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Under-appreciated or little known classical music?

post #1 of 321
8/8/01 at 4:40am
Thread Starter 
Well, as the title said... I'm interested to hear your opinions on classical music that is forgotten, seldom heard or not appreciated enough. Preferably injustly .

It used to be if I find one more classical piece that I like and I haven't heard before it was a good year. Lately however I found quite a few things I like (some of them thanks to some suggestions here), so I thought I'd see if I can continue this lucky (except for my wallet) streak...
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post #2 of 321
8/8/01 at 4:48am

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin playing...

...Charles-Valentin Alkan's:
  • Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages', Op 33
  • Sonatine, Op 60
  • Barcarolle, Op 65 no 6
  • Le festin d'Esope, Op 39 no 12
Label is Hyperion Records.
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post #3 of 321
8/8/01 at 5:19am
I really like Smetana's The Mouldau, its my favourate orchestral work from the romantic period, but i don't think too many people have heard of it...
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post #4 of 321
8/8/01 at 7:14am
Thomas, I would think Smetana's Moldau is just on every "Classical Best Off's" you can find in supermarkets. A lot of people (including people that doesn't especially like classical music) would IMO recognize the theme of Smetana's Moldau.

For myself, I never talked to anybody who shared my enthusiastm for Alban Berg's opera 'Wozzeck", that is IMO one of the best introductions to contemporary opera.
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post #5 of 321
8/8/01 at 12:11pm

Are you Kidding??

Wozzeck is awesome!!

definately one of the stongest opera's i've ever heard. The story and the music work so well together, and it's such a maddening story. Berg expertly paints a the horrible nightmare world that Wozzeck lives in.

Actually, i took out Wozzeck from the library here and the girl at the desk comented on how much she loved it, so maybe it's more popular than you think. (i could be wrong though)
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post #6 of 321
8/8/01 at 12:40pm
I'm pleased not to be alone anymore :-> Head-fi is really a great place!

I tried to convince lot of my friends, but they all told me this was really 'unlistenable'.

The thing i really appreciate in Wozzek, is the research Berg did to use traditional themes and rythmes in his opera and to alter them through a more contemporary vision.

BTW, I think lots of people know 'Woyzeck', the theatre play by Geor Büchner, which is also quite stunning.
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post #7 of 321
8/8/01 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
jude, that CD is awesome, and was one of the things that prompted this post. I never heard of Alkan and was expecting 20th century music.

I've heard about Wozzeck but never listened to it thoroughly. My tolerance for 20th centry has increased so maybe I will try it . This also reminds me of similar experience from a bookstore - I picked up Schoenberg's book Theory of Harmony and the girl at the counter commented on it - she was studying music (I was just fooling around). I'm not a fan of Schoenberg by the way as the lack of melody is where I draw boundary.

I could myself recommend some stuff. I already mentioned in another thread Arthur Bliss' A Colour Symphony. I crave for more music like that. Scriabin's piano concerto. Tchaikowsky's 1st symphony (esp. (the only) Karajan recording). Or another Hamelin's CD (The Romantic Piano Concerto vol. 18), with Joseph Marx and Korngold's piano concertos (the first one is first recording ever).
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post #8 of 321
8/8/01 at 3:06pm
Thomas: Ditto on the Moldau. My wife (the musician in the family) asked me if I had a copy of it a while back during listening/footrub night and said it was one of her favorites. So I picked up a copy for our anniversary (two actually) and now its one of my favorites as well.

Steril: I'd agree it is NOW, but five or ten years ago you couldn't find it without looking really hard. And even now, try to find the whole Ma Vlast except on odd-ball labels. Its one of those rediscovered gems. I managed to go through 7 years of college, taking most of the music and art apreciation courses available to non-music majors and working 2 years at the college radio station doing classical and somehow missed it.

aos: if you find a supermarket special of it Mouldau or Ma Vlast (Mouldau is the opening piece of Ma Vlast or "My Fatherland") try it. I have the Moldau done by the Chicago Symphony conducted by Szell EMI which is excellent and Ma Vlast on a Piltz(?) label pretty good.
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post #9 of 321
8/8/01 at 3:55pm
I think Schoenberg is really one of the most under-appreciated artists, even though his name is quite well known. His music is so advanced and complicated that it's difficult for anyone who really doesn't listen to Classical music very often to appreciate. Also, it's very difficult to play his music well.

I'd recommend picking up the recording of Daniel Barenboim conducting "Five Orchestral Pieces." While I don't think Barenboim is such a great pianist, his conducting of Schoenberg is excellent, I believe.

Schoenberg's music is so psychological that the very lack of melody is, in a way, a result of so many threads that just weave (or maybe tangle) into one almost incoherent whole. It's important to try to find one's own sense within his music to appreciate it.
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post #10 of 321
8/8/01 at 11:38pm
Thread Starter 
DanG, with me it's about philosophical meaning of music. Different nations have different views of music and what is important in it. I was never a big fan of music that is based on mathematics, for example I never liked Bach in general. Bach however does have works which feature beautiful melodies and in those I can see and appreciate also the complexity, which to me is like a spice. Others view ordered complexity as primary thing, and view melody as the nice-to-have icing. I can listen to disonant music and I've learned to enjoy it almost as much as the consonant but you've got to give me a phrase, a few notes to go buy. They don't have to be nice clean chords but have to sound good and be recognizable. If you vary the phrase not easy to recognize to begin with using some witchcraft on a 12-tone scale, I'm not going to be able to see it. Matrix speach: give me the woman in red .

Ma Vlast is, of course, excellent. I've listened to it since elementary school . I do admit on having only one recording though, Antal Dorati/Concertgebow on Philips. I also might have it on LP. Re-listening to it now, thanks for suggestion .
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post #11 of 321
8/8/01 at 11:43pm
Aos, it's not really about trying your hardest to figure out what the composer "means" by his music. For example, my father agrees that Bartok is a great composer, but says he prefers listening to Beethoven because he can just enjoy the music as opposed to thinking about it. However, I simply enjoy Bartok (and Schoenberg, for that matter). Understanding music is about connecting the music to yourself, at first with effort, and then naturally. I don't think that one's taste in music should be dictated by others' tastes in music. What you like is what you like -- I'm only trying to explain why I think that I like Schoenberg's music (or some of it, anyway).
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post #12 of 321
8/9/01 at 2:37am
AOS, i think you might like Sibelius's music, its quite dissonant and dark sounding at times, but still retains structure and somewhat logical chord progressions, as well as a strong melody...

BTW, i really don't know what the trends are in Classical music, i didn't know Smetana was that widely known...
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post #13 of 321
8/10/01 at 12:00pm
has any one heard any peices by the (British) composer Arnold? i read a review of some of his symphonies on www.musicweb.co.uk and they seem to be very highly regarded.

I think Der Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny by Kurt Weil and Berthold Brecht is greatly underappreciated. although i'm sure a great many people have heard the Door's rendition of "Alabama Song" from this opera. The music (and storyline) is very raucous and raunchy, but very affecting at the same time. highly reccomended.
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post #14 of 321
8/10/01 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
Berthold Brecht sounds very familiar... But I thought he was a writer or something else, not a composer?
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post #15 of 321
8/10/01 at 11:20pm
Well, Brecht wrote the libretto, while Kurt Weil wrote the music (to Mahagonny ). It's very likely that Brecht wrote stuff other than opera librettos.
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