# Neglected composers game round 1, March 13-20



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

The purpose of this game is to let us identify those neglected composer most in need of a listen or two. Not simply second-tier composers, mind you, but those who really deserve better. This thread is the first weekly round.

Each member may nominate one (yes, just one) composer each week, starting now. Nominations *must *include dates of birth and death, a very short rationale of why the composer deserves better, and a couple of works with YouTube or similar links if possible. Just a sentence or two, please. You can add more info if you like, but it may not be retained in the records I'll be keeping.

Each week-long round will start in a new thread. Future weeks will open with a list of the composers nominated so far, and members will have the opportunity to vote for them. So your "introductions" of your choices will be key in gaining them votes as the game goes on.

So here we go. What composer do you feel is unfairly neglected? Birth and death years? Why are you nominating him or her? What two or three works best represent him or her? YouTube or similar samples? Other stuff you want to say?


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'll kick this off.

Nominate: Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806-1826)

Examples: Three string quartets in D minor, A major, and E-flat major.













A Basque composer from Spain, Arriaga was tremendously talented, but died at the age of 19. He left behind a symphony, some overtures, and a set of three sophisticated string quartets written at about 16 or 17. These last, if he had written nothing else, would qualify him as "great" in my book.

Other stuff: Poor Juan. His life may have been tragically short, but at least his name was long: Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Nominate: *Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864).
*
*EXAMPLES*
_Robert le Diable_ - Chopin: "It is a masterpiece. Meyerbeer has made himself immortal."

Air de grâce "O Robert, toi que j'aime": 





_Les Huguenots_ - Verdi called Acts II and IV "true theatre … stupendo"; Berlioz thought the "superb" work contained "enough musical riches for twenty operas".

The Blessing of the Swords: 




Act III Marcel / Valentine duet: 





_Le prophète_ - "People of my father's generation," said Reynaldo Hahn, "would rather have doubted the solar system than the supremacy of Le Prophète over all other operas."

"Ah! mon fils, sois béni": 




Cathedral scene: 





_Vasco da Gama_ (_L'Africaine_)

Act II finale: 




Act IV love duet: 





_Struensee_ (stage music): 




(All of Meyerbeer's operas & orchestral music are on YouTube.)

*WHY*
The most popular and critically acclaimed opera composer of the nineteenth century, now seldom performed.

Verdi thought him a better musical dramatist than Mozart. Ravel preferred him to Wagner. Liszt thought that he inaugurated a new period of opera, and Hans von Bülow thought him 'a man of genius'. Bizet and Giuseppe Mazzini compared him to Beethoven, Michelangelo and Shakespeare. Goethe wanted him to set Faust to music, while Georges Sand and Dumas fils thought him the supreme lyrical dramatist.

A German-born Jew whose earliest operas were produced in Germany and Italy, and whose mature works were first produced in France and written for the world-performed as far afield as Melbourne, Mexico, Calcutta, Manila, and Mauritius, as well as in provincial theatres without lavish orchestra or staging. His cosmopolitan style unites Italian bel canto, French rhythm and declamation, and German orchestration, and is capable both of great delicacy and tremendous power. This is a dramatist whose operas are simultaneously exciting entertainments in the grand manner, with strong situations and an eye for the spectacular (shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean, exploding castles and ballets of undead nuns), and humane operas of ideas.


----------



## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

My nomination: Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)

Examples:
Piano Concerto 





Concerto Gregoriano





Six Pieces for Solo Piano





Ancient Airs and Dances





Church Windows





Why:

There is _much_ more to Respighi than his Fountains and Pines of Rome. He was a wonderful orchestrator, and I find his music to have so much variety. His style is also very creative, and although I didn't include it in the examples he has some great chamber music. I also find that there's always something by Respighi that fits my mood, unlike Mozart (usually happy and cheer) or Wagner (Dramatic) or Tchaikovsky (Brimming with Emotion)He's probably my favorite 20th century Italian composer, and I really encourage you to listen to these examples.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I must admit, my appreciation for smaller Russian composers has skewed my ability to judge them fairly. Are the composers I enjoy that obscure, or are they that famous? What is Arensky to everyone? Sometimes that's a well-known name, for chamber fans that is, enough that he wouldn't be called obscure, and just 2nd tier. Arensky is such a daily-bread composer to me now, I listen to him as much as anyone famous, so I can't say for sure if he's _worthy _for special treatment or not.

Fine, I'll give it a go....

Short version:

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906) He wrote more than the 1st Piano Trio (which is nonetheless among my top favorite works by him)! I consider him one of the finest Russian Silver Age composers for piano (those born between 1850-1880). Besides lots of solo piano music and suites for 2 pianos, he wrote great symphonic music too, the most notable works are things that survived today: orchestral suites, a ballet suite (Egyptian Nights), and opera overtures. Plus his mental illness (which had worse and better moments) seems to have been something he intertwined with his musical style, and the theme of escapism through the imagination was a big programmatic theme for him, one that I enjoy psychoanalyzing. He lived a rather short life compared to other Russians, due to exceptionally self-destructive behavior... his music is the most detached from reality in those last years...

Some of my all-time favorite works by him (other than the 1st Piano Trio):




 (Violin Concerto, perhaps a contemplation of his mental illness)




 (_Le Reve_, a late work, you can see in its structure how he processes reality vs. dream)




 (Symphony No. 1, the first movement in particular is the best, RK influenced!)




 (Nal and Damayanti opera overture, fallen into obscurity otherwise. This video can't be viewed in Autogenerated Topic-excluded countries)

Extended response:

Arensky was essentially an extension of piano repertoire that Tchaikovsky was not able to achieve, an extension of the Moscow style which few were able to match. Arensky's style had an indelible affect on his beloved student Rachmaninoff, and I hear the father-son relationship all the time in their music. The "manic" style of passionate writing that Rachmaninoff achieved, especially in his most famous works, is definitely from Arensky's own hysterical style of piano writing, _more _than Tchaikovsky who really isn't that hysterical by comparison. Rachmaninoff's Morceaux de fantaisie, Op.3 (which includes the famous C sharp prelude) was dedicated to Arensky, a sign of good-will, and the fact that Arensky would probably be quite pleased.

Arensky had undiagnosed mental illness, which I've only been able to guess was Anxiety disorder alongside some form of OCD. Tchaikovsky grew very concerned about it, and even wrote to Von Meck about it in 1890: "Arensky's a man with an enormous talent, but there is something strange, unstable, unhealthily nervous and slightly, as it were, not quite normal mentally." There are stories about it, about how he was normally very friendly but would have sudden outbursts either of passion (like traveling long distances to find Tchaikovsky and grovel at his feet due to some compliment) or anger (huge fights with his ill-fated student Scriabin with lots of yelling on both sides, Rachmaninoff shaking his head silently in the corner of the room). He didn't even need to drink to start making a commotion at parties, he would just go into manic-like episodes. He died in agony in Finland on the Russian border, due to tuberculosis (which also made him go truly insane in the final months) from unwise living habits of going out gambling and drinking basically every night in his last years. Only lived to be 44, that's younger than Mussorgsky, mind you! Yes, a classic example of the self-destructive Russian artist, who at the same time composed music as a kind of consolation... *sigh*


----------



## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

*Ernst Toch* (1887-1964) was an Austrian composer who, once a household name in Germany, has sadly fallen into oblivion. This is due to the significantly less appreciation he got once moving to the U.S. in light of WWII. He saw many years before Hitler's rise to power what was coming, and wanted to be no part of it.

*Examples:*
_String quartets._ Toch's cycle of 13 string quartets (first five are lost) are among the best of the 20th century. His early quartets show the influence of Mozart and are melodious and well-crafted. No. 8 is the true masterpiece of his early quartets. His late quartets (the last four) show Toch's transition into Schoenberg's 12 tone technique while still retaining aspects of his earlier style. No. 11 is probably the greatest late quartet, also a masterpiece.

_







_
_Symphonies._ Toch wrote seven symphonies, all in a creative outburst in the last 15 years of his life. They are modern works, all amazing in their own sense. The semi-autobiographical and Pulitzer Prize-winning No. 3 is probably his most famous. All of his symphonies are worth listening to, however, because the composer never repeats himself. Alun Francis masterfully leads the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in this winner.

_



_
Ernst Toch is a truly underrated composer that was absolutely first-rate as a writer for the string quartet and orchestra.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

What a wonderful start! Thanks to all who have nominated so far.


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Alexander Fesca (1820 - 1849).

Not sure I he should be nominated, because I know only one of his works (namely the septet below), but it is pretty neat:






I first discovered it in my teens when I had it on cassette tape (I can't remember where I got it anymore). Then after the era of tapes passed, I kept looking for it, and finally found it again on the above YouTube link. Fesca is yet another one of those who died tragically young and makes one wonder what might have been.

Ah, there's a Wiki link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fesca


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

SimonTemplar said:


> Nominate: *Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864).
> *


and for the wonderful opera, Le pardon de Ploërmel (or Dinorah).

BTW, Wikipedia says "The vitriolic campaign of Richard Wagner against Meyerbeer was to a great extent responsible for the decline of Meyerbeer's popularity after his death in 1864."


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

SimonTemplar said:


> Nominate: *Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864).
> *
> *EXAMPLES*
> _Robert le Diable_ - Chopin: "It is a masterpiece. Meyerbeer has made himself immortal."
> Air de grâce "O Robert, toi que j'aime":


Meyerbeer is a great selection and the Robert le Diable aria is one of the great arias. My favorite performance of it is the one by Beverly Sills. It was one of her signature arias and in this performance she is at the height of her skills and career:


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

My vote is for William Sterndale Bennet (1816-1875), an English composer and pianist who was befriended by Mendelssohn and Schumann. His piano performances were admired by John Field, Clara Schumann and Ferdinand Hiller. He was a true prodigy. His first piano concerto was composed at age 16, the second at age 19. Interestingly, his last public with orchestra was at age 37, twenty-two years before his death. The adagio movements of his concertos are especially beautiful.

Piano Concerto #1





Piano Concerto #2





Piano Concerto #3





Piano Concerto #4





Piano Concerto #5


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Florestan said:


> and for the wonderful opera, Le pardon de Ploërmel (or Dinorah).
> 
> BTW, Wikipedia says "The vitriolic campaign of Richard Wagner against Meyerbeer was to a great extent responsible for the decline of Meyerbeer's popularity after his death in 1864."


Thanks, Florestan!

_Le pardon_ is delightful!

I didn't want to open up the Wagner/Meyerbeer can of worms, but ... yes.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

DaveM said:


> My vote is for William Sterndale Bennet (1816-1875), an English composer and pianist who was befriended by Mendelssohn and Schumann. His piano performances were admired by John Field, Clara Schumann and Ferdinand Hiller. He was a true prodigy. His first piano concerto was composed at age 16, the second at age 19. Interestingly, his last public with orchestra was at age 37, twenty-two years before his death. The adagio movements of his concertos are especially beautiful.


These are good - halfway between Beethoven and Mendelssohn! Do you follow the Unsung Masterworks channel on YouTube?


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

DaveM said:


> My vote is for William Sterndale Bennet (1816-1875)...


DaveM, I won't be able to include your YouTube links in my summary unless you present them as others have been doing.

To all: Brevity filters, please. If you go on and on, people won't read it and your composer will lose votes. I guarantee it. Take the extra time to make it short. Yes, it's hard!


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Tchaikov6 said:


> My nomination: Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
> 
> Examples:
> Piano Concerto
> ...


I'm listening to the Rossiniana (



) - based on Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse. Tuneful, given the source, and cleverly orchestrated.


----------



## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

SimonTemplar said:


> I'm listening to the Rossiniana (
> 
> 
> 
> ) - based on Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse. Tuneful, given the source, and cleverly orchestrated.


Another great piece by Respighi.


----------



## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

He's not exactly famous, nor obscure. But Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) produced a small but utterly wonderful number of pieces. Ironically, he seemed to write one piece from each genre, then moved on. But here's a little sample of this composer who composed in that beautiful area between Wagner and Debussy:

Symphony in B-flat: 




Poème for Violin and Orchestra: 




Not quite a violin concerto, but a tone poem for violin and orchestra.

Poème de l'amour et de la mer: What an amazing piece! A cantata for soprano and orchestra, with the middle movement invoking the sea as well as Debussy or Britten ever did. 




Concert pour violon, piano, et quattuor à cordes: Again, a piece that is unique - it's a double concerto for six performers... and so atmospheric - yet tightly constructed. 




He also wrote one opera - le roi Arthus (King Arthur). Obviously influenced by Wagner's Parsifal and Tristan, and foreshadowing Pelléas et Melisande, but again like nothing else that I've ever heard. I'll pick one excerpt: 
Act I love duet between Guinevere and Lancelot: 




Chausson might also be well known as the only composer to die in a bicycling accident.


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

This is a lovely thread. Keep it up!

I'll contribute when I have the time to go chasing YouTube scraps.


----------



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Can I nominate Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) please? I'm not sure if he is 2nd tier or not. Anyway, I think he deserves more attention for his body of piano sonatas that influenced, partly at least, Beethoven. If I could suggest some of his works I would say go for the Op. 40 and Op. 50 set of three sonatas each. Also, his Gradus ad Parnassum Op. 44 which is a collection of 100 technically demanding etudes, preludes, fugues, amongst other forms. He also composed 4 symphonies and several piano trios. He was a bit of a polymath, too. He built pianos, one of his workhouses in London burnt down, taught, toured, and published music (the right to publish Beethoven in England I believe). He was born in Rome but a wealthy Englishman paid for him to go to England to enhance his musical skills. Around the turn of the 19th century he became a naturalised Briton, and died in Evesham, and interred in Westminster Abbey with the inscription 'The Father of the Pianoforte'.


----------



## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

Respighi is not neglected. Well known.



Tchaikov6 said:


> My nomination: Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
> 
> Examples:
> Piano Concerto
> ...


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

It occurs to me we really need a companion thread to this one, for obscure works, but not necessarily by obscure composers. I'm sure if you dig around in the oeuvre of the great composers, you'll find great (or at least eminently listenable) pieces that are somehow almost never performed imply because they get overshadowed by the composer's more well known work. And similarly, some obscure composers manage to write a single brilliant piece in their careers, that ends up almost unknown simply because the composer wasn't a particularly memorable one on the whole.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I nominate Edison Denisov (1929-1996)  When I studied during the 90's he was always talked of along with Schnittke and Gubaidulina as the most famous and successful of his generation Russian composers. His music is often dreamy and calm but has a distinct modern language. Many of his compositions are hard to find (I think). Try also "3 Pictures of Klee" for sextet and his solo guitar sonata (2nd mvt. is very typical Denisov)!


----------



## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Nevum said:


> Respighi is not neglected. Well known.


Well-known for three pieces mainly. The rest of his music is not very well known at all. And compared to the other composers here, yes, he is generally more well-known. But I still think most of his music is neglected.


----------



## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

I'm going for Henryk Wieniawski. Don't hear a lot about him although he composed such beautiful music.

Only discovered him not so long ago and was hooked!

Born 10th July 1835
Died 31st March 1880.

Pieces I know are

Violin Concerto no 2 in D Minor
Scherzo Tarantella 
Variations on an Original Theme.

Sorry, not very good with links!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Nominations so far:

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906)
Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806-1826)
William Sterndale Bennet (1816-1875)
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)
Edison Denisov (1929-1996)
Alexander Fesca (1820-1849)
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880)


----------



## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

beetzart said:


> Can I nominate Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) please? I'm not sure if he is 2nd tier or not. Anyway, I think he deserves more attention for his body of piano sonatas that influenced, partly at least, Beethoven. If I could suggest some of his works I would say go for the Op. 40 and Op. 50 set of three sonatas each. Also, his Gradus ad Parnassum Op. 44 which is a collection of 100 technically demanding etudes, preludes, fugues, amongst other forms. He also composed 4 symphonies and several piano trios. He was a bit of a polymath, too. He built pianos, one of his workhouses in London burnt down, taught, toured, and published music (the right to publish Beethoven in England I believe). He was born in Rome but a wealthy Englishman paid for him to go to England to enhance his musical skills. Around the turn of the 19th century he became a naturalised Briton, and died in Evesham, and interred in Westminster Abbey with the inscription 'The Father of the Pianoforte'.


Clementi is a good choice. He wrote a huge body of work, but he's primarily known for his simple piano sonatinas, which were composed as pedagogical works for beginners. His more complex pieces don't get enough attention.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

My nomination Gian Francesco Malipiero 1882-1973
A composer who was active for over 70 years and made some of the most beautiful works from the 20th century a composer who was good even at his worst. Composed music in several genres so there is something for everyone.

Sinfonie del silenzio e della morte

One of his many operas Filomela e l'Infatuato

Third string quartet


----------



## StDior (May 28, 2015)

Francesco Cavalli (1602 - 1676). Musical student of Monteverdi. Who likes Monteverdi will not be disappointed with Cavalli either. His operas use small orchestras to meet the limitations of provincial public opera houses. My favorite Cavalli opera is the La Calisto. This is the baroque Zauberflöte for me.




Highlights: 1:05:30-1:08:23, 2:21:25-2:23:38
Further suggestions: 29:04-31:54, 1:57:08-2:00.38, 2:33:23-2:36:02, 2:42:20-2:45:37

From his Giasone:


----------



## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

My first nomination is Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941)

This English composer and violist was also a sort of one man English Modernist musical movement. He was Benjamin Britten's influential private tutor, and is probably better known for this (and Britten's "Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge") than for any of his own compositions. Much of his music is vital, beautifully crafted and innovative. He may not quite be in the first rank of ground-breakers (as Britten undoubtedly was) but he's a pretty good and important second tier composer in his own right.

He studied with Stanford and Parry at the Royal College of Music in London, and amongst his early influences were Brahms, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, Franck and Fauré. However, he was interested in contemporary developments in Europe and particularly in the innovations of Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel and the Second Viennese School. His earlier 'English Pastoral School' works remained more popular with the public (much to his annoyance) than his later expressionist ones and (particularly) his mature modernist works. He received the patronage of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge in the 1920s.

His chamber music and work for solo piano is considered particularly good, but he was also a fine composer of orchestral music. He died at the rather young age of 62 from heart disease, leaving a largely incomplete string symphony and fragmentary sketches for a viola sonata.

Essential listening:
*
Phantasie Piano Quartet in F♯ minor*, H.94 (1910)




*The Sea, Suite for Orchestra*, H.100 (1910-1911) 




*Sonata for Piano*, H.160 (1921-1924)




*Enter Spring*, Rhapsody for orchestra, H.174 (1926-1927)




*Piano Trio No. 2*, H.178 (1928-1929)




*String Quartet No. 4*, H.188 (1937)





Some other important works:

_Post-romantic / expressionist:_

*String Quartet No. 2 in G Minor*, H.115 (1914-1915)




*Summer, Symphonic Poem for orchestra*, H.116 (1914-1915) 




*Sonata in D minor for cello and piano*, H.125 (1913-1917)





_Modernist:_

*Oration*, Concerto Elegiaco for cello and orchestra, H.180 (1929-1930)




*Phantasm*, Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, H.182 (1931) 




*Sonata for violin and piano* (No. 2), H.183 (1932) 




*Rebus*, Overture for orchestra, H.191 (1940)


----------



## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I apologize if this issue was decided in another thread, but how neglected does a composer have to be to deserve nomination in this thread? Can they be modestly well-known but perhaps not played as much as the nominator feels would be appropriate? Is there a criterion (even if not precise)?


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I think it's just as it says -- unjustly neglected, in the sense of deserving to be heard far more often.

Obviously some people will nominate well-known second tier composers who you (or myself) may think are heard quite enough. A matter of opinion obviously! I'm hoping the voting, to begin next round, will sort this out if people will actually vote based on undue neglect rather than simply who they think is best.


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Clementi is a good choice. He wrote a huge body of work, but he's primarily known for his simple piano sonatinas, which were composed as pedagogical works for beginners. His more complex pieces don't get enough attention.


Those little sonatinas are rather lovely though, and have brought joy to generations of piano students.


----------



## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I would like to nominate *Erkki Melartin (1875-1937)*

Great composer, and a pioneer of Mahler's music in Scandinavia.

His 6 Symphonies, assortment of piano, chamber and orchestra music and an opera Aino fully deserve to become more widely known and performed.

I recommend:













http://www.deezer.com/album/4667411
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Melartin-Orchestral-Works-Soile-Isokoski/dp/B01GWQPC5S/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Melartin-Six-SYMPHONIES-Tampere-PO/dp/B00001W08G/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Symphoni...oderblom-Lahti-Symphony-Orchestra/B000063TSC/


----------



## lehnert (Apr 12, 2016)

*Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński* (1807-1867) - a composer from Poland. He was a classmate of Chopin at the Warsaw Conservatory (1826-1828). You can find some similiarities between his and Chopin's style if you consider Dobrzyński's piano compositions. I am not claiming he was as good as Chopin, however he is currently forgotten, even in Poland. Most people have not even heard of him and his works are hardly ever performed. I managed to attend his Symphony no. 2 once and it was definitely worth listening, the last movement is extraordinary to me (I link the recording from this concert below) .

Nocturne op. 21 no. 1





Concert overture, op. 1





"Dance of the Swordsmen" from the opera Monbar, or the Filibusters, op. 30





Piano Concerto in A-flat major, op. 2





Symphony no. 2 "Characteristic" in C minor, op. 15


----------



## Francis Poulenc (Nov 6, 2016)

Tchaikov6 said:


> My nomination: Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
> 
> Examples:
> Piano Concerto
> ...


I second the Six Pieces, which are truly very beautiful.


----------



## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

I assume Cherubini is too well known to qualify so I will cogitate for a while about another candidate.


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

lehnert said:


> *Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński* (1807-1867) - a composer from Poland. He was a classmate of Chopin at the Warsaw Conservatory (1826-1828). You can find some similiarities between his and Chopin's style if you consider Dobrzyński's piano compositions. I am not claiming he was as good as Chopin, however he is currently forgotten, even in Poland. Most people have not even heard of him and his works are hardly ever performed. I managed to attend his Symphony no. 2 once and it was definitely worth listening, the last movement is extraordinary to me (I link the recording from this concert below
> 
> Piano Concerto in A-flat major, op. 2


The Adagio at 17:50 is a gem! Don't anybody miss it!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Nominations so far:

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906)
Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806-1826)
William Sterndale Bennet (1816-1875)
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)
Edison Denisov (1929-1996)
Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807-1867)
Alexander Fesca (1820-1849)
Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973)
Erkki Melartin (1875-1937)
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880)


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> Nominations so far:
> 
> Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906)
> Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806-1826)
> ...


The Meyerbeer entry to me is the most striking. Here was the most performed composer at leading opera houses in the 19th century (as per Wiki) and is now no more than a (almost) footnote!


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Clementi is a good choice. He wrote a huge body of work, but he's primarily known for his simple piano sonatinas, which were composed as pedagogical works for beginners. His more complex pieces don't get enough attention.


Sorry. The bonus concerto accompanying the Rachel Barton Beethoven Violin Concerto is by "Clement" and not Clementi. Clement is the violinist who clowned around as soloist at the premiere of the Beethoven. I'm sure Clement's concerto is so much better! :lol:


----------



## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

hpowders said:


> I just sent away for Rachel Barton's performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto and as a bonus is included the Clementi Violin Concerto.
> 
> Clementi already has two strikes against him in my house, for the foolish, clownish way he treated the premiere of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.


Actually, it was Franz Clement who premiered the violin concerto (at least according to Wikipedia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_(Beethoven)--let me know what your liner notes say).

I certainly hope that Wikipedia is right about this! I would be sad if Muzio Clementi (whose music I enjoy) turned out to be the culprit who butchered Beethoven's violin concerto.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Actually, it was Franz Clement who premiered the violin concerto (at least according to Wikipedia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_(Beethoven)--let me know what your liner notes say).
> 
> I certainly hope that Wikipedia is right about this! I would be sad if Muzio Clementi (whose music I enjoy) turned out to be the culprit who butchered Beethoven's violin concerto.


I already revised that post, thanks.


----------



## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

hpowders said:


> Sorry. The bonus concerto accompanying the Rachel Barton Beethoven Violin Concerto is by "Clement" and not Clementi. Clement is the performer who clowned around as soloist at the premiere of the Beethoven. I'm sure Clement's concerto is so much better! :lol:


Ah, I see that you already fixed your post. That was some very quick editing!

In the post above, I was replying to the old version of your post, before you edited it. I'm glad that Clementi was not the clown who made fun of Beethoven's great concerto.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Ah, I see that you already fixed your post. That was some very quick editing!
> 
> In the post above, I was replying to the old version of your post, before you edited it. I'm glad that Clementi was not the clown who made fun of Beethoven's great concerto.


No. Pianists don't make fun of violinists.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Ah, I see that you already fixed your post. That was some very quick editing!
> 
> In the post above, I was replying to the old version of your post, before you edited it. I'm glad that Clementi was not the clown who made fun of Beethoven's great concerto.


One of the two really should have changed his name in anticipation of preventing my looking like a cyber as -___le!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Things were different in those days. While Clement was "clowning around" with his barnyard imitations, Beethoven was accompanying him on the bongos. The crowd loved it!


----------



## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

hpowders said:


> One of the two really should have changed his name in anticipation of preventing my looking like a cyber as -___le!


Don't worry about it--you definitely didn't look like a cyber a******!  I think it just goes to show that Clementi doesn't have the kind of name recognition that he deserves. Further proof that we need a thread devoted to Clementi!


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Don't worry about it--you definitely didn't look like a cyber a******!  I think it just goes to show that Clementi doesn't have the kind of name recognition that he deserves. Further proof that we need a thread devoted to Clementi!


Thank you! 

Anyhow, I know Vladimir Horowitz championed the Clementi Piano Sonatas.

Clementi is a good choice for this particular thread.

Much more apropos than Clemenza from the Godfather would be.


----------



## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

Azol said:


> I would like to nominate *Erkki Melartin (1875-1937)*
> 
> Great composer, and a pioneer of Mahler's music in Scandinavia.
> 
> ...


Strongly recommended -I would add his Violin Concerto to this list.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Bump. Unless there are new nominations, I'll close this thread tomorrow and start round 2.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

This round is closed. Participants should go to Round 2: http://www.talkclassical.com/48092-neglected-composers-game-round.html


----------

