# Neglected Piano composers?



## Manok

Just wondering, whos out there that most of us don't hear from very often that had wonderful piano pieces?


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## Dodecaplex

Alkan and Medtner.


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## clavichorder

CPE Bach could be a great piano composer as well, if he were ever played on that instrument and not just Clavichord/Harpsichord. Also, Clementi is underrated.

Some wonderful piano pieces from the relatively small outputs of Balakirev, Lyadov, and Chabrier.


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## elgar's ghost

The sonata by Dukas, but he didn't exactly sanction a fat lot else of his output, did he?


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## clavichorder

Grieg's Holberg Suite for solo piano is magnificent as well.


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## Tapkaara

Sibelius. Well, I don't know if he's neglected in the sense that his piano works are never recorded or performed...they are. It's just that they have a bad reputation. 

They are often dismissed as worthless trifles that were composed just so the composer could make money in between larger, more substantial works. I am not sure who the first person was to say that, but those words have stuck over the years, influencing many to believe that Sibelius's piano output is indeed worthless.

And as for the statement "he wrote them just to make money." The Finnish pianist Folke Grasbeck has a wonderful retort to that statement: "What composer doesn't write to make money?"

What we hear in Sibelius's piano works is often quite a bit lighter than most of his orchestral works. They are melodic and direct, almost deceptively so. His best works for the keyboard are solemn and meditative, yet quite intimate. Some may feel that they present a more accessible side of the composer than they are used to.

And no less than Glenn Gould was a champion of Sibelius's piano works. "He never wrote against the grain of the piano," he said.

And I may also look to put forth the piano music of Enrique Granados of Spain. You will be hard pressed to find keyboard music with more natural flair and amazing melodic invention. "Natural" and "effortless" are words that come to my mind when I think of Granados's writing for the instrument.


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## teej

How about Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (Felix Mendelssohn's sister!). This disc definitely belongs in every classical piano music lover's collection. For example, her Notturno in G minor (2nd track) is a wonderful and very moving piece. Check it out!


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## Weston

John Field, alleged inventor of the Nocturne


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## LordBlackudder

Masashi Hamauzu is pretty cool.


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## Art Rock

Just listening to Willam Alwyn's piano music as this topic came up.


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## tdc

Joaquin Rodrigo


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## clavichorder

Lyapunov's Transcendental Etudes.


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## Taneyev

Smetana
Dvorak
Gottschalk
Turina
Lyadov
Suk
Shostakovich
Taneyev
Paderewski
Reger
Hindemith
Godowski


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## Air

A year ago I would've said Medtner, but we have so many Medtner fanatics on this forum it's incredible. I love it. Alkan, I feel, is still underrated, probably because his style is a lot quirkier and harder to appreciate for aficionados of Romantic era piano music. It can also be said that his piano music is less pianistic, but rather more symphonic, and overall, it has a lot of modern qualities to it - it explores complex rhythm and dissonances that completely transcend its era.

Other composers that come to the top of my mind:

Frescobaldi
Froberger
Weckmann
Hummel
Fanny Mendelssohn
Heller
Bortkiewicz
Eiges
Roslavets
Janacek
Villa-Lobos
Glass
Liebermann


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## Aramis

This is real mine field, history of music is full of piano virtuosos and composers who fell into obscurity and now are revived - I dare to say that most of them are really unrewarding. The Hyperion's series which we all know should be praised for bringing up many gems but among this impressive numbers of forgotten piano stuff they released there is much more of mediocrity and repetative, uninspired pieces than true masterpieces. I got really sick sometimes when listening to all this boring music. Lyapunov got me heavily annoyed with his concertos. Bortkiewicz didn't strike me with anything special as well. But let's write about something positive.

Szymanowski gets some attention around the world for his great orchestral and violin music (sometimes for vocal stuff too) but his piano music is still forgotten. He wrote many works for piano, from beautiful post-romantic works summarized with 2nd piano sonata to magical, quasi-impressionist works like _Masks_ or the 3rd sonata.

There is also that awesome geezer which I mentioned something like 32498345425 times already on this forum but which gets little attention despite the fact that he, contrary to most of forgotten XIXth century geezers of piano, offers real depth, originality and beauty:

http://www.talkclassical.com/13341-forgotten-masterpiece-piano-literature.html


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## Weston

Now is another good opportunity for me to mention Cecile Chaminade who I began collecting recently. I think her music is as beautiful as she was. And just because many of her pieces can be a bit easier to play than better known works does not invalidate them.


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## clavichorder

Paradies is pretty nice pre-classical Scarlatti-esque composer. In that vein, Portuguese composer Carlos Seixas wrote many sonatas, as did Soler.

Its true that Lyapunov's piano concertos are not his best. Lyapunov is hit and miss for me. But the Trascendental etudes are very good. Names like Hummel and Heller are overrated amongst the obscure piano people in my opinion, Heller is good at making student compositions and Hummel is nice for a while, but not impressive. Renaissance definitely has unexplored treasures, particularly to be found with the Elizebethan composers like Byrd, Dowland, Bull, and anonymous. 

Alkan at his best is one of a kind unique. Other times he's just weird and silly, always strange, sometimes amazing sometimes whatever. Medtner however, is top notch, to rival Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. Medtner's continued neglect is a real shame, the skazki are one of the greatest sets in the piano literature. Taneyev? Did he write much for solo piano? Busoni at his best is really top notch, but quickly becomes a little bit wrapped up in ideas. Szymanowski, what I've heard of him sounds intriguing, Scriabinesque, but my piano teacher hates him, and love Scriabin. I'll have to investigate why this is. Smetana is a neat composer for piano. John Field and Faure wrote incredible nocturnes, and Balakirev is great as well. Telemann wrote very nice fantasias and "overtures" that should be played more often. A few great preludes and suites by Purcell and Boyce. 

If we are naming those that aren't that great, but are good enough that they should be better known, Myaskovsky's piano sonatas seem like they could have some recognition.

My list(of what I've heard) in order of undeserved recognition goes as such for the time being with romantics and modern:
1) Medtner-everything
2) Alkan-etudes in minor keys and plenty of great miniatures
3) Lyadov-tons of really great and really short pieces
4) Balakirev-some really rich Russian stuff
5) Chabrier-really clean and melodic french writing, piece pittoresque is incredible
6) Field-great nocturnes, the originals, simple yet slippery
7) Lyapunov-Transcentental Etudes and a nice Ravel-esque sonatina
8) Faure-nocturnes


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## tdc

Aramis said:


> Szymanowski gets some attention around the world for his great orchestral and violin music (sometimes for vocal stuff too) but his piano music is still forgotten. He wrote many works for piano, from beautiful post-romantic works summarized with 2nd piano sonata to magical, quasi-impressionist works like _Masks_ or the 3rd sonata.
> 
> http://www.talkclassical.com/13341-forgotten-masterpiece-piano-literature.html


Once again nice rec! Szymanowski's 2nd Piano Sonata is definitely getting nominated by me in the next round of our top solo keyboard works...


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## unpocoscherzando

Friedrich Nietzsche is entirely neglected.

Also, I agree that Sibelius is vastly underrated as a composer for piano. Try the _Pensees Lyriques_, Op. 40.


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## Tapkaara

I'd also like to mention the Japanese composer Fumio Hayasaka (1914 - 1955). He grew up in northern Japan and was an organist at a Catholic church as a young man.

He thus became quite interested in such things as Gregorian chant. He was also quite interested in French music and the music of his native Japan.

A keyboardist himself, he wrote several works for piano. I am not a pianist but his solo piano works do not strike me as terribly difficult to play. They are, however, melodic, witty and often sound like Debussy...if he had been born in Japan.

Hayasaka also wrote an amazing Piano Concerto in 1948. It's available on Naxos. You can also hear it on YouTube (see below).

Hayasaka was a mentor to Toru Takemitsu. Also, he was Akira Kurosawa's composer of choice on his early films including, notably, Rashomon and The Seven Samurai. He died in 1955 due to lifelong affliction of tuberculosis.


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## DABTSAR

feinberg! also i appriciated roslavets getting mentioned


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## norman bates

LordBlackudder said:


> Masashi Hamauzu is pretty cool.


i've never understood if you're serious, whatever the argument is you invariably post some piece of music taken from final fantasy...


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## Taneyev

Brilliant, romantic, difficult and forgotten piano works: a sonata and variations by Paderewski. He didn't only the "Minue".


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## Tapkaara

I still urge folks to hear the Hayasaka concerto, posted by yours truly above. If this thread is about neglected piano composers, let's not neglect them in this thread!


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## joen_cph

As regards the 20th century, *Samuel Feinberg*´s sonatas are wonderful, Scriabin-inspired compositions. *Sorabji* will gradually conquer terrain; I am convinced that his "100 Etudes", currently being recorded on BIS, will become a part of the canon of the greatest piano works of all time, for instance. *Skalkottas* should also be played more. *Busoni* doesn´t seem to get the recognition he deserves.

Among the late romantics, *Josef Suk*, *Rued Langgaard*, *William Baines* and *Joseph Guy Ropartz * are among those piano composers who should be heard more of.


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## moody

I love Padre Soler but don't consider him a piano composer. Bortkiewicz is a joke, I've been playng his piano concerto to friends to make them laugh for 25 years. 
Gottschalk, Macdowell, Moskowski, Moschelles, Busoni, Thalberg and finally Tchaikovsky's solo piano pieces !


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## Taneyev

Piano works of Smetana, Glazunov, Saint-Saëns, Turina, d'Indy, Godowsky, Lyapunov, Lyadov and many others underrated, forgotten and very seldom played live. Few recordings.


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## Shostakovichiana

Wagner? ...


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## Vaneyes

Severac, Mompou, Franck (solo).


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## agoukass

I think that there are many piano composers who are neglected justly or unjustly.

For example, I have recently been acquainting myself with Tchaikovsky's piano music. Aside from "The Seasons" and some of his smaller pieces, I don't think that we really hear that much from him. However, he was extremely talented and poured his heart and soul into the music. One of the pieces that I would cite as an example of this is his "Dumka," which was recorded by the likes of Aldo Ciccolini and Vladimir Horowitz. It's a very beautiful work. Of course, he also wrote his share of trifles and salon music, but I think that it should be aired out every once in a while.

Another neglected composer that I can think of is Leopold Godowsky. I think that part of the reason why so much of Godowsky's music is not played is because it is so fiendishly difficult. His "53 Studies after Chopin's Etudes" are among the most difficult things ever composed for a person with ten fingers. However, they are also fascinating transformations of the original. His Passacaglia and Sonata are also notoriously difficult works, but there are other smaller pieces that are extremely delectable such as his transcriptions of 18th century harpsichord music and his extremely lyrical Schubert song transcriptions.


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## Guest

Per Norgard, particularly his 2nd Sonata--very powerful stuff. Magnus Lindberg writes interesting pieces, too.


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## starthrower

Magnus Lindberg writes a lot of interesting music of all kinds, but nobody here talks about him.


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## jfmurray

Don't forget some of the Czech masters:
Dussek (some very fun-to-play piano sonatas)
Vanhal (relatively easy pieces)
Kozeluch (an amazing collection of piano sonatas)
Vorisek (impromptus foreshadowing Schubert)


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## Souhayl

André Mathieu


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## mensch

Sigismund Thalberg. He was a rockstar in the 19th century and is now primarily known as the most important rival of Liszt. Sadly, his music isn't performed that often and when music of him is featured it's mostly his various fantasies on popular operas, the hallmark of the 19th century virtuoso. Thalberg did write some of his own, original piano music and while it's not up there with great composers of the day like Chopin and his rival Liszt, it certainly is beautiful. Stefan Irmer made a recording of Thalberg's 12 Études (Op. 26) and there are some nice pieces among them (the 8th etude, for example). His fantasies are technically impressive, but they often bog down in technical fireworks. His "Souvenirs de Beethoven" (Op. 39) is interesting, though that might be due to the source material (Beethoven's seventh symphony).

Another neglected composer, for the piano at least, is Rossini. His Péchés de vieillesse are maybe not very innovative, but a true delight nonetheless. I'm not sure a complete recording of all the pieces exists, which is a shame.


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## starthrower

Henry Cowell


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## suffolkcoastal

I'll 2nd the earlier mention of Glazunov, I understand why his piano music is in the repertoire of most top pianists. The Sonatas are particularly demanding and virtuosic works superbly written and ideal recital material.

There are Arnold Bax's 4 piano sonatas, all big demanding pieces requiring an outstanding pianist but again richly rewarding and he wrote a fair number of shorter works for the piano which are most recommendable.

Finally Roger Sessions 3 piano sonatas, the 3rd must be among the most aggressive and formidable of all sonatas.


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## Art Rock

suffolkcoastal said:


> There are Arnold Bax's 4 piano sonatas, all big demanding pieces requiring an outstanding pianist but again richly rewarding and he wrote a fair number of shorter works for the piano which are most recommendable.


Coincidentally listening to Bax's piano works (Chandos, disc 2) as I read this.


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## Orange Soda King

I am a fan of Alkan. I've played some of his works and they are quite good.


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## Lisztian

Alkan, Medtner, and Faure are the ones that stand out to me so far. I'm about to look more into the piano music of Sibelius and MacDowell.


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## violadude

Viktor Ullmann, composer of 7 piano sonatas. Those are the only pieces I know of him but they are pretty good, reminiscent of Prokofiev or something. He is one of those composers that was suppressed during WWII and I believe he died in one of the Nazi concentration camps. He does some pretty interesting things. For example, his 3rd sonata ends with a variations movement on a very very early, somewhat childish theme by Mozart (apparently the piece is KV3).


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## violadude

Just listened to a piano piece by Egon Wellesz that I quite liked a lot!


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## Vaneyes

Elgar, probably because he neglected it himself. I think the Garzon recording of Elgar piano works has revealed a genre that should have been expanded.


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## DeepR

I think Catoire hasn't been mentioned? I need to listen to more of it though.






Henselt??


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## DeepR

DeepR said:


> I think Catoire hasn't been mentioned? I need to listen to more of it though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Henselt??


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_von_Henselt

Yes, why wasn't Henselt mentioned? I guess because he didn't compose much and stopped composing at 30.
His etudes are lots of fun. Not Chopin, but still very nice. Some of them seem terribly difficult. 
Check out Op. 2 and Op. 5 on youtube.






Op. 2 No. 6, amazingly played by Rachmaninoff himself






"reproduced" version


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## DeepR

Catoire, two fantastic and very accessible pieces (to listen to):


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## mensch

DeepR said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_von_Henselt
> 
> Yes, why wasn't Henselt mentioned? I guess because he didn't compose much and stopped composing at 30.
> His etudes are lots of fun. Not Chopin, but still very nice. Some of them seem terribly difficult.
> Check out Op. 2 and Op. 5 on youtube.


Ah yes, Henselt. I have his "Piano Concerto" and "Variations de Concert" because they appeared alongside two pieces by Alkan ("Concerto de Camera, Op. 10"). I'm still thinking of buying Henselt's etudes as well. Piers Lane seems to be the only pianist who played the full two sets on the Hyperion label.


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## Nadia

Liapunov's Variations and Fugue on a Russian theme is a beautiful piece that is stuck in my head for months. The theme is so beautiful... And I don't hear it often. Definately underplayed.
His transcendentals are beautiful too. I like Terek and Lezginka. Lezginka is a little bit similar to Islamey, but I find Lesginka more interesting. You can hear the Cossackc in it.


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## Krisena

Okay. I'll contribute to this thread with Geirr Tveitt. Who is neglected not because of musical merit, but because people thought he had nazi sympathies during WWII, which is false.

Influential French critic and composer Nadia Boulanger nicknamed him "the Nordic Ravel" and described his music as a fresh breeze. Tveitt wrote 6 piano concerti, at least 29 piano sonatas and numerous piano pieces, and not to forget his orchestral works - he was a masterful orchestrator, as you can imagine from Boulanger's statement.

Here is the 4th piano concerto, an astoundingly elegant concerto, just see for yourselves. Enjoy.


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## Ravndal

Felix Blumenfeld


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## BurningDesire

Charles Ives. His marvelous piano writing is something I'd rank up with the real greats of the genre like Debussy, Chopin, and Beethoven (though I don't think he'd appreciate the comparison to Chopin, but I don't care, Chopin was a genius). His writing can be loud and bombastic and sarcastic and sneering, and quiet and subtle and warm and gentle. I highly recommend the epic Piano Sonata No. 2, which is a passionate set of portraits of transcendentalist writers and thinkers who influenced Ives considerably. One of the greatest things written on the instrument in the 20th Century, or in the history of the instrument IMO.

I would also mention Franz Schubert, and yeah I know he's not exactly a neglected composer, at least not around these parts, but it doesn't seem like his piano writing gets alot of mention compared to his orchestral output and especially his lieder. I love his music for piano, and it is one of the reasons I strongly think of him as a Romantic, rather than a Classicist, even though he heavily used classical forms and ideas. His piano duets are full of exciting rhythms and bombastic dynamics and huge rich chords, very reminiscent of later Chopin and Liszt and Schumann writing. I like that his writing wasn't ever for the point of showing off, and he takes advantage of the capabilities of the newly developing modern piano: the ability to play in an extremely wide dynamic range, to play rapidly repeated notes (best exemplified in the lied The Erlking). Its just beautiful stuff, whether its the accompaniment of a song or a masterful duet.


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## Perpixel

Geirr Tveitt Piano Concerto No. 4 "Aurora Borealis"
Geirr Tveitt Piano Sonta No. 29 "Sonata Etere"
Geirr Tveitt 50 Folk Tunes from Hardanger
Geirr Tveitt Morild
Geirr Tveitt Variations on a Folk song from Hardanger, for two pianos and orchestra


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## DavidA

I've no doubt there is really good stuff out there which people haven't heard or played much. However, usually when I hear something which someone is touting as a 'neglected masterpiece' I end up realising why it is neglected!


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## Novelette

Thalberg! 

I especially enjoy his Variations on "The Last Rose of Summer". Brilliant bravura elaboration on the theme.


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