# What to get next?



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I've been rounding out my minor composers collection, I've got a ton of Penderecki, some de falla, bartok, glazunov, and a few others I can't remember. I'd like a suggestion as to what to look into next. I'd prefer someone with some large works like a concerto, or symphony, or something. I'm open to a lot of things, so any suggestions are welcome .


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

You could try some american composers. William Schuman is a favorite of mine, though he is most certainly an acquired taste.

Also, he's not minor, but he's certainly neglected, Medtner! Do ANYTHING Medtner. He was a complete genius.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I would hardly call Bartok a minor composer...but anyway! Try some Kancheli symphonies. Or his piece Styx for viola, choir and orchestra, thats a really cool piece.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

To piggyback on what cc has just suggested, I would recommend the symphonic works of Walter Piston and Howard Hanson.


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

Well by minor i merely meant not the standard cannon of Bach, Beethoeven, Mozart. etc. Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about Schumann for awhile now, but had always thought I misheard the name. Thanks . By the way, if anyone can help me I once played a toccata, it may have been transcribed for piano, I thought by Paul Creston, and have been looking for a recording for years. Do I have the wrong name?


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Manok said:


> Well by minor i merely meant not the standard cannon of Bach, Beethoeven, Mozart. etc. Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about Schumann for awhile now, but had always thought I misheard the name. Thanks . By the way, if anyone can help me I once played a toccata, it may have been transcribed for piano, I thought by Paul Creston, and have been looking for a recording for years. Do I have the wrong name?


I don't know if he wrote a toccata, but Paul Creston is definitely the name of another great composer worth exploring. So you most likely do have the right name.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

http://artrock2006.blogspot.com/search/label/Classical Corner


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

For symphonies try those of

Vagn *Holmboe *- 8 is an ideal start, otherwise go for the middle ones first: 6-10
Robert *Simpson *- 6 and 7 are good places to start, but all are good
Havergal *Brian *- 6-10 are the ones to start with
Aulis *Sallinen *- very gestural, as opposed to the more rigorous Holmboe and Simpson, but 3 is remarkable
Hilding *Rosenberg *- more muted, pastel colours, but they are satisfying = 4, which is long and choral, is also very approachable 
Michael *Tippett *- all four are worthy of exploration, maybe try the first two first
Allan *Pettersson *- 7 is reasonably tight and very powerful. It will tempt you to listen to the others. Beware.
Franz *Schmidt *- somewhat earlier than the above, his four are clearly successors to Mahler and the late Romantics - start with 4
Olivier *Messiaen *- _Turangalilia _symphony - vast and hedonistic
Roberto *Gerhard *- the most 'avant garde' of this bunch, 4 is aurally stunning

Of course, I am assuming you know the symphonic cycles of *Shotakovich*, *Prokofiev*, *Nielsen*, *Sibelius*


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Going off what you've said, but you may already know about the composers I am about to talk about -



Manok said:


> ...I've got a ton of Penderecki...


Try other Polish composers, eg. Szymanowski who came before Penderecki. & also Penderecki's contemporaries, Gorecki and Lutoslawski. 


> ...some de falla, ...


There are lots of modern Spanish composers. THIS disc of piano concertos from Spain played expertly by the late Alicia de Larrocha is a good start.



> ...bartok, ...


Other modern-era Hungarians worth checking out are Kodaly, Dohnanyi, Ligeti & also Kurtag. The latter two are more recent & experimental.



> ...glazunov, ...


Our resident expert of Russian music, Myaskovsky2002, is currently "on leave" it seems. There are many minor Russian composers, or at least those with only a couple or a few things that have entered the repertoire, a lot from either side of 1900, eg. Borodin, Balakirev, Ippolitov-Ivanov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Anton Rubinstein, Arensky, Liadov, Gretchaninov, etc...


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Adept renderings of Ginastera work, by Mark Kosower (Principal Cello, Cleveland Orchestra).

















Article -

http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2010/06/new_principal_cellist_for_clev.html


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## Guest (Oct 31, 2011)

Manok said:


> I've been thinking about Schumann for awhile now, but had always thought I misheard the name.


You have certainly misspelled the name. It's Schuman. Robert Schumann is a 19th century composer who was born in Zwickau. Willian Schuman is a 20th century composer who was born in Manhattan.

Misspelling words like "canon" is fairly benign. The worst thing that will happen there is that one of your readers grins when they read "cannon." (If we suspect that English is not your native language, we will certainly not laugh. We're in awe of your linguistic powers, really, which are mightier than ours--English speakers being notoriously only able to speak English.)

With people's names, however, it's probably best to be more scrupulous. Beethoven. Schuman. Not that either of them cares, being dead and all. But still....

Edit: A quick note about Gerhard. His earlier works are not "avant garde" in any way. They're very good, however. His later works are spectacular. I think he's probably the least known and least heard of the European avant garde. It's a toss up between him and Luc Ferrari, both giants of music who might as well not have done anything as far as U.S. listeners are concerned. And Roberto taught at UC San Diego for awhile, too. (Which apparently does zip for one's U.S. reputation. How many people know another UCSD visitor, Chaya Czernowin? See? Zip!)


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## Llyranor (Dec 20, 2010)

For concertos and symphonies, why not try Bruch? Aside from his ever popular 1st violin concerto, he has 2 other neglected ones (and the Scottish Fantasy), and 3 symphonies.

If you want to go with Schumann, by all means! I'm not too familiar with his symphonies (but I ordered a set that's in the mail, coincidentally enough), but he wrote 3 excellent concertos (I love his violin concerto, not sure why some dislike it).





EDIT: Oh, you got confused with Schuman. Schumann's still an excellent choice, though!



Sid James said:


> Szymanowski


 I haven't heard much from him, but I really really like his 2nd violin concerto.

(I have a thing for violin concertos, I think)


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

Thank you for all the suggestions, very interesting discussion. And to the previous person who asked, I have the cycles of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Nielsen. All are a fun listen. I will definitely be giving the others mentioned a try. I also found one composer awhile back, when I was checking out british composers, William Walton, but I've never seen anything other than the standard, concertos and what not I have on the one cd. does he have anything else worth checking out?


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Manok said:


> William Walton, but I've never seen anything other than the standard, concertos and what not I have on the one cd. does he have anything else worth checking out?


I'm not that familiar with him but if you don't know them Symphony 1 and Belshazzar's Feast are well worth checking out.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Manok said:


> Thank you for all the suggestions, very interesting discussion. And to the previous person who asked, I have the cycles of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Nielsen. All are a fun listen. I will definitely be giving the others mentioned a try. I also found one composer awhile back, when I was checking out british composers, William Walton, but I've never seen anything other than the standard, concertos and what not I have on the one cd. does he have anything else worth checking out?


Walton has two nice symphonies, 1 and 2, that I enjoy and a nice *Viola* Concerto


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Now which Schuman/Schumann are we talking about?


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