# Revelations to date



## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

I suppose this question gets asked continually throughout the thread, but I will ask it in my own way. What composers have you discovered in the past year or two that have made you ecstatic in the find? They could be famous, known but underplayed, or completely obscure. I will start with two: Henry Cowell and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Both were very productive composers with truly original voices. Cowell was marred with a sexual assault conviction early in his career which may account for his elusiveness. Villa-Lobos - famous as much for his character as the few compositions that endure. For me the excursion so far has taken me through all of Cowell's Hymn and Fuging Tunes and all Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras. I have yet to enter the world of their symphonies! I would love to hear what has torn you from the standards and sent you down a happy rabbit hole of music. The good thing about all this, is the way it has encouraged me to look at so many other composers of the same era.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I have been astonished to discover the composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert this year. Very creative, very strong music, and he wrote a lot of it. Why isn't he better known?


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

NoCoPilot said:


> I have been astonished to discover the composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert this year. Very creative, very strong music, and he wrote a lot of it. Why isn't he better known?


I think I at one time had a Turnabout Lp with some of his organ music. Any specific suggestions?


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

PeterKC said:


> I think I at one time had a Turnabout Lp with some of his organ music. Any specific suggestions?


"L'Harmonium Excentrique" Vol.s 1-4
"Ultimate Organ Works"
"Complete Works for Flute"
Piano sonatas

I'm still diving into his oeuvre.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

NoCoPilot said:


> I have been astonished to discover the composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert this year. Very creative, very strong music, and he wrote a lot of it. *Why isn't he better known?*


To answer your question, it's got to be his surname. The way it awkwardly rolls off the tongue (along with a heavy amount of spit).


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Alexander Zemlinsky; I discovered this composer some months ago and now he's one of my favourites. Unfortunately, and a bit unfairly, he is known less than he deserves, as he composed very impressive, deeply beautiful music, absolutely awe inspiring! So far I've listened to his String Quartets, several of his orchestral works and, I think, almost all his operas.


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

NoCoPilot said:


> "L'Harmonium Excentrique" Vol.s 1-4
> "Ultimate Organ Works"
> "Complete Works for Flute"
> Piano sonatas
> ...


Thanks much!


Lisztianwagner said:


> Alexander Zemlinsky; I discovered this composer some months ago and now he's one of my favourites. Unfortunately, and a bit unfairly, he is known less than he deserves, as he composed very impressive, deeply beautiful music, absolutely awe inspiring! So far I've listened to his String Quartets, several of his orchestral works and, I think, almost all his operas.


He was a great friend of Mahler, I think. I will listen to the quartets. Thank you.


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

PeterKC said:


> He was a great friend of Mahler, I think. I will listen to the quartets. Thank you.


He was, and a great friend of Schönberg, Berg and Webern too. I hope you'll enjoy the String Quartets!


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

Lisztianwagner said:


> He was, and a great friend of Schönberg, Berg and Webern too. I hope you'll enjoy the String Quartets!


I'm thinking I will. I appreciate your recommendation.


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## PaulFranz (May 7, 2019)

Rautavaara blew my mind this year, as did Scharwenka's four piano concerti.


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

Which piano concerto did you like best?


Lisztianwagner said:


> He was, and a great friend of Schönberg, Berg and Webern too. I hope you'll enjoy the String Quartets!


Listening to the second quartet now. It is quite good. Very original.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Lisztianwagner said:


> Alexander Zemlinsky; I discovered this composer some months ago and now he's one of my favourites. Unfortunately, and a bit unfairly, he is known less than he deserves, as he composed very impressive, deeply beautiful music, absolutely awe inspiring! So far I've listened to his String Quartets, several of his orchestral works and, I think, almost all his operas.


He's one of my favorite composers, too. I think he's unfairly neglected and is unfortunately overshadowed by not only his pupil Schoenberg, but Mahler and Strauss as well. I have yet to hear a bad work from him! I need to revisit some of his operas, though, as it's been too long. I remember being absolutely enchanted with _Der Zwerg_ and _Eine florentinische Tragödie_ from start to finish.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

A composer I haven't really listened to or given much thought over the past 14 years or so is Felix Mendelssohn (who is my current avatar). Earlier in the year, I revisited some of his symphonies, concerti, overtures and _Ein Sommernachtstraum_. I'm now officially hooked, but I decided to branch out and start exploring his chamber and solo piano works. I also just bought a recording of _Elijah_, which is a work I've heard a decade ago, but that's about all I remember. What strikes this listener about his music is not only his fantastical inventiveness, but the clarity he was able to get from whatever instrument he was writing for. I once heard that he's a Classicist with a Romantic heart. I think this sums up his general compositional style. In this regard, I'm reminded of his successor Saint-Saëns who is another composer I've come to absolutely adore over the past year or so. If you don't believe me, I've got the CDs to back up this statement!


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Neo Romanza said:


> He's one of my favorite composers, too. I think he's unfairly neglected and is unfortunately overshadowed by not only his pupil Schoenberg, but Mahler and Strauss as well. I have yet to hear a bad work from him! I need to revisit some of his operas, though, as it's been too long. I remember being absolutely enchanted with _Der Zwerg_ and _Eine florentinische Tragödie_ from start to finish.


Yes, indeed; maybe if he could have taken that little step towards atonality more confidently, he would have had better luck; he was also a bad champion of his own works. Absolutely agree about two operas you mentioned, they are both astounding, especially _Der Zwerg, _which is deeply touching and beautifully overwhelming. About Zemlinsky's operas, Schönberg said: "One thing is out of doubt, in my opinion: I know not one composer after Wagner, who could fulfill what the theatre demands with better musical substance, than he. His ideas, his forms his sounds and every turn of them, sprang directly out of the action, out of the scenery and out of the singer's voices with a naturalness and distinction of supreme quality." Good, old farsighted Schönberg! 😁


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## RandallPeterListens (Feb 9, 2012)

Music doesn't need to be recently composed to be recently discovered. Recently, I listened to a multi-CD set of organ music by Dietrich Buxtehude in performance by Rene Saorgin. Buxteude, even while writing several decades before Bach, gives Bach a run for his money in organ composition. One hears a lot of Bach in Buxtehude. It makes it clear why Johann Sebastian walked, like, a couple hundred miles to Luebeck to hear Buxtehude play. 
There have been quite a few releases of music by Johann Friedrich Fasch in recent years. Some of his music is right up there with Bach, Handel, Telemann and company. Although a good deal of baroque music was saved from the flames of the bombs in WWII (I am thinking of the manuscripts in the Woelfenbuettel library, for instance), a lot was still destroyed (how much in Dresden alone?). Sad to think of all that music we will never get to hear.


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Neo Romanza said:


> A composer I haven't really listened to or given much thought over the past 14 years or so is Felix Mendelssohn (who is my current avatar). Earlier in the year, I revisited some of his symphonies, concerti, overtures and _Ein Sommernachtstraum_. I'm now officially hooked, but I decided to branch out and start exploring his chamber and solo piano works. I also just bought a recording of _Elijah_, which is a work I've heard a decade ago, but that's about all I remember. What strikes this listener about his music is not only his fantastical inventiveness, but the clarity he was able to get from whatever instrument he was writing for. I once heard that he's a Classicist with a Romantic heart. I think this sums up his general compositional style. In this regard, I'm reminded of his successor Saint-Saëns who is another composer I've come to absolutely adore over the past year or so. If you don't believe me, I've got the CDs to back up this statement!


I've been listening to Mendelssohn's solo piano music a lot lately. Very very good. Id put him in my top ten though in the lower 5. I listen mostly to solo piano so cant comment on his Orchestral but have heard some of the Symp though its been awhile


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I've not made any "revelatory" discoveries over the last year, but I've made a bunch of interesting ones over the past decade or so. Among them, I'd include the following composers & works,

1. Charles Koechlin

--Paysages et Marines--both versions:
a. For solo piano (1917),




b. & the later chamber arrangement (1949-50),




--Au loin, Op. 2, No. 2,




--String Quartet No. 1,




--Violin Sonata




--Viola Sonata
Charles Koechlin - Viola Sonata, Op. 53
--Trio for flute clarinet and bassoon, Op. 92
Charles Koechlin: Trio for Flute, Clarinet, and Bassoon, Op. 92 (1924)
etc.

2. Darius Milhaud

--Violin Sonata No. 2:
Darius Milhaud: Sonata No.2 per violino e piano, Op.40 (1917)
--Le Printemps, Books 1 & 2:
Darius Milhaud: Le Printemps (Books 1 and 2); William Bolcom, piano

3. Vagn Holmboe

--Symphony No. 8 "Sinfonia borealis"--the 2nd movement is a wild ride,
Vagn Holmboe: Symphony No. 8, "Sinfonia boreale" (Owain Hughes)
etc.

4. Joonas Kokkonen

--Symphonie 1-4
Symphony No. 1: I. Moderato
Symphony No. 3: I. Andante sostenuto
--String Quartet No. 3:
String Quartet No. 3: I. Allegretto
String Quartet No. 3: II. Allegro
String Quartet No. 3: III. Adagio
--Pielavesi Suite:
Pielavesi Suite: I. Preludietto. Molto moderato
--5 Bagatelles:
5 Bagatelles: I. Praeambulum. Allegro vivace
etc.

5. Magnus Lindberg,

--Violin Concerto no. 1:
Violin Concerto: I. ?
Violin Concerto: I. —

6. Peteris Vasks,

--Violin Concerto "Tala gaisma" or "Distant Light":
Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra "Tala gaisma"
--String Quartet No. 4
Vasks: String Quartet No. 4 by the Navarra String Quartet (Lincoln Center, 7 February 2019)

7. Philip Glass,

--Violin Concerto No. 1, premiered by Gidon Kremer:
Philip Glass - Violin Concerto No. 1 (w/ score) (1987)

& in early music,

8. Guillaume Faugues,

--Masses (performed by The Sound & the Fury)
Guillaume Faugues - Missa "Le serviteur"

9. Johannes Ciconia--the complete works:

Musique profane: I. Una panthera in compagnia di marte
Motets et mouvements de messe: VI. Gloria spiritus et alme No. 6

10. Johannes Ockeghem,

--Mort tu as navré de ton dart--a motet that Ockeghem composed in memory of the Burgundian composer, Gilles Binchois,

Mort, tu as navré - Miserere
Ockeghem: Mort tu as navré de ton dart


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

golfer72 said:


> I've been listening to Mendelssohn's solo piano music a lot lately. Very very good. Id put him in my top ten though in the lower 5. I listen mostly to solo piano so cant comment on his Orchestral but have heard some of the Symp though its been awhile


Thanks for the feedback. Right now, the only recording I have of any of his solo piano works is _Lieder ohne Worte_ with Daniel Barenboim. From here, I might check out the _Piano Sonatas_. Honestly, I'm trying my best not to get overwhelmed, because I do have a lot of his chamber music on the way (BIS and Hyperion recordings), so I think it might be a good idea to cool it for awhile. Also, I still need to get familiar with his symphonies and concerti again. One thing I can say for certain: I'm definitely looking forward to exploring his oeuvre.


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## Ulalume!Ulalume! (6 mo ago)

I'm still at the stage of exploring the general landscape of classical music rather than digging around and uncovering hidden gems. 
I believe last year I properly began my explorations of vocal music. I got into lieder some time during covid via folk music, seeking out musical settings of poems (mainlynorfolk and liedernet.. great websites!) I believe it was Haydn's settings of Burns (and a brilliant cd by Meredith Hall) that first made me rethink my prejudice against "classical singing" (which I had previously dismissed as "yelling"). I ended up going back and listening to the vocal works of composers I already liked e.g. Schubert. Then Philip Larkin's Selected Letters (great read!) put me onto Handel's oratorios. Then I began investigating the output of various condutors (Hogwood, Gardiner, Pinnock) which led me to Bach's cantatas that I listened to in full (Gardiner & Suzuki) during the first half of this year. I then went crazy over various compilations of operatic arias but couldn't get beyond Mozart, my old prejudice reappeared when I got to Rossini and co. I retreated back to the 18th century and before (esp. Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Purcell). I gave the countertenors a chance (Michael Chance) and discovered countless great albums.
It was only in the last couple of months I gave the post-Mozartian opera fellas another chance. And it was all thanks to this forum! I rarely post, not having much to say, but I spend a decent amount of time reading the Singer Vs Singer threads on the opera board which taught me a vital lesson... I wasn't entirely wrong to feel unsatisfied with the recordings of Rossini etc. I had listened to. Clearly I ought listen to the older singers! I learned my lesson and am now in the process of listening to the older singers (Crespin, Farrell, Caballe, Janowitz, Steber, Sutherland, etc) and their recordings. Apologies to Rossini, Verdi, Puccini and co, the beauty of your music is quite overwhelming. 
I'll finish this ramble by mentioning Strauss. The "Four Last Songs" to be specific. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on vocals.
_nonvocal postscript: Argerich's Shostakovich_


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

Bartók. Damned by having no, "Stand-out", piece that flies into every compilation of classical music, or is played repeatedly on classical radio, I'd hardly listened to any of his work. But what depth of quality. Easily made my top-five list of composers.


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## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

Alfred Schnittke. This guys music is just pure nuts. In a good way. He's written 10 symphonies and a bunch of other works. Quite a lot I find. I discovered that he became ill quite early on having stroke every other year later in life which instead of killing him just made him more productive with the little control he had over his body parts. Yet he kept on writing strange quirky music until the end of his days. Some deciphered after his death due to his weak hand writing. He was born 1934, so the music takes every past genre on board. The gods praise label BIS for pretty much recording most if not all of his Orchestral works. Was available as a boxset at one point.
The best way to describe what's in store is that he was a German Jew, born in Soviet Russia who converted to Russian Christian Orthodoxy before his death. Now that is a life lived and he composed it marvellously.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Busoni's my nomination. Having tried and failed to get into his music in the past, I've found this year that something's clicked and have really enjoyed the piano concerto, the violin concerto and most especially the two violin sonatas.


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## juliante (Jun 7, 2013)

Sibelius is my big breakthrough this year. Always found his work rather claustrophobic and tense. But i had not properly explored his symphonies, generally revisiting 2 and 5 to moderate reward. All that changed when I started dipping into Klaus Mikela's recent cycle with the oslo philharmonic. So much ravishing and engrossing music!


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

Subutai said:


> Alfred Schnittke. This guys music is just pure nuts. In a good way. He's written 10 symphonies and a bunch of other works. Quite a lot I find. I discovered that he became ill quite early on having stroke every other year later in life which instead of killing him just made him more productive with the little control he had over his body parts. Yet he kept on writing strange quirky music until the end of his days. Some deciphered after his death due to his weak hand writing. He was born 1934, so the music takes every past genre on board. The gods praise label BIS for pretty much recording most if not all of his Orchestral works. Was available as a boxset at one point.
> The best way to describe what's in store is that he was a German Jew, born in Soviet Russia who converted to Russian Christian Orthodoxy before his death. Now that is a life lived and he composed it marvellously.


I always avoided Schnittke because I thought his music would be difficult to get through. Boy was I wrong. Quirky in a good way indeed!


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Subutai said:


> Alfred Schnittke. This guys music is just pure nuts. In a good way. He's written 10 symphonies and a bunch of other works. Quite a lot I find. I discovered that he became ill quite early on having stroke every other year later in life which instead of killing him just made him more productive with the little control he had over his body parts. Yet he kept on writing strange quirky music until the end of his days. Some deciphered after his death due to his weak hand writing. He was born 1934, so the music takes every past genre on board. The gods praise label BIS for pretty much recording most if not all of his Orchestral works. Was available as a boxset at one point.
> The best way to describe what's in store is that he was a German Jew, born in Soviet Russia who converted to Russian Christian Orthodoxy before his death. Now that is a life lived and he composed it marvellously.


A little background to the 9th: this symphony was performed before his death and he asked that it never be performed again. So, according to him, his 8th was his last symphony. The 9th was barely legible in the state he left it, so it was reconstructed by Alexander Raskatov and recorded for the ECM label under Dennis Russel Davies.

I hope you decide to look beyond the orchestral works. His chamber and choral music is fantastic, too. The _Choir Concerto_ will leave you breathless. His SQs, _Piano Quintet_, _Cello Sonatas_, _Violin Sonatas_ are also very much worth your time.

Happy listening!


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## Zarzuela (Feb 8, 2017)

Mahler, believe it or not. My classical-music-loving father never played his music, so there was no early imprinting. I got into Bruckner somewhat in my 20s and started to believe that you liked either him _or_ Mahler, but not both. Mahler's symphonies seemed too busy and fragmented compared to Bruckner's. 

In 2011, I thought I'd finally give Mahler a true go by picking up Abbado's Lucerne Blu-rays. They did _nothing_ for me. Since I liked Abbado so much, I assumed the problem was Mahler, so I pretty much avoided him until about a year ago.

I attended a Mahler 1 concert and enjoyed that, then one of the Sixth, which I enjoyed even more. Then I started listening to several recordings of his works and began to realize that repetition had totally eliminated my previous sense of irritation regarding his eccentricities and in its place was an increasingly fervent affection. 

More than with other composers, the conductor's take really matters with Mahler. Some actually repel me for reasons I can't formulate (e.g., Kubelik). Yet, because Mahler's symphonies can be interpreted in such different ways, I find myself responding to quite varied approaches, which keeps things interesting. There's something to fit every mood.

I'd go so far as to say that Mahler has become my favorite composer, and now I listen to a symphony or two nearly every day. It shocks me to say that.


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