# If You Like --, Then Give -- a Listen



## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this BBS is finding out about composers who one may have known only by name or not at all. This is an attempt to narrow the focus a little. The idea is simple: Start with a piece (not a composer) which is well known, and suggest another, much less well known, piece which you think someone who likes the first piece might enjoy, preferably providing some reasons for your recommendation.

Thus--

If you like Prokofiev's Piano Concerto #3, give Herman D. Koppel's Piano Concerto #3, Op. 45 (essentially in A Major) a try. Koppel is a 20th century Danish composer and pianist who here (writing in 1948) uses percussive piano writing, spiky melodies, and spicy harmonies similar to those of Prokofiev, but with an extra layer of Romantic yearning, carried on a rather fuller brass sound than in the Prokofiev concerto. The first movement is a kaleidoscope of varying moods and dynamics, while the second, starting with an undulating motif from the oboe, goes through various permutations to reach a lush, horn and trumpet-driven climax with a touch of harmonic exoticism. The third movement returns to the rhythmic emphasis, with lots of swirling passagework for winds, strings, and solo piano and a bouncingly syncopated main theme. A solid concerto which should be better known.


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## bdelykleon (May 21, 2009)

If you like Beethoven's 5th symphony give Méhul First symphony a listen. Not even Beethoven composed a music so similar to his famous symphony, the dramatic mood, the orchestration, the extended use of diminute chords, the pizzicati of the third movement all this led to the question wheater Beethoven and Méhul were aware of each symphony, incredibly, they weren't.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

People who like Rimsky-Korsakov's _Scheherazade_, Grieg's _Peer Gynt_ or Kodaly's _Hary Janos_ will inevitably like the lesser known Ippolitov-Ivanov's _Caucasian Sketches_ (the complete Suites 1 & 2, not only the famous _Procession of the Sardar_). I think it paints pictures, uses folk music and has luscious orchestration like those other works. A minor difference is that it doesn't tell a story, but there are still some similarities, as mentioned above...


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

People who like Sibelius' 7th symphony should try Hansen's 2nd symphony. Both are very organic, cast in essentially one-movement forms (Hansen's in three contiguous movements), very noble and powerful works of music.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I'd also like to add that if someone likes Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_, they might also like Edgard Varese's _Arcana_, which was partly influenced by that work. Both have an empahsis on rhythms, textures and are pretty dissonant.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Those who like The Rite of Spring would dig Panambi by Alberto Ginastera. Like The Rite, it is a ballet based on primitive life (here, the legends of the Guarani indians of South America) and features rythyms and a "modernist" feel much like The Rite. It's a hoot.


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