Anybody found some lesser known gems lately?

[billym]

Hi everyone. I wanted to share this lesser known concerto by Reinecke that I absolutely enjoyed listening to. (Piano concerto no. 3 in C, op. 144) I just found it about an hour ago!

I'm starting to realize that there is SO MUCH amazing music by obscure composers! Anyone want to share some gems that you had to do some digging to discover? I'm interested to see what you all have

[dogperson]

Want a treasure trove?  Peruse the posts by Visitor on this forum.  Many, many gems to explore.

[anacrusis]

I second the Visitor recommendation. He has posted lots of good stuff. Fingers crossed he'll find this thread and post even more!

[visitor]

Started sneezing a bunch so I figured one of three things
Allergies or head cold
Someone nearby playing works by Schumann or exclaiming that the turd concerto in a min is good
Felt a disturbance in the lesser known piano works force that needed our intervention

So took a stab at no3 seems got lucky
Here's a Start

[lelle]

Started sneezing a bunch so I figured one of three things
Allergies or head cold
Someone nearby playing works by Schumann or exclaiming that the turd concerto in a min is good

Awww what did poor Schumann ever do to you?? While he is not my favorite composer I think he has written some great things.

Here's the Schumann concerto (I assume that's the one you are referring to) with Cortot, does it give it any reedeming qualities for you? 

[visitor]

Awww what did poor Schumann ever do to you?? While he is not my favorite composer I think he has written some great things.

Here's the Schumann concerto (I assume that's the one you are referring to) with Cortot, does it give it any reedeming qualities for you? 

The quintet if re done for orchestra would be an orders of magnitude better concerto
As for that stinky sweat sock of a piece in the hands of a master , I'll paste great sage that and my mentor quote below as it's the most fitting response I can think of

Only the greatest of pianists can squeeze any quality out of the restrained and rigid works of Schumann and then perhaps only the earlier works.

Schumann's piano concerto is too bland and devoid of interest to be turned into music. One cannot polish a turd.

Thal

[lelle]

The quintet if re done for orchestra would be an orders of magnitude better concerto
As for that stinky sweat sock of a piece in the hands of a master , I'll paste great sage that and my mentor quote below as it's the most fitting response I can think of

Only the greatest of pianists can squeeze any quality out of the restrained and rigid works of Schumann and then perhaps only the earlier works.

Schumann's piano concerto is too bland and devoid of interest to be turned into music. One cannot polish a turd.

Thal

  Thanks for today's laugh. I assume Cortot thought of it as great music though, since he chose to play and record it so many times. I don't love that particular concerto but I guess I don't see what makes it a turd either 

[j_tour]

Well, for me, I'm on Team Schumann.

But that doesn't matter:  he's universally renowned, but for a few outliers.

It does seem to me there used be an Englishman with the surname of Sxrxbjx, or something like that, who remains, according to some, ignored, for better or worse.

[visitor]

Here's some goodies ,whole album /collection is a gem of gems

[visitor]

A little Kabalevskyish at times but that not a bad thing

[visitor]

Sublime ! Really nice folk elements , like a impressionist far East Bartok of sorts

[lelle]

Sublime ! Really nice folk elements , like a impressionist far East Bartok of sorts

That was cool! Nice to see something written in the mid 20th century that does not just sound like a dissonant mess!

[romanticperiod]

I love Tchaikovsky's Harvest/August from the seasons. I don't know if this is really an unknown gem but I do know it is not very well known.

[lelle]

I love Tchaikovsky's Harvest/August from the seasons. I don't know if this is really an unknown gem but I do know it is not very well known.

On the scale of some of the things posted in this thread it's pretty famous  But I can think of many pieces from Tchaikovsky's "the seasons" that are more well known.

[visitor]

[anacrusis]

Visitor delivering as usual! Good stuff.

[mjames]

Awww what did poor Schumann ever do to you?? While he is not my favorite composer I think he has written some great things.

Here's the Schumann concerto (I assume that's the one you are referring to) with Cortot, does it give it any reedeming qualities for you? 

Aside from composing awful music including that god awful concerto, he's responsible for infecting one of the greatest minds in music with his bs by becoming his mentor. It's a wonder Brahms still managed to end up a great composer. Just imagine what we would have had if he was mentored by someone like Liszt instead.

[themeandvariation]

mjames - There are big leaps in logic - regarding the compositional influence Schumann had on Brahms. (Unless, you think he was receiving lessons in composition from Schumann at the sanitarium. ) And surely 4 months prior to that chapter wouldn't be sufficient to 'infect' him.
"... But only four months after the Schumanns met Brahms and bestowed upon him their generous patronage, Robert suffered a nervous breakdown. On February 27, 1854, he climbed a bridge and threw himself into the river Rhine. He was rescued and dragged ashore, then immediately committed to a private psychiatric institution, where he spent the remaining two years of his life afflicted with auditory hallucinations and other psychological infirmities. "
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/02/21/clara-schumann-johannes-brahms-letters/



Brahms was a genius, and found his own way, despite the shadow of Beethoven keeping him from feeling assured about his symphonic aspirations - the first symphony completed when he was 43. 

As far as the Liszt wish list, Brahms was clearly on the other side of the divide in the romantic period from Liszt. Liszt was a romantic pushing into chromaticism (looking foreword) - and Brahms, the romantic - who held the past (classical and baroque structures of composition) as a direct influence on his writings.  He talks about this "divide" especially when referring to Wagner - who was pretty close to Liszt

[mjames]

Just look at all his early publications: obvious references, and to our misfortune, deference to Schumann's work. If Robert wasn't responsible, surely Clara was by proxy as she was primarily responsible for exposing much of Robert's work all over Europe (ugh! Now I'm having second thoughts about Clara's revival in the concert scene...). Dude was clearly infected by the Schumann virus.

Ugh!

Liszt should've discovered Brahms instead, or at least Chopin! Unfortunately I'll have to deal with the 'current version' of Brahms, sure one of the greatest German composers in history, but ugh with a little bit more "freedom" in him he could've been so much more.

Like I said before, second greatest tragedy in the history of classical music.

[jacobson747]

Let us not forget that Brahms met Liszt at Liszt’s mansion in Spring of 1853 before meeting the Schumanns in the Fall of that year.  At Liszt’s mansion, Brahms famously fell asleep during Liszt’s playing of Liszt’s sonata.  Liszt also highly praised Brahms at the mansion after playing through some of Brahms very early piano works.  Brahms already rejected Liszt before he met Schumann.  Also, on the Brahms walk to the Schumann house before meeting Schumann in fall 1853, Brahms ran into a library of Schumann’s music and very much admired his work before meeting Schumann.  One needs to consider these items, I believe.

[mjames]

Ah dios mios! So Brahms was inherently a lost cause before he even met Robert! If Joachim was truly his friend he would've locked Brahms in a room with a piano and nothing but scores of Liszt's music. Wonderful idea for rehab.

[visitor]

Ah dios mios! So Brahms was inherently a lost cause before he even met Robert! If Joachim was truly his friend he would've locked Brahms in a room with a piano and nothing but scores of Liszt's music. Wonderful idea for rehab.

+1 good job d sir to your replies above
Also I  believe b comin best buds w mahler helped to Mitigate some of bobs damage to dear Johnny B

Good seeing ya on here man

[themeandvariation]

Brahms met Mahler - when Brahms had 7 more years to live.  How did Mahler mitigate the damage of Schumann on Brahms?  And, what was that damage ? 
It seems to me it was (conversely) Brahms who helped Mahler.

https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/music-reads/classically-curious-when-brahms-met-mahler/10732264

[visitor]

Brahms met Mahler - when Brahms had 7 more years to live.  How did Mahler mitigate the damage of Schumann on Brahms?  And, what was that damage ? 
It seems to me it was (conversely) Brahms who helped Mahler.

https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/music-reads/classically-curious-when-brahms-met-mahler/10732264

To some extent I tend to agree however the amazing output he had   pre op 116 or so are I recon a testament to his genius and being great despite Schumann , I thi j his greatest even if smaller in scale ,there's a definite shift and uptick in  style and level post his father's death in late 1880s or so and again after Mahler and while he vegan to face his mortality etc

As much as Schumann Brahms stuff irks me ,it's Roberts life really changing the trajectory and limiting the output and development of the true genius and talent of Clara,she was strong so despite him didn't lose herself completely and surely her dedication to her family w spouse and later his care and her children is noble but it did limit what we got from her in terms of composing and  performance

All of which is to say , the a minor concerto is a big turd that wont go away

[mjames]

Clara Wieck ending up with a bunch of children is definitely a top 10 tragedy in classical music. Prodigious pianist, composing beautiful works as a teenager...all of that gone because she ended up having a family.

Another sin committed by Robert Schumann. She was VERY Chopinesque during her early years before she was tainted by Robert's music.

[mjames]

Imagine if she followed Chopin's path instead...

[mjames]

Ok real talk for a minute, call it a sin but...

But man I want to learn his symphonic etudes. It'll be the only one I learn though!

[visitor]

Ok real talk for a minute, call it a sin but...

But man I want to learn his symphonic etudes. It'll be the only one I learn though!

I've confesded to them a before but I do like the piano quintet , Brahms transcribed the last movement for solo and it's rad

I am also fond of some jazz arrangements I have on my to do of a couple of his pieces

[lelle]

Cmon, Schumann is not all that bad.

Brahms, on the other hand. The music sounds exactly like music composed by a boring man with a great beard would sound like.

[jacobson747]

August Stradal’s “Freie Phantasie” on Wagner’s Lohengrin opera is a lesser-known gem belonging to the genre of “operatic reminiscences” pioneered by Liszt, Thalberg, Kalkbrenner and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLnfrWHod3Q

[mjames]

Cmon, Schumann is not all that bad.

Brahms, on the other hand. The music sounds exactly like music composed by a boring man with a great beard would sound like.

Brahm's 1st piano concerto is better than anything Schumann imagined of, let alone wrote and published.

[brogers70]

Cmon, Schumann is not all that bad.

Brahms, on the other hand. The music sounds exactly like music composed by a boring man with a great beard would sound like.

There is some Brahms that I find sort of dull, but so much is great, the short piano pieces Opus 116-119, the Violin Concerto, the Violin Sonatas, the Horn Trio, the motets, like "Warum ist das Licht gegeben.."

[lelle]

August Stradal’s “Freie Phantasie” on Wagner’s Lohengrin opera is a lesser-known gem belonging to the genre of “operatic reminiscences” pioneered by Liszt, Thalberg, Kalkbrenner and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLnfrWHod3Q

Thanks for sharing, funny to see Stradal mentioned here. Stradal has made a piano transcription of Bach's organ transcription of Vivaldi's concerto in D minor, which Cortot clearly modeled/borrowed large parts of his piano transcription of the same piece from (I didn't find this recently but it's a gem nonetheless):

[lelle]

There is some Brahms that I find sort of dull, but so much is great, the short piano pieces Opus 116-119, the Violin Concerto, the Violin Sonatas, the Horn Trio, the motets, like "Warum ist das Licht gegeben.."

Yeah there are a few opuses where I enjoy some things. But what about the 100 other opuses?

[obtuserecluse]

Hello! Maybe Enescu would for the bill:

Or how about this:

Or this?

Hope you'll like them. 

[anacrusis]

Hello! Maybe Enescu would for the bill:

Or how about this:

Or this?

Hope you'll like them. 

I really liked all these suggestion. Never heard of Dora Pejačević before. It sounds kinda almost romantic? Where did you find this composer?

[pcaraganis]

Brahm's 1st piano concerto is better than anything Schumann imagined of, let alone wrote and published.

This kind of comparison seems to me to totally miss the point of Schumann, whose most powerful work is on a small, personal scale. Some people seem to "get" Schumann's emotional language, while it just doesn't speak to others, for one reason or another. For me, he achieved emotional intimacy, clarity and directness that I've rarely heard from any others. You don't see fans of Schumann claiming that he was among the greatest from a technical standpoint, because he wasn't, and that isn't why he is loved.

I also think there is an awkward quality to his music that I think some see as a weakness, but that to me is an integral part of his emotional language.