# Your favorite Not so well known composer?



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

Forget Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, I am thinking of composers who aren't exactly main stream, or in some case in no stream at all, and judging from some of the composers I've never heard of before I came here, I can imagine that some of you have some interesting choices. One of my favorites is Andre Mathieu


----------



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Takashi Yoshimatsu, Alfred Schnittke, William Boyce, and Ernest Bloch to name a few. Not sure if you consider them not that known.


----------



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I think they'd fit as before I came here I had never heard of any of them except for Bloch. The idea is any composer that most people wouldn't either have heard of or just not be as familiar with as they would the greats.


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Nikolai Myaskovsky, was one of Prokofiev's greatest friends.

Here is an excerpt from his incredible 6th symphony (he wrote 27 in total):





He also some great piano music, Glenn Gould said of his first sonata, "'perhaps one of the most remarkable pieces of its time", and a great cello concerto which has been recorded by Rostropovich.

He has quite a few string quartets but im not familiar with them.


----------



## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

emiellucifuge said:


> Nikolai Myaskovsky, was one of Prokofiev's greatest friends.
> 
> Here is an excerpt from his incredible 6th symphony (he wrote 27 in total):
> 
> ...


Haven't heard his Symphonies, but his String Quartets are very fun. I didn't like the first 3, but from the 4th they are certainly worth a listen.

I guess Medtner or Alkan. Great piano works.


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Casella comes to mind--take a look at this thread:

*http://www.talkclassical.com/16546-alfredo-casella.html
*
Also, if you like Debussy and Ravel, be sure to check out Albert Roussel and Vincent d'Indy.


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Chrythes said:


> Haven't heard his Symphonies, but his String Quartets are very fun. I didn't like the first 3, but from the 4th they are certainly worth a listen.


Thats funny... which in particular do you like most?


----------



## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

There are several whose work I like but certainly are not considered well known (although at TC many composers are better known than to the general audience). 

Louise Farrenc - I especially like her chamber music.
Sextet, Nonet, Piano Quintets, Piano Trio, Symphony No. 3

Joachim Raff - I find almost everything I hear from him to be worth listening to.
Piano Quartets, Symphony No. 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, Italienische Suite, Violin Conerto


----------



## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

emiellucifuge said:


> Thats funny... which in particular do you like most?


4-6. I'm not sure if they are on Youtube, but if you've got Spotify you can find them there. I enjoy 7-8 as well. 
I'll have to get to the later ones as well someday.


----------



## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Alf Hurum
Leo Weiner
Dohnanyi
Hubay
Vissarion Shebalin
Bazzini
Novak
Alexander Nicolayev
Ludolf Nielsen
Grechaninof
Leo Ornstein
.....


----------



## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

Tobias Hume


----------



## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Is Anton Reicha obscure enough? He'd be my choice for just his wind quintets alone.


----------



## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

I wouldn't consider them that obscure, but I absolutely love the lesser known composers; Per Norgard, and thanks to him, Rued Langgard


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Guitar composers 

Segovia Plays Sonatina (Torroba)


----------



## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Alexander Tcherepnin, Nikolai Medtner, W.F. Bach, John Field, Henri Joseph Rigel.


----------



## LudwigNAV (Mar 20, 2012)

Johann Kaspar Mertz. His Bardenklange, Op. 13 is exceptional music brimming with emotion and depth.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thought of a guitar composer, as I find that many people seem to forget the style and beauty of the guitar in classical music.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

EJ Moeran - check out his symphony and his concertos.
Josef Suk should also be heard more often than he is.
Toru Takemitsu, one of the greats of the 20th century.
Sofia Gubaidulina, one of the greatest living composers.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Does my Love count? Maybe Glazunov is now borderline as a "medium-known" composer instead?

But among the small but pretty Russians, I also like Liadov, Arensky, Gliere, Kalinnikov, etc.


----------



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

Mikhail Nosyrev - 5 discs of his orchestral works were released (on the now-defunct Olympia label but now expensive) and William Mathias, a Welsh composer of some fine symphonies and concertos who's hardly ever mentioned.


----------



## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Egon Wellesz has become one of my favorite composers. I've heard all 9 symphonies and several of his string quartets and have yet to find a work that I didn't like. I would particularly recommend any of the early symphonies.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

SuperTonic said:


> Egon Wellesz has become one of my favorite composers. I've heard all 9 symphonies and several of his string quartets and have yet to find a work that I didn't like. I would particularly recommend any of the early symphonies.


I posted a piano piece of his in the "solo and chamber music" section of the forum if you are interested in checking that out.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Louise Farrenc is an incredible composer!


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Two of the lesser known -- or less heard from -- of the French 'Les Six'
Louis Durey (piano works here)
Deux Pièces pour piano à 4 mains Op. 7 - I. Carillons; II. Neige Especially, Neige, a tribute to Ravel [email protected]'26''




Nocturne





Germaine Tailleferre
Here is here delightful neoclassical Piano Concerto No. 1









Tailleferre's Partita, ''Hommage a Rameau'' for two pianos and percussion is another 'winner'













There are chamber works and solo piano pieces by Tailleferre, many worth investigating.

and some other composers,

Charles Koechlin (prolific composer, interesting stuff.)
Symphonic poem, 'Les Bandar-log




'

Les Heures Persanes (1/3) orchestral version, of a suite of piano pieces.




-- from the same piece, piano; segment 14, Le conteur





Irving Fine. Fine died young; much of that brief life was taken up earning a living by teaching. A superb craftsman and a perfectionist, he later turned to tonal serial music, and even later serial but not fully atonal music. There is little output, sadly. He is known by almost all wind players for his wonderful Partita for Wind Quintet, a staple of the modern repertoire.
Irving Fine ~ Notturno for Strings and Harp 









Harold Shapero ~ Four-Hand Sonata for Piano (Shapero too, turned later to serial technique)









Arthur Berger
Suite for piano four-hands





Ideas of Order (orchestra)









Duo for 'Cello and Piano





Lou Harrison is well-enough known to some, but of between his mid-century 'American' style and the more Indonesian influenced / derived work, there is this from his Mass to St. Anthony, in perhaps a slightly less 'expected' style from his general output.





If a person is truly new, barely initiated, there are hosts of composers, known and with 'big names' that await discovery.
None of the above composers are 'obscure,' by any stretch of the imagination. Sometimes too, even with much study, a name shows up in a textbook, a casual mention of good but less prominent composers in one short line, or also mentioned in classes with no more attention paid them. The two of les Six I have known of since I learned of 'les six,' but it was only within the last year or two I finally looked into the actual music of Durey or Taillefaire, their names as composers known to me for forty years!

There is just too much music for any one person to get to it all, or know it all in one lifetime - a happy dilemma, I think.


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

(ten points if you can identify)


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> View attachment 3970
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Surely not......










Nah couldn't be.


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Surely not......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nope, not Nadia. I can post a more recognizable image, though I like the one with the dog.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> Nope, not Nadia. I can post a more recognizable image, though I like the one with the dog.
> 
> View attachment 3971


I have absolutely no idea.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> View attachment 3970
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Why, that's Ethel Smyth.


----------



## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Does my Love count? Maybe Glazunov is now borderline as a "medium-known" composer instead?
> 
> But among the small but pretty Russians, I also like Liadov, Arensky, Gliere, Kalinnikov, etc.


I'd add Alexander Dargomyzhsky and later composers Sergei Liapunov and Mikhail Ippolitov Ivanov to your list.


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I have absolutely no idea.


Ethel Smyth. Operas mostly, but only one of them has been recorded. Her piano music and her mass and some of her chamber music has been recorded. She was also a suffragist and had adventures and was just generally a very interesting person. I know you dig women composers and feminism and stuff; you'd like her. Her memoirs are fascinating.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> Why, that's Ethel Smyth.


_Who?????????_


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

violadude said:


> Why, that's Ethel Smyth.


Did you roll over the picture (I know, it's too easy to cheat), or have you just heard me talk about her a lot?


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> _Who?????????_


(See post #30  )


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> *Did you roll over the picture (I know, it's too easy to cheat)*, or have you just heard me talk about her a lot?


I am such an idiot.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> (See post #30  )


Thank you.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> Did you roll over the picture (I know, it's too easy to cheat), or have you just heard me talk about her a lot?


No, I've known about her and her music even before I joined TC. One of those random things I came across in a music book once.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> No, I've known about her and her music even before I joined TC. One of those random things I came across in a music book once.


Like Marta? How did you hear about him?


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Like Marta? How did you hear about him?


There's a piece by Marta on the Kronos Quartet's "Black Angels" album. At first I didn't like it but one day I realized that I actually did like it and decided to look him up on Amazon.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> There's a piece by Marta on the Kronos Quartet's "Black Angels" album. At first I didn't like it but one day I realized that I actually did like it and decided to look him up on Amazon.


Oh okay. I want to listen to a bit more Marta one day. And Crumb. I must get that CD.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Oh okay. I want to listen to a bit more Marta one day. And Crumb. I must get that CD.


There are "like new" used copies selling on amazon for about 5 dollars.


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

violadude said:


> No, I've known about her and her music even before I joined TC. One of those random things I came across in a music book once.


Ooh, yay! I meet so few people who know her. Do you like her music? I think her opera _The Wreckers_ is fantastic. I actually haven't listened to everything of hers that has been recorded (which isn't much to begin with), but I know _The Wreckers_, the complete piano music, and the Mass. I know her life a bit better than her music, since she documented it so well. She was an enthralling character.


----------



## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Have her string quartet and quintet. Very nice pieces.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Ten points to whoever can guess this composer (without cheating):


----------



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

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Ten points to whoever can guess this composer (without cheating):


When I opened the link the guy's name showed up on the tab at the top! If it's any consolation I wouldn't have known who it was and I've only got one work by him - even that's not his (in)famous one.


----------



## aphyrodite (Jan 9, 2012)

Aram Khachaturian.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)




----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

This one is almost impossible. I'd be surprised if anyone here at all would recognise this fabulous composer:










937784817874 points if you get it right.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Anyone recognize this composer?


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Anthony Pateras and Galina Ustvolskaya. I get all the points!


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Cnote11 said:


> Anthony Pateras and Galina Ustvolskaya. I get all the points!


You amaze me!  How did you do that?


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> You amaze me!  How did you do that?


Looking at image titles and hot-linked sites? Been there, done that.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Cnote11 said:


> Anthony Pateras and Galina Ustvolskaya. I get all the points!


You didn't cheat did you?


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Not intentionally


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Alright, how about this one!









Anyone who gets this gets millions of points cause I made it impossible to cheat


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Bruno Maderna


----------



## RussicheCello (Mar 9, 2012)

Carl Nielsen (Symphony 4 Mvt 4 is mind-blowing), and Peter Sculthorpe.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Cnote11 said:


> Bruno Maderna


 you're good!


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

violadude said:


> you're good!


Obviously you haven't heard of Google image search...........


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Philip said:


> Obviously you haven't heard of Google image search...........


Ya but how would he know what name to type in?


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

violadude said:


> Ya but how would he know what name to type in?


Drag and drop?


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

I'm so crafty... fyi you can't google image search an attachment Philip  Stop trying to take all my credit away from me... I am a music scholar after all


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Philip said:


> Drag and drop?


Wait really? Hold on let me try.


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

If you do that you get "The URL doesn't refer to an image, or the image is not publicly accessible."


----------



## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Well I can't compete with you guys but I do listen to a lot more Dukas, Copland and Locatelli than anyone I know. On the more unheard of list, I like:

Giovanni Fontana
Jean-Marie Leclair
Alexander Borodin
Aaron Jay Kernis
Marco Uccellini
Andre Gretry

just to name a few.


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

violadude said:


> Wait really? Hold on let me try.





Cnote11 said:


> If you do that you get "The URL doesn't refer to an image, or the image is not publicly accessible."


Jeez have you people ever used a computer in your lives??


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Seeing as how I was recruited into a business at the age of 10 to build and fix computers, then I would say yes I have. However, if I go about telling everybody how to do everything with computers then I couldn't use it to my advantage.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Okay then try and guess _this_ composer:

(I'm not posting an image because all you guys are gonna cheat )


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Okay then try and guess _this_ composer:
> 
> (I'm not posting an image because all you guys are gonna cheat )


Micheal Nyman?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> Micheal Nyman?


Wrong. Guess again.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Wrong. Guess again.


Brett Dean?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> Brett Dean?


Correct

_Why you little............_ :scold:


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

I'm calling into play the legitimacy of his answer. It is never impossible to cheat! Violadude found that out the hard way  Seriously, you should make good use of the google image search feature. It is actually a rather recent addition to the site, but you can search by actual image and it gives you other instances of the image on the website as well as similar imagines. I absolutely love messing around with it.

Oh, and for the record: If you can't search the image for some reason just save it to your hard drive and upload it on a site like www.tinypic.com and then use that link.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Correct
> 
> _Why you little............_ :scold:


My next guess would have been WAGNER.


----------



## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

It would be consistent as nobody can see God.


----------

