# Rarely Heard Symphonic Works



## Lord Lance

Creating this thread to discuss works of a symphonic nature which are very rarely known.

Examples include:
1. Anton Rubinstein's Second Symphony
2. Glazunov's Sixth Symphony
3. Schnittke's First Symphony
4. Dohynani's Second Symphony
5. Raff's Eleventh Symphony
6. Penderecki's Seventh Symphony
7. Myaskovsky's Sixth Symphony
8. Wetz's Third Symphony
9. Fibich's Second Symphony
10. Goossen's Second Symphony

What are your favorite? Whose symphonies do you think have been rarely (if ever) performed?


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## brotagonist

Of the ones you mentioned, we recently had Myaskovsky's Sixth on SS. I really want to get to know more of Penderecki's Symphonies, say, the Third and onward. I am very fond of Schnittke's, but I haven't heard the First


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## Lord Lance

brotagonist said:


> Of the ones you mentioned, we recently had Myaskovsky's Sixth on SS. I really want to get to know more of Penderecki's Symphonies, say, the Third and onward. I am very fond of Schnittke's, but I haven't heard the First


Not _only_ the mentioned ones. I gave but a few examples.


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## techniquest

I genuinely believe that the first two symphonies of Aram Khachaturian deserve to be performed in the standard repetoire. I also think that we should hear Rachmaninov's 1st symphony far more than we do (personally I like it _so_ much more than the oft-performed 2nd).
There are thousands of symphonies and symphonic works out there that deserve to be heard but aren't, by composers that most of us have probably never heard of. There are also works by composers that most of us have heard of, but who rarely get performed e.g Hovhaness; granted a lot of his music sounds much the same, but his symphony no.11 and his orchestral piece 'Fra Angelico' are particularly fine. Here is 'Fra Angelico':


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## Sashimi

Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2 "Romantic"


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## Kevin Pearson

Well, I just posted in the current listening thread about Joachim Raff and I think all of his symphonies deserve a wider hearing.

Kevin


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## starthrower

Laszlo Lajtha wrote some fine symphonies.


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## Art Rock

Bax 3,6
Glass (Louis) 2
Hovhaness 50
Magnard 3
Moeran
Raff 5
Rott
Sallinen 6,7
Schmidt 4
Zweers 3

and so many others.....


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## elgar's ghost

Any symphony by Humphrey Searle, William Mathias and Alan Rawsthorne - and yet there are no doubt many symphonies by UK composers that are far more obscure than those as at least the above have all been recorded and have pockets of support, even if they are seldom performed.


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## maestro267

I've heard the first two Mathias symphonies, and they're stunning! His sound world is comparable to Bax. The first movement of Symphony No. 2 has one of the most mysterious openings to a symphony I've ever heard.

I've been collecting Naxos' cycle of Villa-Lobos symphonies. So far, they've released 3, 4, 6, 7 & 10.

Symphonies I want to get include more Havergal Brian, Penderecki's 8th (which would complete my cycle as far as he's written them) and Respighi's Sinfonia Drammatica.


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## Guest

The OP gives three distinct categories, rarely heard, rarely known, and rarely performed.

Of the first two, Hanson's 2nd hardly qualifies. I don't know how often it's performed in concert, however.

But that does raise the point that it can be quite well-known composers whose works are rarely performed. And it varies from place to place, as well.

No symphony orchestra in the United States has ever performed a work by Helmut Lachenmann. He is quite well-known and well performed in Europe, however. (Same was true for Luc Ferrari.)

In all of his quite remarkably long life, Elliott Carter was rarely performed, even in New York.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has programmed music by John Cage exactly once.

I have heard the 1921 _Ameriques_ once, and I had to go to Ostrava to do it, too.

And you can probably add Roger Sessions to the list of well-known composers who are rarely performed.

For the rest, practically any contemporary composer who writes for orchestra, unless it's quite old _sounding._ And even then....

For the less prominent, I'd add Farquhar and Lilburn, though the latter decided fairly early (after completing three symphonies) to devote his life to electroacoustic music. All electroacoustic composition in Australia and New Zealand owes its existence to Douglas Lilburn.

Poul Ruders has been recorded fairly well, but rarely performed.

Same for Lidholm and Nordheim. Nørgård gets a fair amount of love, but its fair odds that he will fade out as Schnittke and Kancheli and Denisov have. Well, in the concert hall, anyway. We have our recordings!!


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## Lord Lance

some guy said:


> *The OP gives three distinct categories, rarely heard, rarely known, and rarely performed.*
> 
> Of the first two, Hanson's 2nd hardly qualifies. I don't know how often it's performed in concert, however.
> 
> But that does raise the point that it can be quite well-known composers whose works are rarely performed. And it varies from place to place, as well.
> 
> No symphony orchestra in the United States has ever performed a work by Helmut Lachenmann. He is quite well-known and well performed in Europe, however. (Same was true for Luc Ferrari.)
> 
> In all of his quite remarkably long life, Elliott Carter was rarely performed, even in New York.
> 
> The Los Angeles Philharmonic has programmed music by John Cage exactly once.
> 
> I have heard the 1921 _Ameriques_ once, and I had to go to Ostrava to do it, too.
> 
> And you can probably add Roger Sessions to the list of well-known composers who are rarely performed.
> 
> For the rest, practically any contemporary composer who writes for orchestra, unless it's quite old _sounding._ And even then....
> 
> For the less prominent, I'd add Farquhar and Lilburn, though the latter decided fairly early (after completing three symphonies) to devote his life to electroacoustic music. All electroacoustic composition in Australia and New Zealand owes its existence to Douglas Lilburn.
> 
> Poul Ruders has been recorded fairly well, but rarely performed.
> 
> Same for Lidholm and Nordheim. Nørgård gets a fair amount of love, but its fair odds that he will fade out as Schnittke and Kancheli and Denisov have. Well, in the concert hall, anyway. We have our recordings!!


Thanks for noticing. I didn't. 

Sad news about Elliot Carter. He was a _decent _composer, yes?


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## Guest

To go a couple of centuries prior to Someguy's list, there are _probably_ many, many symphonies that are rarely heard/known among the 50 or so contemporaries of Beethoven who contributed to the *original Diabelli project* (see below). Report back to us, Ludwig, when you have finished your listening marathon.

Ignaz Assmayer (or Aßmayer)
Carl Maria von Bocklet
Leopold Eustachius Czapek (or Čapek)
Carl Czerny
Joseph Czerny
Moritz Graf von Dietrichstein
Joseph Drechsler
Emanuel Aloys Förster
Franz Jakob Freystädtler
Johann Baptist Gänsbacher
Joseph Gelinek ("Abbé Gelinek") 
Anton Halm 
Joachim Hoffmann 
Johann Horzalka 
Joseph Huglmann (or Hugelmann) 
Johann Nepomuk Hummel 
Anselm Hüttenbrenner 
Friedrich Kalkbrenner 
Friedrich August Kanne 
Joseph Kerzkowsky 
Conradin Kreutzer 
Eduard Baron von Lannoy 
Maximilian Joseph Leidesdorf 
Joseph Mayseder
Ignaz Moscheles 
Ignaz Franz Edler von Mosel 
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart 
Joseph Panny 
Hieronymus Payer 
Johann Peter Pixis 
Wenzel Plachy 
Gottfried Rieger 
Philipp Jakob Riotte 
Franz Roser (Franz de Paula Roser) 
Johann Baptist Schenk 
Franz Schoberlechner 
Simon Sechter (Bruckner's teacher !)
Maximilian Stadler 
Joseph von Szalay (or de Szalay) 
Wenzel Johann Tomaschek (= Václav Tomášek)
Michael Umlauf 
Friedrich Dionysius Weber (= Bedřich Diviš Weber) 
Carl Angelus von Winkhler 
Franz Weiss 
Johann Nepomuk August Wittasek (= Jan August Vitásek) 
Johann Hugo Worzischek (= Jan Václav Voříšek)


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## Lord Lance

TalkingHead said:


> To go a couple of centuries prior to Someguy's list, there are _probably_ many, many symphonies that are rarely heard/known among the 50 or so contemporaries of Beethoven who contributed to the *original Diabelli project* (see below). *Report back to us, Ludwig, when you have finished your listening marathon.*


Huh? *headscratch* Which marathon?


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## PetrB

Ludwig van Beethoven said:


> Huh? *headscratch* Which marathon?


This one: ))))))))))))))))))))))


TalkingHead said:


> Ignaz Assmayer (or Aßmayer)
> Carl Maria von Bocklet
> Leopold Eustachius Czapek (or Čapek)
> Carl Czerny
> Joseph Czerny
> Moritz Graf von Dietrichstein
> Joseph Drechsler
> Emanuel Aloys Förster
> Franz Jakob Freystädtler
> Johann Baptist Gänsbacher
> Joseph Gelinek ("Abbé Gelinek")
> Anton Halm
> Joachim Hoffmann
> Johann Horzalka
> Joseph Huglmann (or Hugelmann)
> Johann Nepomuk Hummel
> Anselm Hüttenbrenner
> Friedrich Kalkbrenner
> Friedrich August Kanne
> Joseph Kerzkowsky
> Conradin Kreutzer
> Eduard Baron von Lannoy
> Maximilian Joseph Leidesdorf
> Joseph Mayseder
> Ignaz Moscheles
> Ignaz Franz Edler von Mosel
> Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart
> Joseph Panny
> Hieronymus Payer
> Johann Peter Pixis
> Wenzel Plachy
> Gottfried Rieger
> Philipp Jakob Riotte
> Franz Roser (Franz de Paula Roser)
> Johann Baptist Schenk
> Franz Schoberlechner
> Simon Sechter (Bruckner's teacher !)
> Maximilian Stadler
> Joseph von Szalay (or de Szalay)
> Wenzel Johann Tomaschek (= Václav Tomášek)
> Michael Umlauf
> Friedrich Dionysius Weber (= Bedřich Diviš Weber)
> Carl Angelus von Winkhler
> Franz Weiss
> Johann Nepomuk August Wittasek (= Jan August Vitásek)
> Johann Hugo Worzischek (= Jan Václav Voříšek)


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## musicrom

I wasn't really expecting anything from George Whitefield Chadwick, but his Second Symphony came up on Pandora not too long ago and I was left surprisingly impressed by it.


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