# I'm trying to remember the name of a late romantic composer



## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Late 19th, early 20th century, something similar to Rachmaninov. He composed four symphonies, and especially the fourth is a great work, rediscovered in recent decades. I think that a cd with the 4th symphony was awarded as album of the year or something like that.
Any idea?


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

I can't hear the phase "four symphonies" and not think of either Ives (sic) or Brahms :lol:


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Sergei Taneyev!!!

He was teacher of Rachmaninoff, by the way. And Taneyev's Fourth (and final) Symphony is _absolutely a masterpiece._

I cannot recommend this Symphony more:






I'm just reeling thinking about the symphony, I don't even have to be hearing it. :lol:


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

thanks for the reply but unfortunately it's not Taneyev. For some reason I keep thinking "Zelenka" but for obvious reasons it's not him. I think that the name could have some similarity, but I'm not sure...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Franz Schmidt? He wrote 4 and the 4th seems to be the most talked about.


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## T Son of Ander (Aug 25, 2015)

I was thinking Franz Schmidt, also.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

clavichorder said:


> Franz Schmidt? He wrote 4 and the 4th seems to be the most talked about.


no, it's not him. It's also less famous.
edit: for a moment I was confusing him with Schmitt, I don't think I've heard anything of Schmidt.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

This is a long shot, but could it possibly be Nicolai Berezowsky? His style is a bit more modern-sounding than Rachmaninoff's, but I thought I'd throw his name out there anyway. Recommended listening for anyone who enjoys a spicy, folklike sound, along the lines of Khachaturian.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Bettina said:


> This is a long shot, but could it possibly be Nicolai Berezowsky? His style is a bit more modern-sounding than Rachmaninoff's, but I thought I'd throw his name out there anyway. Recommended listening for anyone who enjoys a spicy, folklike sound, along the lines of Khachaturian.


no, it's not him either... but it seems at least I could find some good recommendations


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I just remembered, Szymanowski also wrote 4 symphonies. I don't know them very well, but he might be more famous than the guy you are looking for.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

clavichorder said:


> I just remembered, Szymanowski also wrote 4 symphonies. I don't know them very well, but he might be more famous than the guy you are looking for.


Szymanowski is definitely a lot more famous than the composer I'm saying, and I wouldn't compare him to Rachmaninov. He was something between a romantic and a impressionist composer probably. And the guy I'm saying is probably a less recent.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

norman bates said:


> Late 19th, early 20th century, something similar to Rachmaninov. He composed four symphonies, and especially the fourth is a great work, rediscovered in recent decades. I think that a cd with the 4th symphony was awarded as album of the year or something like that.
> Any idea?


Are you still sure about 4 symphonies? And are we necessarily thinking a Russian composer?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

norman bates said:


> Late 19th, early 20th century, something similar to Rachmaninov. He composed four symphonies, and especially the fourth is a great work, rediscovered in recent decades. I think that a cd with the 4th symphony was awarded as album of the year or something like that.
> Any idea?


Franz Schmidt. Yes Zubin Mehta/Vienna Philharmonic won awards for their great performance of Schmidt's Fourth Symphony. Not Russsian though, but I'm sure this is the one.

Please don't like this post. I already have 52,593 likes received.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

hpowders said:


> I absolutely dare anyone on TC to like this post.


I am sure Bettina will be by any moment now . . . .


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

JAS said:


> Are you still sure about 4 symphonies? And are we necessarily thinking a Russian composer?


I'm sure about the 4 symphonies, and no, I don't think he was a russian composer. Probably from east europe, but don't ask me what country he was from. 
The comparison with Rachmaninov is because his music is that kind of lush romantic music. And he's often compared to him.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

JAS said:


> I am sure Bettina will be by any moment now . . . .


:lol::lol::lol::devil::devil:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

jas said:


> i am sure *bettina *will be by any moment now . . . .


:clap::clap::clap::kiss::kiss:


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

norman bates said:


> I'm sure about the 4 symphonies, and no, I don't think he was a russian composer. The comparison with Rachmaninov is because his music is that kind of lush romantic music. And he's often compared to him.


Not much to go on, so we are really just guessing. Perhaps Albéric Magnard (1865-1914)?

Is there some context that is bringing this composer to mind at the moment? (I suppose we will take any clue we can get.)


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

JAS said:


> Not much to go on, so we are really just guessing. Perhaps Albéric Magnard (1865-1914)?
> 
> Is there some context that is bringing this composer to mind at the moment? (I suppose we will take any clue we can get.)


no, it's not him (I guess this will be harder than I thought). Like I've said, I think he was from east europe, and (I'm not sure about this... actually I could be even totally wrong) his name had something that reminds of "Zelenka".
It's possible that this 4th symphony was composed exactly in 1900 or 1901 or something like that, but again, I'm not sure.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

The only name close to that I can think of off the top of my head is Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942), about that time period, but I think only wrote 2 symphonies.

Again, what brings up this question now? Is there something that brought it to memory? Something that might provide a clue?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

hpowders said:


> Wassup with that?
> 
> Also, it's *B*ettina.


Looks like Jas noticed how much I admire you and your posts! Now there's just the unfortunate fact that you're still alive... :lol:


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

JAS said:


> The only name close to that I can think of off the top of my head is Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942), about that time period, but I think only wrote 2 symphonies.
> 
> *Again, what bring up this question now? Is there something that brought it to memory? Something that might provide a clue?*


Yeah, I feel like we need to give norman a Freudian psychotherapy session, to uncover his repressed memory of this composer's name! :lol: Are there any trained psychoanalysts in the house? I think Captainnumber36 might be a good candidate for the job!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Drat, not Taneyev?? O well, I succeeded in name-dropping him, and any publicity he gets is good. :lol:

This might up end up being a wild goose chase unless someone figures it out. 

Maybe this list will refresh the memory:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphony_composers


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Looks like Jas noticed how much I admire you and your posts! Now there's just the unfortunate fact that you're still alive... :lol:


Seems to be a compliment from that person. Posters spend more time observing what I am doing rather than on the music and lives of the great composers? I suppose I should be flattered.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Yeah, I feel like we need to give norman a Freudian psychotherapy session, to uncover his repressed memory of this composer's name! :lol: Are there any trained psychoanalysts in the house? I think Captainnumber36 might be a good candidate for the job!


Well, his name is Norman Bates. Maybe this has something to do with his mother . . . .


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Drat, not Taneyev?? O well, I succeeded in name-dropping him, and any publicity he gets is good. :lol:
> 
> This might up end up being a wild goose chase unless someone figures it out.
> 
> ...


Well, the OP mentioned the fourth symphony having an award winning performance, which fits the Schmidt. 

I like Taneyev's chamber music.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Drat, not Taneyev?? O well, I succeeded in name-dropping him, and any publicity he gets is good. :lol:
> 
> This might up end up being a wild goose chase unless someone figures it out.
> 
> ...


And here I was thinking that Huilu had miraculously solved the case 

As for that symphony list, I'm a little dizzy :lol:


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## Adam Weber (Apr 9, 2015)

I want to say Glière? Falletta's recording of Glière's _3rd_ Symphony did quite well in 2014, but I suppose that can't be right... He never wrote a 4th.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Not to sound unkind, but this search has so far been a waste of time. Not enough to go on. How hard is it to look up composers who wrote four symphonies, or Eastern European composers, or an award-winning symphonic album, or a Romantic composer similar to Rachmaninoff? -- and yet nothing has added up. So it's possible these guidelines by Mr. Bates are simply not accurate.

I would want to know where he heard this music. If it was on the radio, then he could call the station on the approximate date that he heard it. I just hate to see people's time wasted on a fruitless search for music that should be relatively easy to find - that is, if it was a symphony by someone who only wrote four of them, or Eastern European, or Romantic like Rachmaninoff, or a name starting with Z, etc.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Drat, not Taneyev?? O well, I succeeded in name-dropping him, and any publicity he gets is good. :lol:
> 
> This might up end up being a wild goose chase unless someone figures it out.
> 
> ...


Yes, this helped, and now I know why it was hard to find: it wasn't a symphony, it was a piano concerto. 4th piano concerto written by Franz Xaver Scharwenka (that's why I was thinking of Zelenka!), in 1908.
Thanks everyone for the help!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Well duh. I have that on CD. Excellent music.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

norman bates said:


> Yes, this helped, and now I know why it was hard to find: it wasn't a symphony, it was a piano concerto.




Mystery solved, case closed!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Oh, sorry. It wasn't a Rolex watch that I lost. It was a gold wedding band.

Thanks for spending the three weeks looking for the watch!


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Just as a note, according to his wikipedia page, Scharwenka's mother insisted that her children should love music, and encouraged him to do so. Thus it may all go back to someone's mother after all, but then, what doesn't?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The case is closed!! :clap::clap:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

JAS said:


> Just as a note, according to his wikipedia page, Scharwenka's mother insisted that her children should love music, and encouraged him to do so. Thus it may all go back to someone's mother after all, but then, what doesn't?


Valuable information always welcome, thanks for sharing.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Glad Mr. Bates finally rediscovered his piano concerto rather than his symphony. It would've been nice to know how the unknown work was finally found after so much missleading information was repeatedly presented to those who were trying to help, and there's a considerable difference between a piano concerto and a symphony for most experienced listeners to get confused between the two. But I'm glad he persisted and now has the opportunity to enjoy it. The Scharwenka #4 is a wonderful Romantic concerto.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Larkenfield said:


> Glad Mr. Bates finally rediscovered his piano concerto rather than his symphony. It would've been nice to know how the unknown work was finally found after so much missleading information was repeatedly presented, and there can be a considerable difference between a piano concerto and symphony to confuse the two. But I'm glad that he persisted and now has the opportunity to enjoy it. The Scharwenka #4 is a wonderful Romantic concerto.


quite simple actually, Huilunsoittaja has posted a list of composers of symphonies listed for periods, so I started looking in the period 1850-1899 and it was the fourth name of the list, so I've found him immediately. 
And since I remembered that his name was similar to "Zelenka", even if I wasn't sure about that as I've seen Scharwenka I've remembered he was him... and personally I can't even think of other composers with similar names... is there anybody else with a similar name?
After that... sure, there's a obvious difference between a symphony and a piano concerto, the piano. But I remembered an orchestral work so that's why my memory made me think it was a symphony. Even if remembering a similarity with Rachmaninoff I could have thought it could have been a piano concerto.


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