# Voracious Harvesters of Classical Music?



## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Surely there must be other people out there who constantly search the world for new and beautiful classical music? I personally do not believe that every piece of music is worth taking the time to listen to....... but as we all know, some of the pieces which are most precious to us had to be listened to several times before they could be appreciated, so this puts us in a bind. We have to be careful not to dismiss a piece of work too quickly! 

How should we go about discerning music? Having more than one listener can be helpful, most specifically if the other person shares your taste in music. 

Please share some of your rare and obscure discoveries in harvesting the beauty of classical music. What have you found? How many times did you have to listen to the piece before you could appreciate it? What does it mean to you? I love hearing other people's analysis and appreciation of beautiful music.


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## Lyricus (Dec 11, 2015)

Exploring it chronologically is a great way to fast learn of music unheard. Perhaps that's just the historian in me, but really getting into the history has illuminated far more than I otherwise would have listened to. Also, as much as they are maligned, top _X_ lists are a good way to catch stuff that which has fallen through the cracks of your musical adventure.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Having collected for three decades, I think I´ve got a reasonably good overview and library of the various periods and genres now, including composers praised for unexpected originality - from Hildegard of Bingen to Simon Steen-Andersen. 

My want list is now down to 19 items, 4 of them containing music I don´t know or own - Sallinen´s complete symphonies etc. (CPO), some Alwyn symphonies (Naxos), Saariaho´s L´Amour du Loin (CD), and Yuri Levitin chamber music (Vista Vera). 

What happens afterwards, remains an open question .

Some composers I like have a lot of works not yet recorded (Sorabji, Felix Glonti, Rudolf Escher, Henk Badings, Paul von Klenau, etc.), and I would be at least somewhat intrigued, if recordings turned up. But I´m pretty sure I´ll be downscaling collecting a lot.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Member someguy is the man for you if you want a voracious harvester of Modern/Contemporary music. I went through years of being a voracious harvester of sorts across the spectrum from Medieval music to Contemporary music. While I'm still delving a bit deeper into music of the Medieval and Classical eras (and to a lesser extent, the Baroque... that I am far more well-versed in) I am at the point now where I am far more interested in exploring alternative performances of the great works of music that I am already familiar with.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

I'm not talking about the fact that some people have lots of music, this means nothing except the fact that some people have lots of music. I'm after music that people have taken the time to assimilate and can testify that it has substance and beauty. For example I recently came across Furtwangler's epic 2nd Symphony, as well as Carl Schmidt's 4th Symphony. Another example of a beautiful piece of music that is more obscure is Schnittke's Declaration of Love.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

If you're curious to hear forgotten corners of the classical repertoire you should try youtube. Such channels as Unsung Masterworks and others . There's an incredible wealth classical music you can hear FREE on youtube ! Virtually anything by any composer whose music has been recorded .
Composers even the most experienced classical aficionados have never even heard of !
Plus all the greatest composers -you name it, it's on youtube ! And performed by all the world's greatest conductors, orchestras,instrumentalists and singers .
It couldn't be easier . Just go to youtube and put anything by any composer or performer on their search engine .


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Thanks superhorn, I'm _always_ on youtube. Youtube is the best thing that ever happened to classical music... well, apart from Beethoven that is.

What I'm trying to do here is get a conversation going about our rare classical music discoveries. Without youtube there would be no Schnittke.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Klassic said:


> Thanks superhorn, I'm _always_ on youtube. Youtube is the best thing that ever happened to classical music... well, apart from Beethoven that is.
> 
> What I'm trying to do here is get a conversation going about our rare classical music discoveries. Without youtube there would be no Schnittke.


Sure there would. Schnittke was around long before Youtube.


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

The best discovery I've made in the past few years is Dufay's credo from his "L'homme arme" mass, as interpreted by Oxford Camerata (it has to be Oxford Camerata):

https://play.spotify.com/track/5WrhpFv0O4gelpS8aacyL0

It took a few listens to properly get into, including reading the words while listening to it, and once or twice following from the sheet music while listening. I think it's not only great music, but also makes the words of the credo of the mass ordinary come alive. I've also played and analysed some of it on the piano, which gave me a stronger conviction that it's truly great music.

It's about 13 minutes long, and I think the last four minutes are the main highlight of it, although I believe there is not a weak passage in it anywhere and it has other highlights and generally very good music from beginning to end.

Text:

http://www.kitbraz.com/tchr/hist/med/mass_ordinary_text.html#CREDO

Score with original note lengths (prettier to look at) - I mean the second score with the credo only:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Missa_l'Homme_Armé_(Dufay,_Guillaume)


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Klassic said:


> I'm after music that people have taken the time to assimilate and can testify that it has substance and beauty.


Everything I love has been sufficiently assimilated by me that I can testify to its substance and beauty.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Thanks for sharing Chordalrock.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I hope I'm understanding correctly that you want slightly obscure pieces that we know well and can champion. I can think of several. I've already praised them off and on elsewhere in these forums, but welcome the opportunity to do it again.

First off the top of my head is George Enescu: Suite for orchestra No. 3 in D major, "Villageoise," Op. 27. That gorgeous opening theme never fails to give me goose bumps.

Next up, Hugo Alfvén: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, "Fran Havsbandet," Op. 39, R93 The distant wordless soprano and tenor representing the lost lovers is heart wrenching.

Those are the top two that come to mind at the moment.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

A lot of WCM listeners have a very noble approach in that they generally like to 'approach' the music rather than demand that it come to them, and I think this openness will augment a lot of listening experiences and allow one to make discoveries that otherwise would not be made.

I just can't listen to music in this way because I kind of have an 'agenda' to find music that will suit my specific purposes, but I still think that listening to a good classical music radio station and being on TC has helped me make a lot of great discoveries, but as has been said before, YouTube is amazing - there are so many underperformed works of incredibly unique qualities and I feel lucky to have such a resource.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Weston, yes, thanks. I'm looking for testimonies about obscure pieces you have discovered; pieces you find to be exceedingly powerful or beautiful.

I can mention another Symphony here that probably everyone knows (I suspect that some people would not even consider it obscure, but I believe such a perception would be false). A friend of mine who has been listening to classical music longer than I have didn't even know about this piece until I told him. *Reinhold Glière Symphony No.3*. Beautiful, romantic symphony.

Weston, I have listened to Alfven Symphony No.4, but only once. Your comment means I will listen to it several more times. The piece by Enescu I am not familiar with, though I am familiar with Enescu.

Perhaps another thing to say, there are tons of people who merely collect classical music (this is fine no hate here) but I'm looking for people who _assimilate_ music! People who value (and have enjoyed, been moved by) the content of the music.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> A lot of WCM listeners have a very noble approach in that they generally like to 'approach' the music rather than demand that it come to them, and I think this openness will augment a lot of listening experiences and allow one to make discoveries that otherwise would not be made.
> 
> I just can't listen to music in this way because I kind of have an 'agenda' to find music that will suit my specific purposes, but I still think that listening to a good classical music radio station and being on TC has helped me make a lot of great discoveries, but as has been said before, YouTube is amazing - there are so many underperformed works of incredibly unique qualities and I feel lucky to have such a resource.


la Nuit, please share the name of one of these "underperformed works of incredible unique quality," this is precisely what I'm after my friend! Thanks.


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Have now listened to Alfven Symphony No.4 several times. I can tell this piece contains real beauty and character, dramatic sections, but I have to listen more before it will be personalized, and I do aim to personalize it! Thanks for the suggestion.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Lyricus said:


> Exploring it chronologically is a great way to fast learn of music unheard. Perhaps that's just the historian in me, but really getting into the history has illuminated far more than I otherwise would have listened to.


I agree--or else just getting a synchronic snapshot of works covering a year or decade or whatever from any period. To that end, one might like to look at a site like earsense.org, which specializes in chamber music. It always gives you the option to see a list of contemporaneous works. It can be a real ear-opener--I often get lost allowing one thing to lead to another that way.

http://earsense.org/

Wikipedia's lists of new classical music pieces by year are also great.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_in_music#Classical_music

There may also be better and more complete resources out there.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Klassic said:


> please share the name of one of these "underperformed works of incredible unique quality," this is precisely what I'm after my friend! Thanks.


I would like to help, but to do so is rather difficult (and when I've tried it in the past on here, I haven't found the experience very rewarding).

There are a number of issues - to start with, what I think is 'rare and obscure' almost certainly isn't for another person on TC. I might find Janacek's 'On the Overgrown Path' to be 'rare' because it is only recently that I heard it for the first time, but others may be very familiar with it.

Then, there is the subject of taste and personal interest. I recently heard Couperin's 'Musete de Choisi, Musete de Taverni' from his 'Pieces de clavecin 15th Ordre (3th Livre) and was fascinated by it, but others would find harpsichord music from 300 years ago not to their taste.

Finally, I love music and I very much like talking about it when I get the chance, but I am not a trained musician and it is difficult for me sometimes to articulate why I like particular pieces.
I'd be very happy to let you wander along my shelves looking at what is on there whilst I play something I'd like to share with you (a sort of 'Current Listening' thread in person) and talk with you about what we hear in the music

I guess the 'Current Listening' thread might suit your purposes here? :tiphat:


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

I have recently been listening to the music of Janacek. I find it to be very original. Like a great painter, we can easily recognize his voice. He has some beautiful piano music.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

One of my pleasantest finds of recent years has been the chamber music of Ludwig Thuille (1861-1907). It exhibits a lovely post-Brahms idiom, though with somewhat more chromatic harmony, a rich fund of melody, and a mastery of instrumental sonority. Thuille was a highly regarded professor of composition and a good friend of Richard Strauss from childhood to his early death at age 46. His best-known piece is his Sextet for Piano and Winds, but he also wrote two string quartets, a piano trio, two piano quintets, a cello sonata, two violin sonatas, a piano concerto, a symphony, and a number of other works. I find him at his best in chamber works.


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