]

von Bulow

 

[visitor]

with the modern post romantic suggestion posted above, I could not help but jump ship as well and head into modern tonal goodiness. I heart heart heart Touzet and Cuban music in general, this is sublime

[j_menz]

with the modern post romantic suggestion posted above

I initially read that as referring to the von Bulow and choked on my coffee.

[visitor]

I initially read that as referring to the von Bulow and choked on my coffee.

haha about that , my bad. Should have quoted properly to be clear on what I was referring to

Unrelated to the response but back to on topic
Stenhamar

[visitor]

[visitor]

Tolinger

[visitor]

Backer

[visitor]

Schafer

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Nice to see Pabst mentioned right at the start; Earl Wild's performance of his Sleeping Beauty paraphrase is amazing.

A few other favourites:
Liapunov - Transcendental Etudes, Nocturne, etc
Thalberg - La sonnambula

(incomplete recording, sadly, but wonderful playing, and so beautiful once the "big tune" comes in)
Tausig - various, e.g.

[pianiststrongbad]

Thanks all for the great suggestions, a lot of new pieces for me to consider for the future. For the time being I've decided to learn Blumenfeld's Etude for the Left Hand and Liszt's Berceuse (2nd version) as they have been on my bucket list for a long time.

Nice to see Pabst mentioned right at the start; Earl Wild's performance of his Sleeping Beauty paraphrase is amazing.

Agreed - Wild does a great job. Personally, I've always preferred Oleg Marshev's recording (he also plays several other Pabst transcriptions on the same CD).

[visitor]

one of the less often remembered students of Liszt....

[visitor]

Alberto Williams

[ahinton]

Seconding this! I learned Szymanowski's Sonata No. 1, it's a lot of fun.

Not for me, it isn't! In fact, it's perhaps the greatest disappointment of all among that wonderful composer's works. Like his sonata for violin and piano, it's immature, but it suffers from that immaturity far more, it seems to me, than the violin sonata (although even the marvellous Alina Ibragimova's recording of that work on her CD of Szymanowski's complete works for violin and piano failed to convince me that it was anything more than a great performance of a largely ratgher dull piece).

Szymanowski's second and third piano sonatas, on the other hand, are top rank examples of the genre; very different from one another but worth every moment of effort in preparing them. All three of his piano sonatas close with a somewhat quirky fugue, but the first is really a very poor relation to almost everything else that he wrote.

Best,

Alistair

[visitor]

not romantic in chronology per se, but I feel w/ tonality and style, so perhaps more 'romanticized'

[visitor]

Czerny
so shouldn't need to be part of the thread but it is a sad state of affairs, as only the some of the etudes are part of the common lit.

should see more of this type of stuff

[visitor]

Schlegel
this really reminds me of Joseph Marx:

very Scriabinny 

[visitor]

[visitor]

Stamaty teacher and pianist composer, most famous pupils were Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Camille Saint-Saëns.

[mjames]

Medtner oh medtner, I love you so much...

Not from the romantic era but I feel like he carries on the tradition.

[visitor]

Grunfeld

[visitor]

Carl Flitsch (died at age 15...wonder what he could have done if he had at least made it till his 20's   or better yet 40's).
Transylvanian , pupil of Chopin, and tragically died young, makes for very compelling story to the composer:

others out there worth exploring if you look around.