# Composers or compositions that you discovered through the forum?



## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Which composers or compositions have you discovered, and come to love through mention on this forum (or similar fora) including "games"/polls, and have come to love or appreciate?

Stories, banter, reminisces, and ideas welcome!


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

One composer that fits with your question is *Eric Korngold*. I discovered Korngold's music through a forum here a few years ago. His opera and film music are outstanding 20th century compositions appealing to a broad range of listeners (which includes a movie-goer). I then realized that I have actually heard of Korngold's music before through film music without even knowing!

This is Korngold playing his own music, on par with some of the hits by Debussy.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Xenakis
Schnittke
Coinci's Miracle of Notre Dame
Burgmuller
Neoclassical Stravinsky
Brahms Chamber Music
Crumb's Black Angels
Bach BWV 582
Ligeti Etudes
Hummel
Cherubini Reqiums
Michael Haydn Requiem
Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony
Borodin Symphony 2, In the Steppes of Central Asia
Petterson Symphony 7
Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos
Haydn Variations in F Minor
Handel Jephthah, Israel in Egypt, Theodora
Vivaldi E minor violin concerto, RV278


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The main one I can think of right now is Mieczysław Karłowicz, a Polish composer who died aged 32 in an avalanche. He left behind an awesome violin concerto, a very good symphony, a sinfonietta, and two CD's worth of symphonic poems, all worthwhile.


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## StDior (May 28, 2015)

Bach, CPE - Symphony in D, Wq 183/1
Brahms - Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118
Boito – Mefistofele
Boulez - Anthèmes II
Boulez – Répons
Buxtehude - Sonata for Violin, Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord in D minor, BuxWV 257
Caldara - Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo
Franck: Piano Trio in F-sharp minor, Op. 1/1
Gubaidulina – Quasi Hoquetus
Ives - Piano Trio
Khachaturian - Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano
Lachenmann - Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern
Radulescu – Intimate Rituals
Telemann - Paris Quartet no. 6 in E minor TWV 43:e4
Telemann - Quartetto in G Major TWV 43:G2 (Tafelmusik)
Telemann - Viola da Gamba Sonata in E Minor, TWV 41:e5 (Essercizii Musici)

And hundreds of more pieces.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

The 2 most recent discoveries through TC - Penderecki's symphony no. 6 and Pettersson's symphony no. 7.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

*JOHN WILLIAMS*

joking


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Friedrich Gernsheim's chamber music. If you like the chamber music of Brahms, as I do, you'll love this.


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

I've only been here a year or so, and, shortly after I arrived, my family, like many thousands of others in 2020, lost our only source of income. So, I haven't been able to listen to much unfamiliar music during the last year. But the forum _has_, very often, reminded me of music already on my shelves, and often, when I've returned to it, I've found more in it than ever before. A couple of representative examples:

1. A thread on Mercadante prompted me to revisit _all_ his recorded operas one after another. For the first time, instead of requiring him to do what Donizetti or Bellini did and feeling disappointed because he didn't, I began requiring him to do what _Mercadante_ did, and admiring him because he did. I don't know if I'm putting that clearly. I mean that I stopped thinking of him as second-rate Donizetti or Bellini, and started thinking of him as the world's greatest expert on the creation of Mercadante operas.

2. A couple of threads on 20th century symphonies prompted me to revisit various recent symphonists with new appreciation. For instance, I listened to Schnittke's symphonies in sequence rather than individually, and for the first time in my life I felt as if I actually _understood_ them.

These are just a couple of specific examples that spring immediately to mind. I could add many others.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

For me it's the contemporary composers like Ferneyhough and Chin. At first, it's the music I never asked to hear, and it came across that way. I was happy to bash it, but over time, being open to different ways to listen to music, I came to appreciate certain doors that were opened with their music. Also I never appreciated Schoenberg till much later. He's one of my top 5 now. Britten is also one that I've started to appreciate more than before.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

There is discovery and there is encouragement. I found the encouragement to persevere with a few composers who I felt cold towards - Messiaen being the king among them - most enriching. As for discovery, there must be many works that I first heard of here and probably a few composers. The forum has led me to quite a few early symphonies by Romantic composers (Svendsen was a particularly good find) which I enjoy a lot and would probably not have come across them otherwise. And then some members of this forum helped me a lot when I was lost with pre-Baroque music, an area of music I now spend quite a lot of time with.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Axter said:


> *JOHN WILLIAMS*
> 
> joking


Not funny :lol:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I explored some of John Williams stuff as a result of discussions here. I learned how strongly I dislike it but at least I learned.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> I explored some of John Williams stuff as a result of discussions here. I learned how strongly I dislike it but at least I learned.


I'm curious what is there to strongly dislike about J Williams? I can't say I'm fond of his work outside from watching a film, but don't hate it except when I hear Yoda's theme too often.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ It may just be a reaction to so many people feeling it is cutting edge music of the classical tradition. It is something to do with the decline in appreciation of classical music in general these days. But let's drop the subject. Sorry I mentioned it, JW fans!


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ It may just be a reaction to so many people feeling it is cutting edge music of the classical tradition. It is something to do with the decline in appreciation of classical music in general these days. But let's drop the subject. Sorry I mentioned it, JW fans!


Ok. I'm just a bit surprised to hear about a lot of people viewing it as cutting edge music. Musta missed that.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> Ok. I'm just a bit surprised to hear about a lot of people viewing it as cutting edge music. Musta missed that.


its jealousy that Williams is popular while someone like Birtwistle totally obscure. The reason is of course that Williams composed music that is accessible, memorable, tuneful, atmospheric, while Birtwistle composes music that is none of that.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

He said drop it. Let's drop it.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Then refrain from hit-and-run jabs yourself. Nothing like opening a thread and seeing a sabbath of 5 out of 6 people on Earth who hate a certain great composer.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Fabulin said:


> Then refrain from hit-and-run jabs yourself. Nothing like opening a thread and seeing a sabbath of 5 out of 6 people on Earth who hate a certain great composer.


I don't think I've ever posted about Williams on this forum. Not recently at least.

Frankly I don't even find his music comment-worthy.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> Ok. I'm just a bit surprised to hear about a lot of people viewing it as cutting edge music. Musta missed that.


At least JW is not the musical equivalent of:
"It's not only artists who are at fault; it is equally the fault of the so-called art community: the museum heads, gallery owners, and the critics who encourage and financially enable the production of this rubbish. It is they who champion graffiti and call it genius, promote the scatological and call it meaningful. It is they who, in reality, are the naked emperors of art, for who else would spend $10 million dollars on a rock and think it is art."


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

> Then refrain from hit-and-run jabs yourself. Nothing like opening a thread and seeing a sabbath of 5 out of 6 people on Earth who hate a certain great composer.





BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> I don't think I've ever posted about Williams on this forum. Not recently at least.
> 
> Frankly I don't even find his music comment-worthy.





BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> It's decent, but I can name probably 100 composers (and 50 from the 20th century alone) who wrote music better than the best of Williams.


a hit-and-run jab from 2 weeks ago, for bonus points full of boastful ******** typical for someone in their early 20s.

_Now _let's drop it.

Back to the thread: Gernsheim, M. Haydn, various works by the Bach family, unheard works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and many many others, especially thanks to the Talk Classical lists. Some great recordings too.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

hammeredklavier said:


> At least JW is not the musical equivalent of:
> "It's not only artists who are at fault; it is equally the fault of the so-called art community: the museum heads, gallery owners, and the critics who encourage and financially enable the production of this rubbish. It is they who champion graffiti and call it genius, promote the scatological and call it meaningful. It is they who, in reality, are the naked emperors of art, for who else would spend $10 million dollars on a rock and think it is art."


True. But I think that there is no musical equivalent of that. The constructs in Music are more apparent than splatters of paint, or unformed piece of rock, even when there is an element of randomness. The randomness is contained. I'll take any challenge in Music, the way he did with the Jackson Pollock test.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

*Over half the posts have been about John Williams, after one joke was posted. Please stop it and return to the topic of the thread.*


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I tend to discover music through listening to newly released recordings, but over the years TC has been good for reminding me of directions that I haven't explored as much. I can't say I've found new favourite composers, but the ongoing TC Most Highly Recommended list has led me to a few interesting discoveries, including (off the top of my head) Julius Eastman, Francis Dhomont and Mauricio Kagel.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

A member posted a video (IIRC) of a composer's symphony, who I'd never heard of before. I thanked the poster and made a note of the name. And promptly lost the note! All I remember, apart from loving what I heard, was that label was CPO, earlyish 20 century (?), Austro-German (?).


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Richard Wetz maybe?


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Art Rock said:


> Richard Wetz maybe?


No, but a very good suggestion (I was going to count him out in my original post). I have the Wetz CPO discs and especially like the requiem - most underrated.

Maybe I'll traipse through the CPO catalogue .....


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

too many to count. Especially some of the games have been helpful in this regard. I am still going through Art Rock's Unheralded Symphonies II list and I am almost at the end of this list of 200 symphonies. Also, unlike some others, I have discovered Talkclassical relatively early in my CM listening career, when I knew just the very basic repertoire, so I could actually say, that most of my listening has been discovered through TC.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Jacck said:


> I am still going through Art Rock's Unheralded Symphonies II list and I am almost at the end of this list of 200 symphonies.


Thanks for the reminder. I will be running that game in a few weeks/months from now.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Rebecca Saunders (thanks for nothing). :lol:

On the positive side there's Gerald Finzi, especially his cello concerto.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Art Rock said:


> *Over half the posts have been about John Williams, after one joke was posted. Please stop it and return to the topic of the thread.*


My apologies. Didn't know it has such a bandwagon effect.
I didn't intend that. I will refrain from these type of jokes.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Fabulin said:


> a hit-and-run jab from 2 weeks ago, for bonus points full of boastful ******** typical for someone in their early 20s.
> 
> _Now _let's drop it.
> 
> Back to the thread: Gernsheim, M. Haydn, various works by the Bach family, unheard works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and many many others, especially thanks to the Talk Classical lists. Some great recordings too.


Oh... Forgot about that one. Haha. I stand by my OPINION.

Btw, of those 50 20th c. composers whose music I prefer to that of Williams, probably about half of them I've discovered through this forum.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Another one I first came across on this forum is Hans Rott and his E major Symphony, which obviously influenced Mahler.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I should also have mentioned the Turkish composers Say and Saygun, which I have discovered in the games.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

HenryPenfold said:


> A member posted a video (IIRC) of a composer's symphony, who I'd never heard of before. I thanked the poster and made a note of the name. And promptly lost the note! All I remember, apart from loving what I heard, was that label was CPO, earlyish 20 century (?), Austro-German (?).


Some options could be Erdmann, Hausegger, Draeseke or Weingartner. Or among the Scandinavians, Louis Glass, Atterberg, Natanael Berg, Ludolf Nielsen, Peterson Berger, or Rudolph Simonsen. But there are many ...


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