# The bottomless well of hopes and wishes!



## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

This thread is dedicated to hopes and wishes of all kind related to classical and modern art music!

I´ll begin!

*I wish there was a combination of Mahler and Sibelius. * Someone with the Sibelian skill for melodies, harmonies, structure and drama with the Mahlerian gift of enormous eclectic scale, vast emotional input and superb orchestration. Those symphonies would be quite amazing, don´t you think?


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I wish Sibelius hadn't retired when he did. Given where his 7th went, I would have loved to hear an 8th or 9th.

The same goes for any composer who died before their time, really: Mozert, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky...


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

I wish Debussy lived another 20 years or so. His late period works show a fascinating stylistic shift from the more well-known Impressionism he was associated with in the earlier works.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I think Mahler and Sibelius are like Fire and Ice and a mix would not have yielded anything I'd look forward to... (I admittedly also think that Mahler is a considerably superior composer, except for terseness and the creation of some specific Sibelian moods both would not mix well with Mahler's style at all).

A completed 10th symphony by Schubert and a bunch of other mature instrumental works would really have been great. Among the great composers, it's only Schubert where I feel that a bit is missing (not that much as we have all the extant great late works). Also maybe another piece of mixed chamber music (like the octet) or a real cello sonata or even concerto or woodwind chamber music (the only thing we have is "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" with obligato clarinet).

I am not sure if he would have been up to it but in Schubert's time I feel that Weber was the greater loss (despite living quite a bit longer, he seems to have achieved less than could have been possible). The two later operas have some great music but dramatic weaknesses and he might have overcome this with another attempt or two. Similarly, he might have written another symphony or concerto with the full romantic orchestration palette of Freischütz and Euryanthe.

Brahms should have written a mature woodwind quintet or mixed septet/octet. The first serenade supposedly started as nonet and the 2nd serenade seems to me an uneasy mix between such a chamber and small orchestra piece. And of course, a cello concerto and I wouldn't have minded one for viola and one for clarinet either.

Obviously, the 3 planned late sonatas by Debussy and the concerti for oboe, bassoon, horn by Nielsen.

A cello concerto by Tchaikovsky (I dislike the Rococo variations but PIT has otherwise great cello writing in chamber music and string serenade)


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

So many, 10 or 15 more years of Ligeti, 5 more years of Wagner, 15 more years of Debussy and Bartók, 25 more for Webern and Berg, 10 more for Schubert and Schumann and Mozart... Beethoven is probably my favourite composer of whose output I can say is thoroughly complete and perfect as is


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## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

Best wishes to Mr. Williams on his 90th birthsday, and a hope he will live to be 100.


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## Ravn (Jan 6, 2020)

I wish Celibidache & Munich Philharmonic did a Sibelius symphony cycle available on CD.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

Is it wrong to say that I wish Mahler had written an opera?


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

I would like someone to write operas based on Spike Milligan's only novel, _Puckoon_, and the post-apocalyptic absurdist play Milligan wrote with John Antrobus, _The Bedsitting Room_.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

I wish we could have come across completed works that Beethoven apparently had in mind but never had appeared to start and/or complete, such as the 10th Symphony and another violin concerto.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

DaveM said:


> I wish we could have come across completed works that Beethoven apparently had in mind but never had appeared to start and/or complete, such as the 10th Symphony and another violin concerto.


remember, always remember:


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

allaroundmusicenthusiast said:


> Is it wrong to say that I wish Mahler had written an opera?


I'd rather hear some mature chamber works from him. A song cycle (or ten of them ) for reduced forces would also be lovely. Imagine a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and string quartet for example. I'm in heaven!


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Neo Romanza said:


> I'd rather hear some mature chamber works from him. A song cycle (or ten of them ) for reduced forces would also be lovely. Imagine a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and string quartet for example. I'm in heaven!


To get an idea of what that might sound like check out *Othmar Schoeck*'s _Notturno_ for voice and string quartet,


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Ravn said:


> I wish Celibidache & Munich Philharmonic did a Sibelius symphony cycle available on CD.


I'd be the first Sibelius cycle on 7 disks...


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I wish more people would turn off their televisions, stop listening to crappy pop music and embrace good music - both the old and the new. I wish people cared as much about great music as they do about sports and reality TV. I wish music performance organizations would make a genuine commitment to cutting down their allegiance to the same old warhorses and play something we haven't heard a bizillion times before. And I wish CD companies would reissue some of those big box budget sets so I can buy the ones I want and missed, and now are prohibitively expensive! And get that Ormandy Stereo Legacy out!


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## Botschaft (Aug 4, 2017)

Kreisler jr said:


> Brahms should have written a mature woodwind quintet or mixed septet/octet. The first serenade supposedly started as nonet and the 2nd serenade seems to me an uneasy mix between such a chamber and small orchestra piece.


What's uneasy about it? I've never heard anything more euphonious.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

mbhaub said:


> I wish more people would turn off their televisions, stop listening to crappy pop music and embrace good music - both the old and the new. I wish people cared as much about great music as they do about sports and reality TV. I wish music performance organizations would make a genuine commitment to cutting down their allegiance to the same old warhorses and play something we haven't heard a bizillion times before. And I wish CD companies would reissue some of those big box budget sets so I can buy the ones I want and missed, and now are prohibitively expensive! And get that Ormandy Stereo Legacy out!


I wish there were fewer people who think that all Pop music is "crappy" and that the only good music is the kind they like.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Waehnen said:


> Those symphonies would be quite amazing, don´t you think?


No, I don't think a blend of Mahler & Sibelius would amaze.


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

Waehnen said:


> This thread is dedicated to hopes and wishes of all kind related to classical and modern art music!
> 
> I´ll begin!
> 
> *I wish there was a combination of Mahler and Sibelius. * Someone with the Sibelian skill for melodies, harmonies, structure and drama with the Mahlerian gift of enormous eclectic scale, vast emotional input and superb orchestration. Those symphonies would be quite amazing, don´t you think?


Surely, they both were both enormously gifted in the areas of melody, harmony, structure, drama, and superb orchestration. Obviously, Sibelius lacked Mahler's eclecticism and scale... debatably for the better, perhaps? Perhaps Carl Nielsen is as close as we will get to a cross-pollination of Mahler and Sibelius, which maybe isn't really all that close.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

I wish Brahms' Double Symphony had been well-received, so that Brahms was encouraged to compose more concertos.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

ORigel said:


> I wish Brahms' Double Symphony had been well-received, so that Brahms was encouraged to compose more concertos.


Well, I wish Brahms' Double Concerto had been well-received, so that Brahms was encouraged to compose more symphonies.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Prodromides said:


> No, I don't think a blend of Mahler & Sibelius would amaze.


Maybe I should not have tried to be too polite in putting "my wish" to words.

I would basically love to hear Sibelius music on a Mahlerian scale. When it comes to the actual musical material in this supposed new combinatory music, proportions of 65% Sibelius, 35% Mahler for me please! Thank you very much. I would love that. Yes.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

mbhaub said:


> I'd be the first Sibelius cycle on 7 disks...


This was actually a very funny joke! Thanks!


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

ORigel said:


> I wish Brahms' Double Symphony had been well-received, so that Brahms was encouraged to compose more concertos.


In some alternate reality Brahms composes a Cello Concerto, a Clarinet Concerto, and a Horn Concerto.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> I would like someone to write operas based on Spike Milligan's only novel, _Puckoon_, and the post-apocalyptic absurdist play Milligan wrote with John Antrobus, _The Bedsitting Room_.


Britten wrote the War Requiem of course but oh how I wish he'd have set Milligan's War Diaries as well..
I wish Britten had written a few more Symphonies and more solo piano music.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

allaroundmusicenthusiast said:


> Is it wrong to say that I wish Mahler had written an opera?


He was the most famous opera conductor of his day, so it is far from implausible. While I am not sure he would have written a good opera, the reason he never really tried (apart from a very early attempt "Der Trompeter von Säckingen) was probably mostly lack of spare time. He needed his vacations for the symphonies, an opera would have been a huge project and as opera director he would have been keenly aware of that.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I wish that Satie has written an opera.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

Kreisler jr said:


> He was the most famous opera conductor of his day, so it is far from implausible. While I am not sure he would have written a good opera, the reason he never really tried (apart from a very early attempt "Der Trompeter von Säckingen) was probably mostly lack of spare time. He needed his vacations for the symphonies, an opera would have been a huge project and as opera director he would have been keenly aware of that.


Yes, that's my reasoning too. He knew the opera repertoire like the back of his hand, and (as sources of the day say) he was a terrific terrific conductor. Had he gotten the right treatment for his heart condition, I think at one point he would have amassed enough wealth, and would have stopped relying on his holidays as his only time to compose


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## Tarneem (Jan 3, 2022)

I wish if Schoenberg never existed...


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## Wilhelm Theophilus (Aug 8, 2020)

That Wagner wrote more music, not operas, concertos etc.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

1. I wish western art music had never fully adopted a tempered 12-tone scale and that microtonality had a stronger history in theory and practice

2. I wish tonality weren't such a rigid and dominant system 1700-1900 and beyond.

3. I wish the orchestra had never become so popular, taking up all the attention and $$$ in the music industry.

4. I wish fluidity and crossover between genres was deemed natural and acceptable, and that there weren't such a separation between folk, popular and classical music.

5. Most of all, I wish performance practice would face the reform it has desperately needed for the better part of a century.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Actually, my wish for #5 is far greater than my wishes for the other four combined. Performance practice needs reform, from the bottom up. I cannot think of a single musical genre or tradition that has a more toxic, stale, boring performance practice than Classical Music.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Actually, my wish for #5 is far greater than my wishes for the other four combined. Performance practice needs reform, from the bottom up...


What changes would you recommend??


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Tarneem said:


> I wish if Schoenberg never existed...


I wish there was a "dislike" button in this forum. :lol:


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## vmartell (Feb 9, 2017)

1) That Walter and Klemperer would have conducted in Bayreuth and recorded... in stereo....

2) That Furtwaengler had come to Chicago - Imagine all those Furtwaengler Living Stereos! 

3) That Siegfried Wagner would have stuck to Orchestral Music specially Tone Poems - I have many of his operas - listen to the preludes and overtures - he would have, IMHO, given his grandpa Liszt and R. Strauss a run for their money as a Tone Poet... Great stuff

4) Of course, the full ring (in stereo) by Furtwaengler

5) The full Ring with Anja Silja and Klemperer

6) That Lenny had quit smoking

7) And this is somehow related to Classical music. The idea formed in my mind when I found out that Laser Discs are Analog!  ( yes, it was a surprise - have been conditioned to equate "Optical" with "Digital" ). Imagine if someone had decided to:

- Take the Laser Disc and ditch the video
- Use full bandwidth for audio

We would have had the ultimate Analog platform - free of the disadvantages of Vinyl and Tape and a big format on top of that for great artwork! 



v


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## Holden4th (Jul 14, 2017)

I wish that Bruce Hungerford had lived to complete his Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle.


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