# Music that's never been recorded that you'd like to hear?



## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Is there any music that you have heard about, a particular piece by a particular composer or a set of pieces, that has never been recorded to your knowledge and you're interested to hear it? For example, I was reading about a "grand ballet" by Minkus called "Camargo". A ballet about a kidnapping. But as far as I know, it hasn't been performed since the 19th century. I'd be really curious to hear the music. Anyone else have one?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Definitely. Chapela's "Magnetar," an electric cello concerto performed by the LA Phil in 2011. There are no plans to issue a recording, though the audience seemed to love it and it got great reviews. I have a samizdat recording, but it isn't the best...


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Two works are:

Morton Gould: _Prisms_. Gould's most adventurous band work.
Richard Danialpour's opera _Margaret Garner_ I have heard a few snippets.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Taneyev's opera Orestiea was recorded once, but I can't find it at any price, and I'd like it to be re-relased, or recorded again.

I'd also like a DVD of Enescu's Oedipe. 

There's more, let me think...


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Sorabji´s orchestral works and concertos; 
Yuri Levitin´s complete string quartets;
Felix Glonti´s orchestral works;
Karel Boleslav Jirak´s works, including the symphonies;
Sergei Slonimsky´s complete symphonies.

More John Fernström, Lucia Dlugoszewski, Vyacheslav Artyomov and Karl Weigl.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

It is rumoured that there was a complete set of recordings of Haydn's symphonies done before Dorati's, but I can't find them anywhere...


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Most compositions by Glenn Gould.

also, Benjamin Franklin's string quartet he wrote...


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I don´t think there was a complete *Haydn symphonies* before Dorati. 
_Max Goberman_ embarked on a project, but it wasn´t finished. Some of his recordings can be found here:
http://www.haydnhouse.com/Max_Goberman.htm
and there´s a good deal on you-tube 




_Scherchen_ also recorded roughly 20 or so for the Westminster label. _Leslie Jones_ a bunch too for Nonesuch, but I believe they were later than Dorati.

Concerning *Franklin´s String Quartet*, there was an old Vox Box LP recording by the Kohon Quartet, which has been released on cd
http://www.amazon.com/The-Early-String-Quartet-U-S-A/dp/B000001K35


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> I don´t think there was a complete *Haydn symphonies* before Dorati.
> _Max Goberman_ embarked on a project, but it wasn´t finished. Some of his recordings can be found here:
> http://www.haydnhouse.com/Max_Goberman.htm
> and there´s a good deal on you-tube
> ...


Apparently they were done under Ernst Märzendorfer, but the recording had a very limited release, difficult to get in the US and impossible in Europe  http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...q=Ernst Märzendorfer Haydn symphonies&f=false


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Interesting, I didn´t know that, and you are completely right: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Märzendorfer

Märzendorfer was an old-school conductor and did a good Mozart "Concerto for Flute & Harp" for DG I own. And more than that too, listed in the short Wikipedia article about him.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

> Is there any music that you have heard about, a particular piece by a particular composer or a set of pieces, that has never been recorded to your knowledge and you're interested to hear it?


Sadly there's quite a lot which I guess I'll never get to hear in my lifetime 

A whole generation missed out on Szymanowski's string quartets, even violin concertos as his death was eclipsed by the turmoil following the end of the second world war. Thankfully I'm not in that generation 

And there are others who are finally coming into print: the French obscure impressionist school, whom we've had a thread devoted to, are all coming back into recording/print; the German/Czech/Moravian/Jewish composers who were labelled Entartete Musik by the Nazis, like Haas, Krasa, Hartmann, Toch; the suppressed Soviet composers in addition to the above, including Klebanov whose restoration from exile is still far from complete. However!

With the age of the internet, it's funny how obscure string quartets, hard to find on vinyl LP, are now openly available for score lovers to download, or via youtube (lol!):






It's quite a mesmerising piece from it's dainty baroque like dance entrance to its sweeping lyrical lines, interprenetrated by a Dukas like Sorcerer's Apprentice tripping down the stairs in a magical castle fantasy.

Mostly, I'd like to hear Elena Firsova's string quartet cycle in recording has only ever been recorded fragmentarily - the Chilingirian Quartet attempt an interpretation of one of her string quartets, but only give a morsel of what's to come in the rest of her extensive cycle.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Mikhail Nosyrev's chamber output. There's a lot of his stuff that has never been played, let alone recorded - Olympia released most of his orchestral works over a series of 5 discs but since they went out of business no-one has took up the challenge to carry on. The composer's son set up a website but there has been no recent updates to throw any light on the prospect of further recordings. Nosyrev was an interesting case: from his late teens he served time in a far-flung gulag after being denounced - probably under false pretences - for allegedly keeping a diary that contained 'counter-revolutionary' material (the original sentence was death which was then commuted to 10 years) and then after his release lived in what was little more than internal exile, eking out a living by conducting provincial orchestras. His son said that if Shostakovich's music represented what it was like to live in expectation of arrest, then his father's music represented what it was like AFTER arrest. Much later on, Shostakovich was impressed with the compositions he heard and used his influence to attempt to have him admitted to the Union of Soviet Composers but sadly it came to nothing - in fact, Nosyrev himself wasn't officially 'rehabilitated' until after his early-ish death back in 1981.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Charles Koechlin's Opus 196 - Second Symphony (1944) & his Opus 220 - Monody for musical saw (1948)


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

> Mikhail Nosyrev's chamber output. There's a lot of his stuff that has never been played, let alone recorded - Olympia released most of his orchestral works over a series of 5 discs but since they went out of business no-one has took up the challenge to carry on.


I've only heard the violin and cello concerto release by Olympia (which incidentally, is still sold secondhand these days). At the time, Olympia had released his piano concerto and symphonic works. These are fine works.

Although I have no memory of his chamber music ever being released (not that I'm an elephant who never forgets...the chamber music releases of Olympia's former extensive catalogues were the first thing I trawled through).

We can only hope that the Northern Flowers people eventually get around to it....


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Unsuk Chin's excellent Cello Concerto needs a recording as soon as possible.

Also, I'd like a recording of the original original version (pre-Hamburg) of Mahler's 1st, but we don't have a complete set of parts as far as I know, so that's probably impossible.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Head_case said:


> I've only heard the violin and cello concerto release by Olympia (which incidentally, is still sold secondhand these days). At the time, Olympia had released his piano concerto and symphonic works. These are fine works.
> 
> Although I have no memory of his chamber music ever being released (not that I'm an elephant who never forgets...the chamber music releases of Olympia's former extensive catalogues were the first thing I trawled through).
> 
> We can only hope that the Northern Flowers people eventually get around to it....


Hi HC - I'm glad you liked what you heard. I think Nosyrev composed three string quartets amongst other chamber works. It's possible that they may not even have been published (I hope to God the manuscripts aren't lost) but if they are comparable in standard to the concertos and symphonies then it's a pity if they are destined never to see the light of day.

PS - I was in error: Nosyrev WAS accepted to the USSR Composers Union - in 1967.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Andre Jolivet's 1956 oratorio "La Vérité de Jeanne"


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

A number of "Principales oeuvres" by Jean Prodromidès:

Opéras :
- 1971. Passion selon nos doutes, Opéra de Lyon. 
- 1979-1980. Les Traverses du Temps, Opéras de Nantes et de Rouen. 

Théâtre musical : 
- 1963. Les Troyennes, Festival de Spolète (Italie) et New York. 
- 1965. L'Amérique, Théâtre de France, Paris. 
- 1966. Marat-Sade, Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris.

Ballets: 
- 1962. La Belle et la Bête, chorégraphie de M. Béjart. 
- 1969. Une saison en Enfer, Théâtre de France, Paris. 

Oeuvres symphoniques : 
- 1958. Deux Airs, pour mezzo et orchestre. 
- 1978. Instantanés. 
- 1985. Crossways.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> Hi HC - I'm glad you liked what you heard. I think Nosyrev composed three string quartets amongst other chamber works. It's possible that they may not even have been published (I hope to God the manuscripts aren't lost) but if they are comparable in standard to the concertos and symphonies then it's a pity if they are destined never to see the light of day.
> .


One of the French websites I used to be visit (before becoming illuminated and coming here ) ran a thread dedicated to Nosyrev:

http://www.mqcd-musique-classique.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1005

He has quite a cult following, strangely amongst the francophones.


































No one knows the whereabouts of the string quartets' scores. Perhaps its held within his family clan waiting for publication?

The sad thing is, there just isn't the critical mass across the world to make it happen...more likely, some enthusiast in the business with a heart for his music will make it happen because of his links with the music industry, rather than us plebs getting our voices heard. I guess that not dissimilar to the situation in the Soviet Union now..


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Thanks for the reply, HC - it's nice to see those comments (I got the gist of the posts despite my very fragmentary French) and you make a good point there at the end. I imagine there are plenty of other composers who are now doomed to be similarly neglected - both Olympia and Russian Disc championed some of them and it's typical that both labels are now gone and that other labels' priorities presumably lie elsewhere, especially in these ever more competitive times. Melodiya aside, are there actually any Russian classical labels left? I managed to get some works by the likes of Boiko and Popov while the aforementioned labels were still up and running and had they survived perhaps more would have emerged. At least Roslavets is undergoing a certain revival as family and admirers piece together the remains of what's left of his manuscripts and what music they can recall from memory - the steamroller of Soviet Socialist Realism really went to work on him.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

There is also the *Vista Vera* label, they have done some interesting Levitin, Denisov and artist-focusing releases, for instance:
http://www.vistavera.com/


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

That's a new one on me, joen - thanks for the post. Sadly, McAfee is advising me that the site has some possible security issues!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Hm, nothing indicated here ... but it´s mostly standard repertoire with Russian musicians. Also some A.Tcherepnin, Rubinstein etc., though. I hope they´ll do more Levitin.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Apart from the St Petersburg Archives and the two labels above...my Russian isn't good enough to make sense of what else there might be out there.

Years ago, Chant du Monde (France) had the 'Saison Russe' (Russian Season) releases which were delightfully compelling. Some of the best recordings of Rachmaninov's Vespers ever to appear .. as well as Soviet Chamber Music gems by Ustvolskaya, Gubaidulina, Denisov, Smirnov, before they all became mainstream.

I don't know Boiko...although I wouldn't be surprised if he was the half brother of Peiko :lol: The Russian language' cyrillic basis is really unfathomable for me - as much as the Uralic basis of the Hungarian.

Joen - I think it was you who introduced Levitin to me. His body of string quartets are fascinating. I discovered a few LPs by Falik which are utterly mood raking, churning tensions over emotions and ploughing them back into human despair. Clearly when Melodiya released these on vinyl LP, there was a substantial interest in what was then 'contemporary Soviet' music. What Russia needs nowadays is not another oligarch to wreck the arts industry...it needs another Belayaev.

I'll have to check some of the Soviet type CDs which I've ended up with (London has a large expat community, who seem to bring some of their obscurities and of course, those funny nesting dolls en masse). Veniamin Basner is one of my favourite contemporary lyrical Soviet composers. I *think* his CD was released in the Soviet ex-bloc - however my CD which I purchased, looks like a bootleg Cd-R. Maybe that is just the production quality gone down?

You can find some of his works abounding:






Artur Lourié who was mentioned before, had some epic releases - not least, on ASV before their demise. I found the CD last year after this forum's recommendation and it is exhilarating and refreshing in a kind of Startrek Borg attack sequel with all the tensions which Captain Luc Picard had to face at the final frontier (none of that Deep Space Voyager nonsense).

The fact that ASV went down under...for such a brilliant little mainstream label....it does not bode well for new releases of obscure classical Soviet music.

I get the impression it's got more to do with the rise of the ADHD generation who are used to 3 minute pop songs and instant yootoob gratification, stifling the creativity of the classical music market.

Mission for this year: get all of the dusty vinyl LP recordings of these composers when I travel around Europe before they are completely gone


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Not necessarily a recording, but I'd love a DVD of Einstein on the Beach.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I would be curious to hear Roger Sessions' opera "Montezuma ", about the legendary Aztec king and the 
conquistadors . It had its world premiere back in the 1960s at of all places , ther Berlin Deutsche oper ,but 
it never caught on, no doubt because of Sessions' thorny music . It sounds realy interesting .
A Met production would be very unlikely, but possibly sme other enterprising Americna company might 
attempt a revival . Possibly Leon Botstein could do a production, and a recording might follow .


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Yeah,...all the music in my head!!!


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

superhorn said:


> I would be curious to hear Roger Sessions' opera "Montezuma ", about the legendary Aztec king and the
> conquistadors . It had its world premiere back in the 1960s at of all places , ther Berlin Deutsche oper ,but
> it never caught on, no doubt because of Sessions' thorny music . It sounds realy interesting .
> A Met production would be very unlikely, but possibly sme other enterprising Americna company might
> attempt a revival . Possibly Leon Botstein could do a production, and a recording might follow .


I forgot about _Montezuma_. As a big Sessions fan I would look forward to hearing a performance. I hesitate to mention this, so please correct me if I am wrong, I thought Julliard mounted a production.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

kv466 said:


> Yeah,...all the music in my head!!!


Is it all in your head, or have you got any of it out yet


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Head_case said:


> Is it all in your head, or have you got any of it out yet


Na,...luckily I get to get it out with much frequency. I just meant all the classical I've composed throughout the years; in dreams and hypnotism.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Cool 

I think I love music so much because my own compositional skills are non-existent. I can improvise and play on a few instruments, although never can be bothered to compose. Maybe that's the difference it takes to make a composer - the rigorous discipline.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I just thought of another one. As far as I know, Dvorak's Ecossaises, Op. 41 have never been recorded. Yet I heard MIDI versions of them on an interactive Encyclopedia I used to have when I was younger, so I know the tunes well. How strange that the encyclopedia decided to create MIDI versions of music that's never been recorded.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

The university I work for once commissioned a work by Michael Daugherty, then a year or so later commissioned a chamber work from Peter Schickele. I processed the partial payment check for the both of these, but never heard anything more about it. I've always wondered what these pieces are, and if they have been recorded. I've found no record of them in the university's performace archive which seems very strange to me.


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## matsoljare (Jul 28, 2008)

Sten Broman - practically everything, especially the string quartets and the late symphonies. As far as i know, nothing by him is currently available! Also all these unreleased pieces by Jan W. Morthenson, Sven-Erik Bäck, Ingvar Lidholm, Bengt Hambraeus, Bo Nilsson.... i could go on.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

I know it sounds pretentious but I'd love to hear the music of ancient Greece. They had the finest architects, poets, philosophers, mathematicians, dramatists and composers - and none of the music survives. I read recently that there could be male choirs of a thousand voices, and that Pericles considered music to be medicine. A guy called Damon was quite famous in his day.

I wouldn't mind hearing their stuff, I bet it's as great as anything since then...


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Kieran said:


> I know it sounds pretentious but I'd love to hear the music of ancient Greece. They had the finest architects, poets, philosophers, mathematicians, dramatists and composers - and none of the music survives. I read recently that there could be male choirs of a thousand voices, and that Pericles considered music to be medicine. A guy called Damon was quite famous in his day.
> 
> I wouldn't mind hearing their stuff, I bet it's as great as anything since then...


Have you heard some of the scholarly attempts at recreation of this music? I know most of it is just speculation, but some of it is quite eerie. I remember seeing a TV documentary -- I wish I could remember the name -- something akin to the History Detectives where a fellow traces the sources of our myths and legends. One episode has a segment about a recreated ancient Greek hymn and the piece has haunted me ever since.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Hi Weston!

I haven't heard that, actually. What did they base their reconstructions on? Did the ancients leave some clue as to their music?

By the way, I wish you could remember the name of that documentary too!


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## mgj15 (Feb 17, 2011)

Would love to hear franz lachner's other symphonies aside from 5 & 8 which are both outstanding. I've heard rumor his 6th is good, but I'm unaware of a recording.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I was thinking I wanted to hear the piano sonatas of Leopold Kozeluch, but after a quick search, here they finally are!





What I'd really like to hear, are some more great works by Henri Jospeh Rigel, one of the finest French composers of the classical era.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Tristan said:


> I just thought of another one. As far as I know, Dvorak's Ecossaises, Op. 41 have never been recorded


There are complete sets of Dvoraks piano works on supraphon (Kvapil) http://www.supraphon.com/en/catalogue/on-line-database/detail/&idtitulu=2018774 and Brilliant Classics (Poroshina) http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Sep05/Dvorak_Poroshina_92606.htm

In the track listings the Ecossaises are called Scottish Dances.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

joen_cph said:


> There are complete sets of Dvoraks piano works on supraphon (Kvapil) http://www.supraphon.com/en/catalogue/on-line-database/detail/&idtitulu=2018774 and Brilliant Classics (Poroshina) http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Sep05/Dvorak_Poroshina_92606.htm
> 
> In the track listings the Ecossaises are called Scottish Dances.


Wow, awesome!  Now I feel stupid. I found several other recordings where they are under that name. I know that's what "Ecossaise" means, but I kept looking for them under that specific name; I should've noticed the opus number. Thanks for pointing that out to me


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I found a you-tube version of Dvorak´s op.41; 



 ;
they form a short cycle of only 6 mins.


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

Daniel Purcell (1664-1717) (brother of the great Henry Purcell) 
His music has been completely overshadowed by his brother.
He composed a great deal of music and was highly regarded in his day, but his output has been ignored by the record companies.
I know he wrote Recorder sonatas, I would love it if someone would do a CD of them.

Let me know if there is one!


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> I was thinking I wanted to hear the piano sonatas of Leopold Kozeluch, but after a quick search, here they finally are!


This composer is exceptionally fine, I believe there are many masterpieces awaiting rediscovery.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Presto, I was completely unaware of Daniel Purcell. I adore Henry's music particularly, and English music of that era generally. Thank you for mentioning it, I'll have to do a little research now.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

I've always wanted to hear Rameau's unfinished opera _Io_.

Having listened religiously to all of the operas of his that have been recorded, although this recording of Le Temple de la Gloire by La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy & Jean-Claude Malgoire completely eludes me [it only comes in LP form, as far as I can ascertain], I realize that the one-act operas aren't of such great moment [excepting Pigmalion], but the fact that Io is unfinished makes me want to listen to it all the more. Orchestral suites don't do it for me, I want the whole opera.

I look forward to the completion of the new edition of Rameau's complete works in sheet music, the Durand publication is incomplete. =\


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

Novelette said:


> Presto, I was completely unaware of Daniel Purcell. I adore Henry's music particularly, and English music of that era generally. Thank you for mentioning it, I'll have to do a little research now.


My pleasure.
Put a "Daniel Purcell" search in youtube and some fascinating things come up, mainly vocal pieces sounding very similar in style to his brothers works.
Not very much instrumental music though.


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## stevederekson (Jan 5, 2014)

Townley's 2nd piano concerto is brilliant in a very romantic way, but has never been recorded. Particularly the dying finale jumps out at me among all of the atonal that we hear nowadays.

I'll keep an eye out for it.


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