# Recommend 1-3 masterpieces you think not many know of



## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Please recommend 1-3 masterpieces you think not all that many know of but which you truly love.

I feel that it is getting harder and harder for me to find true gems. I am sure many feel the same. So let’s help each other!

Not a list of tens and tens. But if you insists, split the tens and tens into posts of 3. Easier to process.

My three:

Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony no. 3 (Berglund conducting, especially)
Joonas Kokkonen: Durch Einen Spiegel
Esa-Pekka Salonen: LA Variations

They are Finns and the works are of course known by some, but it is OK. They sure are outside mainstream. Wonderful music!

(Edit: Please do not take pressure AT ALL for making sure that nobody has ever heard of the piece. That is not the point at all.)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Peter Warlock - The Curlew
Toru Takemitsu - From Me Flows What You Call Time
Peteris Vasks - Cor Anglais Concerto


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Ernest Bloch: Symphony in C sharp minor
Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Night in the Tropics
Frederick Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

Philip Glass: The Light
Geirr Tviett: Hardanger Suites
Quinihico Hashimoto: Symphony No. 1


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

I buy vinyl at thrift stores. It remains to be seen what the offer is. Mostly the well-known pieces. But sometimes there are records that surprise me enormously. Here some recordings that surprised me. Not very unknown music but certainly gems! I couldn't stop listening to them.

Bizet Symfonie in C (composed at age 17!)









Ancient airs and dances from Respighi (what an orchestration!)









Dvorak serenades op 22 and 44









Smetana quartet. Strangely enough I didn't know it yet. What a masterpiece, not a weak note!










I bought this without knowing exactly what it was. What a great surprise. Recording is often recommended to test audio.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Alfvén: Symphony #4 "From the Outermost Skerries"
Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus
Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne

To me these three works are masterpieces.


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Difficult. All early baroque lovers know Monteverdi's "Selva morale e spirituale", all baroque violin lovers know Corelli's violin sonatas op. 5 (possibly with Manze), all late-romantic piano aficionados know Medtner's piano concertos, ...

So I'll try these and I hope that all who already know one or more of these works will forgive me for insinuating that they didn't know this wonderful music ...

Perotin: Viderunt omnes (if possible, the recording with the Hilliard Ensemble)
Rued Langgaard: Sfaerenes music (Music of the spheres) [alternatively: symphony No. 1]
Alfred Schnittke: Choir Concerto


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

There is a second Smetana quartet that is virtually unknown, compared to "From my life", but a very interesting piece, terse and "Janacekian".


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Some 20th Cent orchestral pieces I dont see mentioned a lot here, that are not too modernistic

Dutilleaux - Metaboles
Henze - Ondine (suite)
Hindemith - Four Temperaments (piano & orch)


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Holst - Suite for Military Band #1 in Eb Major
Schuller - 7 Studies on Paul Klee
Wm. Schuman - Sym #3


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Three "American" works that deserve greater exposure:

*Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, by John LaMontaine*
First performed in Washington, D.C. by the National Symphony Orchestra on November 25, 1958.
Pulitzer Prize for Music, 1959.
Available on CRI (Composers Recordings Inc.) LPs -- CRI SD 189 and CRI 166, performed by the aptly named Karen Keys with Guy Fraser Harrison conducting the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra

*Symphony No. 3, by Ned Rorem*
Available on NAXOS 8.559149 (Bournemouth SO with José Serebrier ) along with the first two symphonies, and on Turnabout vinyl, TV 34447S coupled with the Schuman Seventh Symphony, with Maurice de Abravanel and the Utah SO.

*Symphony No. 3, by Benjamin Lees*
Available with the first two symphonies on an ALBANY CD (TROY 564/65), but you should hear it first on the Louisville First Edition record LS-752 with Paul Orton on tenor sax and the Louisville Orchestra conducted by Jorge Mester.


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


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## Xenophiliu (Jan 2, 2022)

Vítězslav Novák: The Storm
Franz Berwald: Symphony 3
Frank Martin: Mass


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

N Fowleri said:


> Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


I'm not Dutch, but the CPO series of music by Julius Rontgen has been astonishing. Extremely well written, beautifully scored, great tunes, luscious harmony...it's all been soooo good.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

N Fowleri said:


> Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


Does Flemish count? There is that Van Beethoven guy


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

These are certainly masterpieces to me.

Harrison Birtwistle - Earth Dances (1986)
Charles Wuorinen - Fourth Piano Concerto (2003) 
Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic (1972)


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto no. 9
Dvorak: String Quintet no. 2 (with a double bass)
Norbert Burgmuller: Piano Concerto


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

mbhaub said:


> I'm not Dutch, but the CPO series of music by Julius Rontgen has been astonishing. Extremely well written, beautifully scored, great tunes, luscious harmony...it's all been soooo good.


 Where would you start with that series? Thanks!


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

N Fowleri said:


> Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


-Netherlands: Rudolf Escher (1912-1980), Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), Johannes Schenk (1681-1767), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)**, Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967)
-Netherlands: Peter Adriaansz (1966)*, Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012), Louis Andriessen (1939-2021)*, Michel Van der Aa (1970)*
As you can see there are not that many great Dutch composers, but a lot of their compositions are worth a listen.


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

justekaia said:


> -Netherlands: Rudolf Escher (1912-1980), Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), Johannes Schenk (1681-1767), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)**, Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967)
> -Netherlands: Peter Adriaansz (1966)*, Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012), Louis Andriessen (1939-2021)*, Michel Van der Aa (1970)*
> As you can see there are not that many great Dutch composers, but a lot of their compositions are worth a listen.


Thanks so much! Could you name 2-3 specific recordings that are your favorites?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

N Fowleri said:


> Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


Jan van Gilse - Symphony No. 3 "Erhebung"
Alphons Diepenbrock - Im Grossen Schweigen
Hendrik Andriessen - Miroir de Peine

Of course, my personal taste. YMMV.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Johan Helmich Roman - Drottningholm music
Ludvig Irgens-Jensen - Passacaglia
Karl-Birger Blomdahl - Symphony no. 3 "Facetter"


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

Art Rock said:


> Jan van Gilse - Symphony No. 3 "Erhebung"
> Alphons Diepenbrock - Im Grossen Schweigen
> Hendrik Andriessen - Miroir de Peine
> 
> Of course, my personal taste. YMMV.


Sir, thank you very much. Could you recommend recordings of these pieces that you especially enjoy?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

N Fowleri said:


> Sir, thank you very much. Could you recommend recordings of these pieces that you especially enjoy?


I'm not even sure whether they have been recorded more than once. My CD's:

Jan van Gilse - Symphony No. 3 "Erhebung" (CPO)
Alphons Diepenbrock - Im Grossen Schweigen (Chandos)
Hendrik Andriessen - Miroir de Peine (NM Classics)

The song cycle by Hendrik Andriessen is also available on a rare box with Live recordings by Elly Ameling (a 5 CD gem I picked up for 50 cents in a thrift shop).


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

N Fowleri said:


> Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


Holland is famous for its painters, not for its composers 
There were plenty of them, of course (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dutch_composers) But no composers that come close to the greatest, excepted Sweelinck.

Although, a masterpiece is the Allegro for four string quartets in D Major from Johannes Bernards van Bree (1801-1857). It could have been a Mendelssohn piece.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Here are 3 I love:
Sergei Taneyev-Piano quintet
Edison Denisov-Concerto for 2 violas, harpsichord & string orchestra
Peter Maxwell Davies-Symphony no.10


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

A while ago I watched a video on Youtube of people visiting an abandoned villa in the Netherlands (Video about the villa.) That turned out to be the house of the late composer Henk Badings (died in de 80s). As a result of that video I listened to his music and I loved some pieces.

YouTube suggested this Quintet for wind instruments in A major from Johannes Meinardus Coenen (never heard about). Very beautiful music!


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Dohnanyi - Piano Quintet no. 2 in E flat minor, op. 26 (Schubert Ensemble of London)
Froberger - Lamentation on the Death of Ferdinand III, FbWV 633 (Leonhardt)
Hummel - Piano Trio no. 6 in E flat major, op. 93 (Trio Parnassus)


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

N Fowleri said:


> Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?


I found this, a YouTube channel with music from Dutch composers: https://www.youtube.com/user/nichtschleppen/videos

For example the violin concerto from Elisabeth Kuyper (Bruch conducted the premiere!!). Nice music. Very bad performance unfortunately. Janine Jansen should record this work together with the Joachim concerto.


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

N Fowleri said:


> Thanks so much! Could you name 2-3 specific recordings that are your favorites?


Escher: Concerto for string orchestra, Musique pour l'esprit en Deuil
Röntgen: Cello Cto no 3, Cello Sonatas op 41 and 56
Schenk: Les Fantaisies bizarres de la Goutte, Scherzi musicali
Sweelinck: Complete Keyboard Works, Canciones Sacrae
Vermeulen: Symphonies 2, 6 and 7
Adriaansz: Triple Concerto for 8 Musicians, Environments I-III, Attachments I-III
Simeon ten Holt: Canto ostinato, Lemniscaat, Meandres
Louis Andriessen: De Staat, De Tijd, De Materie
Michel van der Aa: Up-Close, Hysteresis, Here to be found


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

Mercadante: Orazi e Curiazi









Voříšek: Symphony in D Major









Gjeilo: Sunrise Mass


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

mbhaub said:


> Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Night in the Tropics


This one so very much. 15 minutes of pure fun that will make you jump from your chair and dance.



mbhaub said:


> I'm not Dutch, but the CPO series of music by Julius Rontgen has been astonishing. Extremely well written, beautifully scored, great tunes, luscious harmony...it's all been soooo good.


Röntgen has long been regarded as an epigone, back in the days when Dutch music that wasn't avant-garde agitprop was casually dismissed.
Slowly he seems to be gaining a better reputation, but the majority of his symphonies are still waiting for their first recordings. He was such a weird character, starting as a friend of Grieg, writing lush romantic music, and ending as a wild experimentator, who wrote tons of music in the last 3 years of his life, including about 20(!) symphonies.

As for my suggestions:

1. Joseph Marx: Eine Herbstsinfonie
Talking about lush and romantic. A big and bold orchestral extravaganza, in need of some top-class performances (Botstein is merely ok).

2. Franz Schmidt: Piano Concerto for the left hand
Much less well-known than the 4 symphonies. Written for Wittgenstein (of course), but completely different from the Ravel, Strauss and Prokofiev concerti. Schmidt is much more neoclassical and often treats the solo part as a single line, clear and sharp.
The Beethoven Variations, also for piano left hand and orchestra are great as well.

3. Wolf: Penthelisea
Wolf's only work for large orchestra, and what a work it is. Completely over the top, but enjoyable from start to finish. Strangely neglected on record. I remember it being the filler on a 2 LP DG set with Kubelik's Mahler 9 as the main course. Conducted by Otto Gerdes, a great performance. I think Barenboim with the Orchestre de Paris is the only other option.

(EDIT: I see there are two more listed at discogs: Osmar Suitner/Staatskapelle Berlin and Horst Stein/Orch. de la Suisse Romande)


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## Superflumina (Jun 19, 2020)

Mouton - Nesciens Mater
Berwald - Symphony No. 3
Sciarrino - Luci mie traditrici


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

Maybe Hummel's piano concertos, like this one. Chopin was obviously heavily influenced by Hummel.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

George Benjamin - Dream of the Song 
Ginastera - Harp Concerto 
Karayev - In The Path of Thunder


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Waehnen said:


> They are Finns and the works are of course known by some, but it is OK.


Naught many people know that.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Yabetz said:


> Maybe Hummel






Mathilde von Guise, Op. 100, Act I: Duet and Trio. "Mi fà felice amor"


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Gosta Nystroem's Sinfonia del Mare (Symphony #3).






Bernard Herrmann Symphony 1.






Erich Korngold. Symphony in F sharp Major.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

*Reichardt - Erwin und Elmire (1793, Berlin)*




Act I. Aria. Ein Schauspiel für Götter

_"Much of Reichardt's reputation as a composer rests on his Lieder that number about 1500, using texts by some 125 poets. Important among these are the settings of Goethe's texts, some of which were known to, and influenced, Schubert. He was also known by his Singspiele, a genre that he refined with Goethe's support."_




Act II. Aria. Welch ein Lispen, welch ein Schauer

_"Mendelssohn regarded Reichardt as a major figure in developing the lied, valuing him over his teacher Zelter, and even above Schubert, because he had written, after all, some 1,500 songs over his sixty-two years."_
-James Porter (Beyond Fingal's Cave: Ossian in the Musical Imagination, P. 143) 




Act II. Aria. Ihr verblühet, süße Rosen




Act I. Trio. Ich muß, ich muß ihn sehen




Act I. Aria. Erwin! O schau, du wirst gerochen​


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Bach BWV 904 
Mozart K 540
Walton - Hindemith Variations

Not esoteric, but less well known than such masterworks should be imo.


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## Fredrikalansson (Jan 29, 2019)

Ture Rangstrom: Symphony No. 3 "_Song Under the Stars_"
Sir Hubert Parry: Symphonic Variations
Arthur Honegger: Symphony No. 4 "_Deliciae basilensis_"

And three operas that may or may not be well known, depending on your tastes and where you live, but you have to wish more opera companies would mount productions of off-the-beaten track works rather than the seemingly endless Traviatas and Les Bohemes.

Carl Nielsen: _Maskarade_ (or even Saul and David)
Walter Braunfels: _The Birds_
Bohuslav Martinu: _Julietta_

And finally some choral works: 
Wilhelm Stenhammer: _The Song _
Carl Nielsen: _Hymnus Amoris_
Ralph Vaughan Williams: _Hodie_ (real Christmas music compared to that hoary old Lenten chestnut Messiah)

That's all for now. Don't get me started on unknown Baroque masterpieces.


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## Anooj (Dec 5, 2021)

Fikret Amirov - Piano Concerto after Arabian Themes
Nicolas Astrinidis - Sonata Concertante


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Thanks everyone so far! I started by listening to the Vasks English Horn concerto and it was aesthetically very pleasing and beautiful. There is a lot to explore on this thread. Wonderful!


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

On the Dutch front, I have been enjoying some Rontgen, Escher, and van Gilse. Some of the other Dutch composers were a bit more advanced than I, being rather slow, could understand.

Also, I was browsing eclassical.com (a webshop owned by BIS), and came across an album of Alberic Magnard's Symphonies No. 2 No. 4 by the Malmo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Sanderling. It was half off as part of their daily deal. Wow, I had never heard of the guy before, but it is great stuff.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

N Fowleri said:


> On the Dutch front, I have been enjoying some Rontgen, Escher, and van Gilse. Some of the other Dutch composers were a bit more advanced than I, being rather slow, could understand.
> 
> Also, I was browsing eclassical.com (a webshop owned by BIS), and came across an album of Alberic Magnard's Symphonies No. 2 No. 4 by the Malmo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Sanderling. It was half off as part of their daily deal. Wow, I had never heard of the guy before, but it is great stuff.


We went to see some strange Escher graphics in The Haag right before the pandemic!


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

Waehnen said:


> We went to see some strange Escher graphics in The Haag right before the pandemic!


That was a different Escher. I don't know if they were related.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

N Fowleri said:


> That was a different Escher. I don't know if they were related.


They are different people, but related. Composer Rudolf Escher's father was a half-brother of graphic artist M. C. Escher.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)




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## downhillputz (Aug 1, 2015)

Symphonies by Gade, Atterberg & especially Kaliwoda Symphony 5 & 6


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## Second Trombone (Jan 23, 2020)

John Dowland: Say, Love, if Ever Thou Didst Find (Book of Songs 3)
Debussy: Le Plus que Lente
Bohuslav Martinů: La Revue de Cuisine

The Dowland is best heard in a fabulous performance by Michael Slattery on the CD "Dowland in Dublin" 
Arthur Rubinstein owned "Le Plus que Lent," IMHO. This piece captures for me the feeling of strolling the avenues of Paris and drinking in the sights and sounds on a lazy summer afternoon. Any of Rubinstein's performances is a jewel--except the first, from a 1919 piano roll, which is too fast, IMHO.
Martinů's La Revue de Cuisine is a delightful soufflé, also with a Parisian flavor, though it was premeired in Prague.

None of these pieces is exactly unknown—but neither are they core repertoire, and do I love them all.

It's great to have the recommendations of many others as well. So much to explore.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Friedrich Gernsheim: _Zu einem Drama, o_verture
Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Quartet No. 2 in Bb Major
Glazunov: _The Sea, _symphonic picture


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Albert Roussel : Evocations . For orchestra, chorus , and three vocal soloists . 

Nikolai Myaskovsky : Symphony no 6 .

Sergei Taneyev : " Concert Suite "for violin and orchestra .


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Also : Nielsen : Incidental Music To the play "Aladdin " by Adam Oehlenschlager . Suite or complete . 

Dvorak : Requiem .

Wilhelm Stenhammar : Symphony no 1 .


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## mahler9 (9 mo ago)

Janáček - Taras Bulba - haunting lyricism
Roberto Gerhard: Symphony no.4 "New York" - high modernism, expressive and powerful
Dutilleux: Symphony no.1 - an orchestral master in his element.


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## Echolane (Nov 19, 2018)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to tell everyone how much I love Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3, aka Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. I like the version with Dawn Upshaw as soloist. It might be my favorite piece of classical music. I find it hauntingly beautiful and I often listen to it. It is definitely on my desert island list of favorites. I do wish I knew whether it is uncommon or not, but I think it is.










The *Symphony No. 3*, Op. 36, also known as the _*Symphony of Sorrowful Songs*_ (Polish: _*Symfonia pieśni żałosnych*_), is a symphony in three movements composed by Henryk Górecki in Katowice, Poland, between October and December 1976. The work is indicative of the transition between Górecki's earlier dissonant style and his later more tonal style and "represented a stylistic breakthrough: austerely plaintive, emotionally direct and steeped in medieval modes".[1] It was premièred on 4 April 1977, at the Royan International Festival, with Stefania Woytowicz as soprano and Ernest Bour as conductor.[2]
A solo soprano sings Polish texts in each of the three movements.[3] The first is a 15th-century Polish lament of Mary, mother of Jesus; the second a message written on the wall of a Gestapo cell during World War II; and the third a Silesian folk song of a mother searching for her son killed by the Germans in the Silesian uprisings.[4] The first and third movements are written from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child, and the second movement from that of a child separated from a parent. The dominant themes of the symphony are motherhood, despair and suffering.
Until 1992, Górecki was known only to connoisseurs, primarily as one of several composers from the Polish School responsible for the postwar Polish music renaissance.[5] That year, Elektra-Nonesuch released a recording of the 15-year-old symphony performed by the London Sinfonietta that topped the classical chartsin Britain and the United States.[6] It has sold more than a million copies, vastly exceeding the expected lifetime sales of a typical symphonic recording by a 20th-century composer. This success, however, has not generated similar interest in Górecki's other works.[7]


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## Alex Kije (Feb 20, 2021)

My 3 are the following: David Diamond Symphony #4. Randall Thompson Symphony #2. Finnish Fantasy by Glazunov.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Arne Nordheim: _The Tempest_ (Suite from the Ballet) 
Lili Boulanger: _Du fond de l'abîme_ (Psalm 130) Surely, there has to be at least one little known "masterpiece" by a _female_ composer.
Luigi Nono: _Como una ola de fuerza y luz_


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## Gwyntaglaw (Nov 17, 2017)

Waehnen said:


> Please recommend 1-3 masterpieces you think not all that many know of but which you truly love.
> 
> I feel that it is getting harder and harder for me to find true gems. I am sure many feel the same. So let’s help each other!
> 
> ...


Ernest John Moeran: Symphony in G minor
Marcel Tyberg: Symphony No 3
Sibelius: Symphony No 6 (hardly anyone talks about this one, but it's an absolute gem)


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

Charles T. GRIFFES: *Piano Sonata* (1917–18, rev. 1919)
:: William Masselos [M-G-M ’56] Naxos Classical Archives
While not obscure, Griffes’s Piano Sonata doesn’t get a whole lotta love (as Led Zeppelin is wont to say) and is often overlooked. It always gets a mention when discussing the finest American piano works, yet aside from William Masselos and Garrick Ohlsson (and perhaps a few others that I don’t know about), big-name pianists have managed to avoid it … on record, at least. The work is abstract, angular, dissonant and is based on its own scale, which sort of resembles D minor, and it represents an abrupt and drastic change from Griffes’s rather Debussyan/impressionistic earlier output. Superficially, the Sonata sounds like an unlikely stepping stone between Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 9 “Black Mass” (1913) and Copland’s Piano Variations (1930), conveying something of the diabolical atmosphere (but none of the programmic implications) of the former and something of the angular rhetoric of the latter … but with an almost Liszt_ian_ sense of wandering/journeying about the dramatic narrative. Indeed, some of it, the slow movement especially, sounds as if it could be from «Années de pèlerinage, Quatrième année: Amérique».


Frank BRIDGE: *String Quartet No. 3* (1926)
:: Endellion String Quartet [Virgin ’89]
String Quartet No. 3 is the highlight of Bridge’s one-man English Expressionism movement of the 1920s and ’30s and one of my favorite English or Expressionist string quartet of any decade. The work is laid out and structured traditionally enough, having a sonata-allegro first movement, an intermezzo second, and a sonata-rondo third/final. It’s with tonality and harmonics that Bridge breaks with tradition: it’s chromatic, with all twelve tones and a lot of dubious harmonies revolving around a nebulous C-major tonal center. The work is based entirely on thematic material (all manner of motifs) introduced in the slow introduction of the main Allegro section of the first movement.

What makes the work go is the sheer vigor and intellectual rigor of Bridge’s development, which makes for one highly wrought and organic piece of music. Even when I can’t specifically cite why—which, sad to say, is much of the time—the music at any given point always “sounds” strongly related to the rest of the music; nothing comes across as extraneous or gratuitous or out of place. The themes built from the basic thematic material morph and develop in long stretches (especially in the first movement) that are worked out to the bitter end, giving the work an ever-evolving sinewy quality. The lyrical Intermezzo, a muted discussion between violins over a spare viola (pizzicato) and cello accompaniment, serves as a respite from the obsessive development and stressed, sighing lyricism of the first movement before Bridge ramps things back up in the combative, march-like final movement.

There’s a certain Berg_ian_ lyrical and harmonic feel about much of the writing, though it seems to presage the Violin Concerto as much as look back on Berg’s earlier works. (Berg’s _Lyric Suite_, also of 1926, would make for an intriguing coupling on disc.) The more vigorous rhythmic writing has a Bartók_ian_ quality about it, and the Intermezzo verges on “night music,” though I might term it “twilight music” in this case. If the prevailing mood of the work is postwar grim, it’s not all grim, and the various signs of hope make strong impressions.


Peter Maxwell DAVIES: _*Ave Maris Stella*_ (1975)
:: The Fires of London [Unicorn-Kanchana ’80] Treasure Island
_Ave Maris Stella_ is a rarefied and mysterious lament meditating on time and death and is composed for a “Pierrot” ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin/viola, cello, piano, and percussion (marimba in this case)—the same ensemble required for Schoenberg’s _Pierrot lunaire_. Religious symbolism and Medieval and Renaissance techniques are synthesized in a 20th Century crucible to produce a work “filled with fragile beauty but fraught with danger, a stage for bedeviling demons and consoling angels” (from liner notes). Davies bases the work on his own setting of a Greek text by Roderic Dunnett comprising nine phrases of nine notes. This matrix of phrases undergoes a clever systematic metamorphosis, yielding music that subtly but constantly shifts and evolves as it goes, generating a tense and eerie Medieval religious atmosphere in the process. The music also invokes at various times and to varying degrees the plainchant “Ave Maris Stella” (“Hail, Star of the Sea”), a choice apparently inspired by the composer’s experiences on a tiny Orkney farm overlooking the Atlantic Ocean that he’d been restoring around and about the time he was contemplating the work.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


> *Reichardt - Erwin und Elmire (1793, Berlin)*
> 
> 
> 
> ...






Act I. Duet. Hörst du, er hat geschworen




Act II. Aria. Mit vollen Athemzügen saug' ich, natur aus dir




Act I. Aria. Nein! Nein! Nein, nein, ich glaube nicht

*Trauerkantate auf den Tod Friedrich des Grossen (1786)*


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## Brucknerphile (Sep 5, 2018)

There's many that I can think of...but I'll start with 3 concertos that I am very fond of:

1) Gerald Finzi, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra

2) Samual Barber, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

3) William Walton, Concerto for Violincello and Orchestra

All full of melody and all great concerti!!


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Ferruccio Busoni - Piano Concerto
Hans Abrahamsen - let me tell you
Josef Suk - A Summer's Tale

...these equally deserve to be in the list...
Granville Bantock - A Hebridean Symphony
Knudage Riisager - Qarrtsiluni


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Mozart: K. 439b Divertimento for 3 basset horns
Cage: Haiku (1950-1951) (different from Seven Haiku (1951-52) or Haiku (1958))
Ten Holt: Palimpsest


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Fredrikalansson said:


> Carl Nielsen: _Maskarade_ (or even Saul and David)
> Walter Braunfels: _The Birds_
> Bohuslav Martinu: _Julietta_


I would heartily endorse all three of these composers and might venture to suggest _Jeanne d'Arc_ or _Verkündigung _as operas from Braunfels -- but even more, his _Te Deum -- _simply my favourite choral work. Martinu's _Greek Passion_ is arguably an even finer work than _Julietta_. And from Nielsen,_ Fynsk Foraar _is a sort of folk cantata which is a delight from start to finish but rarely performed outside Denmark.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Alexander Brincken symphony no. 1
Alexander Brincken symphony no. 4
Alexander Brincken symphony no. 5

Perhaps a bit obsessive -- and unfortunately only no. 4 has been publicly released (5 is currently only available in a mediocre mockup). But I'm convinced he is the finest post Bruckner/Schmidt symphonist who just happens to be living about 100 years too late to have much chance of widespread success.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Holst's 'Ode to Death'
Britten's 'Nocturne' Op.60
Boulanger 'Clairieres dans le ciel'


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Willem Pijper - Wind Quintet
Rodion Shchedrin - The Sealed Angel 
Sándor Veress - String Trio


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Mily Balakirev : Symphony no 1 in C major .

Hans Pfitzner : Oratorio , "Of The German Soul" ,
based on the. poems of Eichendorf . 

Paul Dukas : Symphony in C major . 

Respighi : Sinfonia Drammatica ,
his only symphony .

Josef Suk : Asrael symphony .

Szymanowski : Ballet : "Harnasie "
har NA-sheh . Ballet about Polish 
brigands in the Tatra mountains in southern Poland .

Kodaly : Peacock variations ,
based on a Hungarian folk song .

Havergal Brian : Symphony no 1, "Gothic " .
Possibly the most mind-boggling work in 
classical music ! So colossal it has
only been performed. about six times !

Elliott Carter : Variations for orchestra .
Surprisingly approachable for this 
daunting composer !

Max Reger : Variations on a theme by 
J.A. Hiller : one of his most immediately appealing pieces .

Dvorak : Symphony no 3 in E flat major . . Why is this gorgeous symphony so little known ? 
Beats me .


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## Fredrikalansson (Jan 29, 2019)

dko22 said:


> I would heartily endorse all three of these composers and might venture to suggest _Jeanne d'Arc_ or _Verkündigung _as operas from Braunfels -- but even more, his _Te Deum -- _simply my favourite choral work. Martinu's _Greek Passion_ is arguably an even finer work than _Julietta_. And from Nielsen,_ Fynsk Foraar _is a sort of folk cantata which is a delight from start to finish but rarely performed outside Denmark.


I've heard nothing but good things about Braunfels Te Deum. I need to look it up. 

Went back and forth between Julietta and The Greek Passion. I should have cheated and listed both. I also love The Miracles of our Lady.


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## evans.winner (5 mo ago)

Maybe not masterpieces or that obscure, but things that I like that don't seem to get a lot of airplay:

I only quite recently discovered Cyril Scott's Neptune (And if you like piano music, Scott wrote a nice little thing called Lotus Land.)

When I was kid my father had -- if I remember correctly -- an LP of ... Sun Treader? Anyway, the B side was Robert Helps' Symphony No. 1 (mvt 1 & 2 and mvt 3) which I thought was pretty neat. (If you like piano music Helps wrote a nice little thing called Hommage a Faure (just the first number on this video) that is entirely built on a little two-phrase tune. Saddest thing evaar...

Then, not very obscure I guess, but I feel like Vaughn Williams' Ninth Symphony really is a masterpiece, and ought to get a lot more appreciation.

To summarize my babble:

1. Cyril Scott, Neptune
2. Robert Helps, Symphony #1
3. Vaughn Williams, Symphony #9


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## RandallPeterListens (Feb 9, 2012)

Well, the initial question is difficult for starters. What's a masterpiece? Secondly, that "not all that many know of". Seems that the posters in these discussions are very well informed and it would be hard to surprise many. There is also the risk of making selections just for the sake of esoteric obscurantism. But let's see... The following are by no means even the "best" of the less known - just a few which come to mind:

Jan Dismas Zelenka, Concerto a 8 Concertanti especially the LP recording by the Clarion Concerts Orchestra led by Newell Jenkins (sadly has never made it to CD)
Eugene Ysaye, the six sonatas for solo violin, especially the recorded version by Ruggiero Ricci
Charles Koechlin, Les Heures Persanes. I like the Kathryn Stott recording but the Boaz Sharon recording is probably equally good.


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## Terrapin (Apr 15, 2011)

Boccherini - String Quartets, Op 32 and 39
Dohnanyi - String Quartet 2 (haven't yet heard 1 and 3)
Nielsen - String Quartets (4)
Schmidt - Sym No. 1 and 2 (as good as the celebrated No. 4)


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Fredrikalansson said:


> I also love The Miracles of our Lady


I don't know that so it's one for my listening list


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Terrapin said:


> Schmidt - Sym No. 1 and 2 (as good as the celebrated No. 4)


no.2 is my favourite Schmidt symphony (and indeed in my top half dozen or so by any composer) -- it is as wonderfully joyful and uplifting as no. 4 is tragic. No.1 is also very enjoyable but I don't think it's quite as unmistakably "Schmidtian" as the other two. No.3 also has a lot of fine music, though I find the slow movement slightly sub-par by his elevated standards. Still, if you take the cycle as a whole, I think with at least two towering masterpieces, it can stand comparison with Brahms -- at any rate it certainly doesn't deserve to have relatively so few performances though it is encouraging that no.2, despite its technical difficulty, is starting to get into the repertoire with several performances listed in Bachtracks. A few years ago, only 4 was ever done and even that pretty rarely.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

superhorn said:


> Dvorak : Symphony no 3 in E flat major . . Why is this gorgeous symphony so little known ?


At least one Gramophone critic regards the first movement of Dvorak's 3rd as his finest symphonic movement. I agree and the symphony as a whole has always been my favourite in the cycle. All the early symphonies have a brooding and curiously haunting atmosphere which later sadly disappears. It's a rare case of the influence of Wagner being positive  though Schubert also features strongly.

"Asrael" is surely by now reasonably well known and yet, as one of the greatest symphonies ever written, it still hasn't yet had its due.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

_From Me Flows What You Call Time_ is a favorite work of mine. Also reminds me of my memories exploring the tropical enigma of_ Escaping Monkey Island _with its spacial illusions and mysterious schemes.


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## Doulton (Nov 12, 2015)

I always have to make a pitch for Mark Blitzstein's opera, Regina. Mauceri recording.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

dko22 said:


> "Asrael" is surely by now reasonably well known and yet, as one of the greatest symphonies ever written, it still hasn't yet had its due.


And that is why I included Suk's _A Summer's Tale_ rather than _Asrael_


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

and you could equally well have included _Ripening _which I think is a more substantial achievement than a _Summer's Tale. _Or even_ Epilogue, t_he last 10 minutes at least of which are absolutely sublime.

Incidentally, I listened again to "Let me tell you", a work which is ever more worming its way into my consciousness. Perhaps it is the finest work of the century from _The Guardian_ list.


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## Terrapin (Apr 15, 2011)

dko22 said:


> no.2 is my favourite Schmidt symphony (and indeed in my top half dozen or so by any composer) -- it is as wonderfully joyful and uplifting as no. 4 is tragic. No.1 is also very enjoyable but I don't think it's quite as unmistakably "Schmidtian" as the other two. No.3 also has a lot of fine music, though I find the slow movement slightly sub-par by his elevated standards. Still, if you take the cycle as a whole, I think with at least two towering masterpieces, it can stand comparison with Brahms -- at any rate it certainly doesn't deserve to have relatively so few performances though it is encouraging that no.2, despite its technical difficulty, is starting to get into the repertoire with several performances listed in Bachtracks. A few years ago, only 4 was ever done and even that pretty rarely.


While I like Schmidt's No. 3, I agree that its slow movement is a bit disappointing and brings it down a notch compared to the other three. I would rank the Schmidt four a tier below the Brahms set, on par with the Schumann four.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

I can't agree there -- the Schmidt (at any rate 2 and 4) is on a far more profound level, the touching slow movement of no.2 notwithstanding. and technically in a different class than the Schumann,


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Here are a few more I consider masterpieces.

Elliott Carter - Concerto for Orchestra
Joan Tower - Concerto for Orchestra
Bruno Maderna - Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra No. 2


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## janwillemvanaalst (5 mo ago)

Abbé Vogler (1749-1814) - Requiem in E-flat (1808), as recorded by the Munich Orpheus choir and the Munich Neue Hofkapelle, conducted by Gerd Guglhör in 2008.
Max Reger (1873-1916) - Clarinet quintet in A, op.146 (1916), as recorded by Thorsten Johanns with the Diogenes quartet in 2020.
Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998) - Hymns and prayers (1980-1996), as recorded by the Credo chamber choir, conducted by Bogan Plish in 2004.

The list could go on and on, though. The past decade I've discovered so many generally unknown masterpieces by underrated composers, it's a joke. Great to have a thread like this. Thank you.


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## Shoskofiev (5 mo ago)

*By well-known composers:*

Witold Lutoslawski: Variations for orchestra
Ottorino Respighi: La Sensitiva
Darius Milhaud: Chamber symphonies

*By less-known composers:*

Finn Mortensen: Symphony
Laszlo Lajtha: String Trio No. 3 _Transylvanian Nights_
William Mathias: String Quartet No. 2


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Less known but great works is a difficult one. How known is less known? Probably if I stick to fairly modern and pick really major and inspired works I will be choosing works which are known to those who are into the modern but might be breakthrough works for those who aren't so much but do have an interest ... . There are many possibilities but these will do for today. 

Grisey - Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil 
Birtwistle - Antiphonies 
Kurtag - Kafka Fragments


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

dko22 said:


> I can't agree there -- the Schmidt (at any rate 2 and 4) is on a far more profound level, the touching slow movement of no.2 notwithstanding. and technically in a different class than the Schumann,


There speaks someone who have very little understanding (or is it knowledge?) of Schumann. Quite aside from the question of how to measure profundity as an objective criterion, there is that old chestnut that Schumann was a technically weak symphonist. It's OK to have opinions and preferences but please do not imagine that these are facts.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Schmidt is also widely perceived as "too late romantic". He might have a niche on recordings but it's not likely that even his 4th symphony will become a standard repertoire piece like most of Bruckner, Mahler, or, in fact nowadays the supposedly weak symphonist Schumann.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Enthusiast said:


> It's OK to have opinions and preferences but please do not imagine that these are facts.


this forum is all about opinions and preferences and, like everyone else, I was expressing mine --- yours seem to be different


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## Dreadful_Engines (5 mo ago)

Shoskofiev said:


> *By less-known composers:*
> 
> Finn Mortensen: Symphony
> Laszlo Lajtha: String Trio No. 3 _Transylvanian Nights_
> William Mathias: String Quartet No. 2


I'm genuinely shocked to see Mathias mentioned. Some of his work I can't stand (the symphonies are pretty bad for example), but some of it is excellent (the concertos).


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Dreadful_Engines said:


> I'm genuinely shocked to see Mathias mentioned. Some of his work I can't stand (the symphonies are pretty bad for example), but some of it is excellent (the concertos).


I'm genuinely shocked to see you say that about the Mathias symphonies.


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## Dreadful_Engines (5 mo ago)

Becca said:


> I'm genuinely shocked to see you say that about the Mathias symphonies.


I just find them to be simultaneously too modern and not modern enough. They sound like a vaguely Stravinskyish mush of various other people from that period without much of the flair. But I do think he balances those tendencies much better elsewhere. In terms of other obscure Welsh composers (i.e. all of them) I would put Morfydd Llwyn Owen and Grace Williams well above Mathias. I would put Hoddinott above him too, and I don't like very much of his work either.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Methinks "Dreadful_Engines" would make a rather dreadful vendor/distributor for Nimbus Records. 

Please purchase discs of utilitarian mush music by Mathias or Hoddinott.
No masterpieces guaranteed.


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