# Best music 1900-1945



## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

The period up to the Second World War saw many artistic movements (in the field of music, art and poetry) that opened new paths: dodecaphony, abstractionism, neoclassicism, post-romanticism, expressionism, futurism ...

It would be interesting to list some of your most favorite musical works, writing down composer + title + style, in order to recreate the artistic mosaic.
You can suggest also some good recordings!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Most of the music I listen to came from this period. Mahler, Puccini, Stravinsky, Elgar, Bax, Vaughan Williams, Respighi, Ravel, Debussy, Prokofieff, Shostakovich, Schmidt, Korngold...and so many, many more. Not to mention this was the era of the great marches for band by Fillmore, King, Goldman. Listing a few is a challenge...there's so much. But I'll give it a shot. Four of my favorites in this era:

Respighi: Pines of Rome. Pretty much summarizes the stunning orchestral achievements of western composers. Always provokes a strong, thrilling response. Conservative and tonal it may be, but what great music! Reiner/Chicago nails it.

Franz Schmidt: Symphony 4. The last of the great symphonies in the German/Austrian mold. Beautiful, powerful and oh so conservative. One of the greatest symphonies of the last 100 years. Mehta/VPO still own it.

Prokofieff: Romeo and Juliet. The greatest non-Tchaikovsky ballet ever. Modern, tonal, great tunes. Maazel/Cleveland.

Hanson: Symphony 2 "Romantic". Hard to believe it's almost 100 years old. If ever there was a "Great American Symphony" this is it. Great tunes, marvelous orchestration, very moving and yes, very conservative. Slatkin/St. Louis.

Korngold: The Sea Hawk score. This is what great movie music, in that old Wagnerian style, is all about. He wrote a lot of great soundtracks, but this one is just thrilling. DePriest/Oregon.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I don't think you can fail to mention 

*Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (1913)
Gustav Holst: The Planets (1917)
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1924)*

I'll second *Respighi: Pines of Rome*. Great orchestrations.

Film scores seem to be a contentious topic around these parts, but I'll second *Korngold's Seahawk* (1940) soundtrack, and add . . . .

*Max Steiner: King Kong* (1933)
*Eric Korngold: The Adventures of Robin Hood* (1938)
*Henry Stothart: The Wizard of Oz* (1939)
*Max Steiner: Gone With the Wind* (1939)


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Elgar Cello Concerto
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Holst - The Planets
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Shostakovich Symphony No. 7
Hanson Symphony No. 2 'Romantic'


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

It's interesting! You don't mention something more modern, like Bartòk, Schönberg, Berg...


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Personal favorites that come to mind, including both chamber and orchestral works since the OP did not specify.

Bartok - 6 String Quartets
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Debussy - La Mer
Nielsen - Symphony No. 4 'Inextinguishable'
Orff - Carmina Burana
Berg - Violin Concerto
Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

NovAntiqua said:


> It's interesting! You don't mention something more modern, like Bartòk, Schönberg, Berg...



It depends on who you are talking to. I personally can't stand Schönberg's and Berg's music, and don't find Bartòk's much better. YMMV.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Mahler - Symphony No. 4 (1900)
Fauré - Requiem (1900)
Mahler - Rückert-Lieder (1902)
Ravel - Shéhérazade (1903)
Mahler - Kindertotenlieder (1904)
Sibelius - Violin Concerto (1904)
Mahler - Symphony No. 6 (1904)
Suk - Symphony No. 2 "Asrael" (1905)
Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde (1909)
Mahler - Symphony No. 9 (1909)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 4 (1911)
Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé (1912)
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring (1913)
Respighi - Fountains of Rome (1916)
Bax - November Woods (1917)
Bax - Tintagel (1919)
Warlock - The Curlew (1922)
Respighi - Pines of Rome (1924)
Jongen - Symphonie Concertante (1926)
Sibelius - Tapiola (1926)
Nielsen - Clarinet Concerto (1928)
Ravel - Piano Concerto (1931)
Bax - Cello Concerto (1932)
Schmidt - Symphony No. 4 (1933)
Berg - Violin Concerto (1935)
Bax - Violin Concerto (1937)
Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky (1939)
Shostakovich - Piano Quintet (1940)
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" (1941)
Moeran - Violin Concerto (1942)
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 5 (1943)
Shostakovich - Piano Trio No. 2 (1944)
Moeran - Cello Concerto (1945)
Strauss - Metamorphosen (1945)

These are the compositions that score the elusive 6/6 on the Artrockometer.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Sibelius somehow slipped my my mind:

I love his 2nd and 5th symphonies (as well as his 1st from 1899) in addition to his Violin Concerto.


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## Georgieva (7 mo ago)

NovAntiqua said:


> The period up to the Second World War saw many artistic movements (in the field of music, art and poetry) that opened new paths: dodecaphony, abstractionism, neoclassicism, post-romanticism, expressionism, futurism ...
> 
> It would be interesting to list some of your most favorite musical works, writing down composer + title + style, in order to recreate the artistic mosaic.
> You can suggest also some good recordings!


Dear friend, I have a strong feeling of one-side perspective. Am I wrong?


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Khachaturian - Gayaneh - ballet
Khachaturian - Piano Concerto
Korngold - Die Tote Stadt - opera
Korngold - Anthony Adverse - film score
Herrmann - Moby Dick - cantata
Stravinsky - Symphony in E-flat major
Schoenberg - Gurre Lieder - song cycle


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

NovAntiqua said:


> new paths: dodecaphony, abstractionism, neoclassicism, post-romanticism, expressionism, futurism ...


Configuring a reply that addresses artistic movements, I will respond to most of the above.

12-tone
von Webern's 1941 *Variations for Orchestra
The Return of Odysseus* (1942) by Skalkottas, a pupil of Schoenberg

neoclassicism
*Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani* (1938) by Martinů

expressionism
Honegger's *Horace victorieux*, Symphonie mimée (H. 38) (1921)
*King Roger* (1924 opera) by Szymanowski

futurism
*Amériques* by Varèse, who utilizes fire engine sirens amongst percussion section.

Unsure about post-romanticism because it seems to me that tonal composers during this time period simply continued to write consonant-sounding music up through the 1950s ignoring (or perhaps in ignorance of) these 'new' directions.

As for abstractionism, with its focus on textures and colors, I'd equate this with sonorism (especially from 1959/'60/'61) when men such as Scelsi, Xenakis, Ligeti, Cerha, etc. were crafting sound sculptures as alternatives to strict integral serialism then en vogue. I'm not aware of any abstractionism in music prior to WWII, though.

Regarding the previous contributions posted above, favo(u)rites were deposited without any correlation to any specific artistic movement. Unfortunately, this reveals more about TC members' (rather conservative) tastes than whichever 'new path's any given musical work may have trailblazed ...


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

Georgieva said:


> Dear friend, I have a strong feeling of one-side perspective. Am I wrong?


Which perspective do you mean?


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

haziz said:


> It depends on who you are talking to. I personally can't stand Schönberg's and Berg's music, and don't find Bartòk's much better. YMMV.


You can give a chance to the Violin Duos by Bartók. Bartók wrote them for educational purpose, that's the reason because they are very short. The way Bartòk used to surround the melodies (they are all folk tunes) opened to a new Hungarian musical language. Because there is only a second accompaniment line, it should be easier to understand.
Here a link to a version for viola and cello, published by Peter Bartók (Bartók's son) (you can find the recording on the CD "Musica & Regime" → Musica Regime vol.1):


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

Prodromides said:


> Unfortunately, this reveals more about TC members' (rather conservative) tastes than whichever 'new path's any given musical work may have trailblazed ...


Well, because TC has 35K members it's like a particularly reliable survey with a representative sample of music lovers in the world. It is not surprising that the tonal language, used by the West since the time of the ancient Greeks, remains the most familiar.
Who knows, maybe it is a physical-acoustic problem, on the other hand the Pythagorean scale is based on well-defined mathematical relationships and simple chords produce less complex and probably more catchy sound waves.
In any case, it is certainly more difficult to find the charm and beauty of music that uses new and complicated languages.
Also for this reason threads similar to these can provide a stimulus to a knowledge of non-traditional musical languages.


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

i will just give you a list of composers because i would need a telephone book to list all the works.
bacewicz, barber, bartok, berg, bloch, britten, debussy, de falla, enescu, fauré, r.hahn, ives, janacek, kodaly, koechlin, mahler, martinu, mompou, poulenc, prokofiev, puccini, rachmaninov, ravel, respighi, ropartz, schönberg, schreker, schulhoff, shostakovich, sibelius, sorabji, r.strauss, stravinsky, szymanowski, varese, webern


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## Georgieva (7 mo ago)

NovAntiqua said:


> Which perspective do you mean?


With all due respect to you, I totally disagree with the limits of the presented period. 1945 is not just a year, but a symbol. I don't think it is always necessary to be used. Most cultures use many ways to show the changes and processes in their societies', but especially music. Music is important, music sometimes is crucial. 

I believe that thinking outside of political dimensions is not only an asset, but somehow indispensable.


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

Georgieva said:


> With all due respect to you, I totally disagree with the limits of the presented period.


Well, you are right, the music immediately after 1945 was quite the same as before! The title could be 1900-1950 music! (But in that case perhaps you could say that that is a mathematical way to subdivide, which has nothing to do with music ;-).



But honestly sometimes music is connected to its time. For example you can better understand and listen to Metamorphosen by Strauss composed 1944-1945 if you know the connection of this music and the end of the Second World War.

And: don't you think that perhaps there is also a connection between the political and social crisis at the beginning of XXth century and the crisis of tonality? Some musicologists wrote about this.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts


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## Georgieva (7 mo ago)

NovAntiqua said:


> Well, you are right, the music immediately after 1945 was quite the same as before! The title could be 1900-1950 music! (But in that case perhaps you could say that that is a mathematical way to subdivide, which has nothing to do with music ;-).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, but this is different matter.
Current discussion here has different vectors, as I understand.


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

*Kodaly: Sonatina for cello*

here played by Hristo Kouzmanov and Nadia Belneva (CD Im Zimmer)


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

Strauss's great operas, including _Salome_, _Elektra_, _Der Rosenkavalier_, _Ariadne auf Naxos_, _Die Frau ohne Schatten_, and _Capriccio_. I suppose _Metamorphosen_ also fits into this time period (barely). Middle and late Mahler, of course. Then there is the Second Viennese School and Bartók, with two different perspectives on modernism. Early Boulez was just after 1945. Shostakovich is another good example here. Also Max Reger and Paul Hindemith. I'm staying away from specifics here but just naming some composers I like from this period.


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## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

All the symphonies listed below are Romantic and are my favorites from all over the 20th century.

Karłowicz - Symphony "Rebirth" in E minor, Op. 7 (1902)
Melartin - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 30 (1902)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (1902)
Noskowski - Symphony No. 3 in F major "From Spring to Spring" (1903)
Glazunov - Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major, Op. 83 (1905)
Fuchs - Symphony No. 3 in E major, Op. 79 (1906)
Melartin - Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 40 (1907)
Paderewski - Symphony in B minor "Polonia", Op. 24 (1908)
Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (1908)
Młynarski - Symphony in F major "Polonia", Op. 14 (1910)
Peterson-Berger - Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, "The Journey of Southerly Winds" (1910)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63 (1911)
Melartin - Symphony No. 5 "Sinfonia Brevis" in A minor, Op. 90 (1915)
Peterson-Berger - Symphony No. 3 in F minor, "Lappland Symphony" (1915)
Wetz - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 40 (1916)
Berg, Natanael - Symphony No. 4 "Pezzo Sinfonico" (1918)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 (1921)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104 (1923)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105 (1924)
Peterson-Berger - Symphony No. 5 in B major, "Solitude" (1933)


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Andante Largo said:


> All the symphonies listed below are Romantic and are my favorites from all over the 20th century.
> 
> Karłowicz - Symphony "Rebirth" in E minor, Op. 7 (1902)
> Melartin - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 30 (1902)
> ...


I see a trend here.


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## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

My favorite suites and symphonic poems:

Sibelius - Finlandia (1900)
Delius - The walk to the Paradise Garden (1901)
Glazunov - From the Middle Ages (1902)
Sibelius - En Saga (1902)
Novák - Slovak Suite (1903)
Karłowicz - Returning Waves (1904)
Respighi - Suite for Strings (1905)
Respighi - Suite in Sol Maggiore (1905)
Karłowicz - Lithuanian Rhapsody (1906)
Karłowicz - Stanisław and Anna Oświecimowie (1906)
Perosi - Suite No. 2 'Venezia' (1906)
Sibelius - Pohjola's Daughter (1906)
Delius - In a Summer Garden (1908)
Karłowicz - A Sorrowful Tale (Preludes to Eternity) (1908)
Perosi - Suite No. 5 'Tortona' (ca. 1908)
Sibelius - Nightride and Sunrise (1908)
Rachmaninov - Isle of the Dead (1909)
Różycki - Anhelli (1909)
Novák - Pan (1910)
Różycki - Król Kofetua (1910)
Różycki - Mona Lisa Gioconda (1911)
Delius - On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (1912)
Perosi - Suite No. 7 'Torino' (ca. 1912)
Reger - A Romantic Suite (1912)
Sibelius - Rakastava (1912)
Delius - North Country Sketches (1914)
Sibelius - The Oceanides (1914)
Glazunov - Karelian Legend (1916)
Peterson-Berger - Earina Suite (1917)
Delius - A song before sunrise (1918)
Respighi - Poema autunnale (1925)
Respighi - Vetrate di Chiesa (1926)
Respighi - Trittico Botticelliano (1927)
Respighi - Feste Romane (1928)
Respighi - Gli uccelli (1928)
Delius - A song of summer (1930)


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Lopatnikoff
Panufnik
Cowell
Lutoslawski
Hanson
Hovhannes
Vainberg
Ippolitov-Ivanov


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

Andante Largo said:


> All the symphonies listed below are Romantic and are my favorites from all over the 20th century.
> 
> Karłowicz - Symphony "Rebirth" in E minor, Op. 7 (1902)
> Melartin - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 30 (1902)
> ...


wow! thanks. a lot of not-so-well-known composers!


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

It looks like lots of people prefer the symphonic repertoire!
Here some chamber music! A String Sextet by Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942). There are a lot of influences: impressionism in the slow movement, the gypsy virtuosity in the 3rd movement, expressionism in the 1st and 4th movements. Recorded by Alraune Ensemble on CD "Musica&Regime 2".


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

This is the period of music that started my love for classical music. I have since grown to love post WWII music more, but some of my favorites are still within this period.

Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Bartok - Music for Strings, Percussions and Celesta, Concerto for Orchestra, Piano Concerto No 2
Samuel Barber - Piano Concerto
Berg - Violin Concerto, Three Pieces for Orchestra,
Webern - Variations for Orchestra
Schoenberg - Variations for Orchestra, Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto
Ernst Krenek - Piano Concerto No 2
Benjamin Britten - 4 Sea Interludes

There are plenty more, but these are representative of what I like from that period.


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

Günter Raphael (1903-1960), a not wellknown but really prolific German composer.
His music is somehow similar to that by Hindemith.

Here his Viola Sonata op.7 (from Musica & Regime 4)


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

NovAntiqua said:


> Günter Raphael (1903-1960), a not wellknown but really prolific German composer.
> His music is somehow similar to that by Hindemith.


Raphael's _Triptychon Maria_ for alto, flute, violin, viola and cello written for the birth of his second daughter is based on medieval texts and has both original and quite beautiful writing.


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## NovAntiqua (7 mo ago)

Arthur Bliss: Madame Noy (1918)





Madam Noy was written in 1918 and is often referred to as a 'witchery' song in which the soprano voice 'floats' a weird story in a web of humorous and apposite sounds drawn from the flute, clarinet, bassoon, harp, viola and double bass.

Old Madam Noy hath stolen forth
To the Church on the sands nigh Perranporth
The winds are sleep on the ocean's back,
The moon's ring faint and the skyline black;
And when she is sure that she's quite alone
She grubs in the sand till she finds a bone,
And her old face wrinkles with joy at the sight
As she buckles her cloak and is lost in the night.

She has gotten her bone, but she will not sup,
For safe in the cupboard she locks it up
With an albatross' skull and three slips of yew
For a deed of magic she means to do
When a black-sailed brig shall appear at sea
And the moon is as large as large can be;
For the skipper shall never his lady wed.
But 'tis not yet time and she goes to bed.

She has gone to bed and 'tis twelve o'clock
When she hears from the cupboard a muffled knock,
Once, twice, again, and then a moan
And a voice that whispers 'Give back my bone'.
Old Madam Noy hath jump'd from her bed
To the cupboard door she hath press'd her head,
And clear as a bell there comes that moan
And the whisper 'Give back, give back my bone'.

She's open'd the cupboard and window wide
And hurl'd the talkative bone outside
She watches it sink to the dewy ground
And hears it fall with a whistling sound.
When all of a sudden the moon grows big
And over the sea glides a black-sailed brig,
And she curses her luck and the bone in despair
But beneath comes a low mocking laugh on the air.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

The period of 1925-1945 was a golden age for Blues, Jazz and Country:

*1926-1928*: The Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings by *Louis Armstrong

1927*: the Bristol Sessions conducted by Ralph Peer in which he recorded acts over two weeks which established the building blocks of Country music. Ffeaturing *The Carter Family* and *Jimmie Rodgers* first recordings, this event has been called the Big Bang of Country Music.

*1929-1930*: Seminal Blues recordings by *Charley Patton* and
*1937-1939*: recordings by *Robert Johnson

1940-1942: *recordings by the Blanton-Webster band of *Duke Ellington*


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## Andjar (Aug 28, 2020)

Puccini-"Turandot". 
Debussy - "Peleas Et Melissande".
R.Strauss-"Salome " and "Elektra ".
Shostakovich -"Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk"
Britten-" Peter Grimes "
Stravinsky -"The Firebird "
Charlie Parker -"Parker With Strings"


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Simon Moon said:


> This is the period of music that started my love for classical music. I have since grown to love post WWII music more, but some of my favorites are still within this period.
> 
> Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
> Bartok - Music for Strings, Percussions and Celesta, Concerto for Orchestra, Piano Concerto No 2
> ...


How did that Barber piano concerto get in my list?

It was from 1962!!


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## Otis B. Driftwood (4 mo ago)

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, one of the most popular operettas;
Franz Lehár - Die lustige Witwe / The Merry Widow (1905)


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

The two greatest pieces of American music both came from the period: Samuel Barber's *Violin Concerto* (1939) and Howard Hanson's *Romantic Symhony No. 2* (1930.) The third greatest piece, Aaron Copland's *Symphony No. 3*, was started 1944 and premiered 1946. Shostakovich said the war years were one of the most fruitful periods for composers -- and not just in totalitarian Europe.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

larold said:


> The two greatest pieces of American music both came from the period: Samuel Barber's *Violin Concerto* (1939) and Howard Hanson's *Romantic Symhony No. 2* (1930.) The third greatest piece, Aaron Copland's *Symphony No. 3*, was started 1944 and premiered 1946. Shostakovich said the war years were one of the most fruitful periods for composers -- and not just in totalitarian Europe.


I've actually played some *Barber* piano music. I'm also a big fan of *Copland*. *Shostakovich* baffles me somewhat: I'm not saying I don't like it, but I'm not sure I really love it either. *Shosty*'s 5th Symphony is too long. The 2nd piano concerto is nice.

But I don't think I've ever heard any *Howard Hanson*. Any short "entry level" pieces from him you'd suggest?


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Howard Hanson's *Second Symphony* is entirely accessible, full of tunes, very romantic. He wrote nothing better. I've attached a good performance here. I have never found another piece by Hanson I like much though I can enjoy his brief *Serenade for Solo Flute, Harp and Strings* -- less than 6 minutes' duration.

You may also want to try the Shostakovich *Symphony No. 1* and, if you like it,* Symphony No. 9*. They are both shorter and lighter than his heavier mercenary works and may remind you of the concerto you enjoy. Shostakovich wrote very little "happy" music. Try the two symphonies; they are about the same duration as the concerto and similar temperamentally.

Here's the Hanson:


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Best music should include Piano Music: 

Debussy: Preludes, Book I
Ravel: _Miroirs_, Suite
Milhaud: _Saudades do Brasil_
Poulenc: Concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra
Messiaen: _Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus_
Ireland: Decorations & Amberley Wild Brooks
Finzi: Eclogue for Piano and Orchestra
Tippett: Piano Sonata No. 1
McPhee: _Tabuh-Tabuhan_
Berg: Piano Sonata
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto
Webern: Piano Variations
Marx: Romantic Piano Concerto
Hindemith: Piano Sonata No. 2
Bartok: Out of Doors
Scriabin: Etudes, Op. 8
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3
Medtner: Piano Concerto No. 3
Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 (piano, trumpet and string orchestra)
Carter: Piano Sonata


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