Underappreciated Composers/Works?

Mahler is pretty well known in the USA. Apparently Benjamen Britten was a fan of Mahler, I guess it never caught on to the rest of the UK.

Mahler was a conductor for the New York Phil and had symphonies premiered here. He's known......

I think we can agree that there are a lot of unappreciated composers, though in my opinion I think Sergei Lyapunov's music should be played more. I'm actually learning a song of his at the moment, Variations and Fugue on a Russian Theme.

-Anton Reicha - Reicha is one of those classical-era composers who is often cast in the shadow of MHB (Mozart-Haydn-Beethoven). He was a contemporary of Beethoven, and his music also began to tend toward the romantic, but in a very original way.

I have been listening to Reicha's wind quintets for months now, and they are what has helped me get into writing my string quartets on similar symphonic proportions.

Moreover, and almost more importantly, they are powerful insights into how much the concept of sonata form, which Reicha was one of the first to define, was still emerging. Reicha mostly sees the sonata form as a binary form rather than as a ternary form.

In other words, in most "standard" sonata forms, the exposition introduces themes which are developed in the development, but with the understanding that they will be restated in the same order in the recapitulation. Reicha, on the other hand, introduces ideas in a very long exposition which must be repeated for the listener to have any familiarity with them. In the development, these ideas are indeed developed, but often we might hear the second theme from the exposition before the first theme, evidence that he thinks of the development and recapitulation as one whole unit.

True, he may sound academic at times, but this is countered by his inventive harmonic ideas.

I bring this up because I have, to a degree, adopted this viewpoint in my string quartets, beginning the recapitulation in a way that suggests that the development section is not yet over. My recapitulations have been known to really settle into the home key with the second theme.

If Reicha's quintets are symphonies for five instruments, then my string quartets (40'+) are symphonies for four.

I would venture to add Sir Arthur Sullivan, and not only for the operas with Gilbert.

For those who can enjoy lush tunes, the reconstructed Cello Concerto's slow movement will rip your heart out.

And for the grand tastes, the Overture di Ballo is very thrilling.

The Sorcerer is a textbook for those wanting to know how to effectively use the wind choir.

My favorite opera by him is The Rose of Persia.

His art songs show that he learned his Schubert well. Moreover, these songs tend to reflect Sullivan writing for the types of texts that he felt more comfortable writing for than the "topsy-turvy" libretti of Gilbert which he was able to negotiate so skillfully. These texts tend to be humanistic and on sentimental themes, and Sullivan will not hesitate to make it clear that the form of Dame Hannah's legend from Ruddigore is not an exception to the rule: that is, he will frequently state 1 1/2 verses, then change tempo. Differences between verses can also vary very slightly, but very significantly.

I would also posit that he took "I am the monarch of the sea" from one of his songs written before, just to show how important they are.

I say this because my first string quartet is based mostly off Gilbert and Sullivan melodies, only manipulated to fit my conceptions of the classical forms. I even manage to fit themes together that would never be heard together in the operas. The final movement is a 22-minute set of 31 variations and double fugue on "When I was a lad" from Pinafore. Diabelli, anyone?

Moreover, I've found that he's one of those composers who can always be made to sound good with the right touch.

I think we can agree that there are a lot of unappreciated composers, though in my opinion I think Sergei Lyapunov's music should be played more. I'm actually learning a song of his at the moment, Variations and Fugue on a Russian Theme.

Agreed. Sergei Lyapunov is highly under rated. His Sonata in F Minor is beautiful, as is his etudes.

Anyway, other composers that are unappreciated are people like Julius Reubke. An eminent pupil of Liszt. In fact Liszt once said:

'Truly no one could feel more deeply the loss which Art has suffered in your Julius, than the one who has followed with admiring sympathy his noble, constant, and successful strivings in these latter years, and who will ever bear his friendship faithfully in mind'

Additionally, I would say that Alkan is slightly underappreciated too. His etudes are amazing and he conveys a distinct style. I love him (as a composer, lol).

Hovhaness deserves a mention, I think. Despite the fact that most of his music is largely unadventurous, his "And God created great whales" is a striking piece.

Somei Satoh, of Japan. He's a largely self-taught composer whose works reflect his deep understanding of Buddhist and Shinto belief. His "Birds in Warped Time II" is a lovely "miminamalist-romanticist" hybrid (in Western terminology, at least).

Going back a few hundred years: Ockeghem. That dude is just nuts, and it's amazing.

Luigi Dallapiccola also deserves a mention. He's not that obscure, but he's certainly not as well known as some of his countrymen (ahem... Berio...), and his music is fantastic. His short vocal chamber works are brilliant - lyrical serialism at its best. His "Cinque frammenti di Saffo" are just gorgeous; I particularly like the fourth one, "Piena splendeva la luna..."

Harrison Birtwistle - also fairly well-known amongst the academy, but whose work is extremely accessible, particularly his vocal works and operas. His 18-movement "Pulse Shadows" covers a wide variety of his techniques.

Aside from maybe Satoh, none of those composers are even remotely under-appreciated.

Get off your high horse, dude. Just because they're not underappreciated to you and me doesn't mean that they're not underappreciated by the general music-loving public. Hovhaness is probably the most appreciated out of them, but he's still not that well-known.

Well, since Hovhaness gets lots of radio play on classical stations I'm going to say he's not at all under-appreciated.

Dallapiccola gets discussed a lot for his use of the 12-tone system and received many awards and what not. So I wouldn't call that under-appreciated either.

Ockengem is one of the most highly regarded composers of the 15th century, not just in his time, but to this day. As you probably know, his Requiem in particular gets quite a great deal of attention.

And do you mean Sir Harrison Birtwistle? Winner of the Grawemeyer Award? And one of Britain's leading composers?

Well, as he said, Harrison Birtwistle (and the others, except maybe Hovhaness) is really only famous among the academic types. Among the general public and the "mozart r teh greatest" crowd, not so much. Then again, most of those people probably haven't even heard of Boulez, let alone Dallapiccola. (I've never even heard of Satoh, although I have heard of that work...)

In my experience, I've found Hovhaness to be fairly popular. My local orchestra played "And God Created Great Whales" a while ago; I was around eleven, I think, and I was terrified. They still regularly play his works. My school orchestra played one of his pieces, too - "Psalm and Fugue", which is an easy, high school standard repertoire piece.

The "general public" hardly knows who Monteverdi is, if at all. In fact, I'm pretty positive that if I walked down the street and asked a random person what they thought of the new complete Brahms box set I'd get blank stares or a "what's that". And they certainly haven't heard of a number of composers that would surely be laughed off of this list.

So, if we're discussing the "general public" then just about everyone is under-appreciated.

If we're discussing casual classical music listeners, Ockengem, Hovhaness, and Birtwistle are names that are known. Dallapiccola, probs not as much, so sure, I'll concede and say he's not as well known among casual listeners.

If we're discussing people working within the field and more "hardcore" listeners, none of these names are unfamiliar. Especially not Ockengem, Hovhaness, and Birtwistle -- those three are quite appreciated. Dallapiccola, again, is probably not as big of a conversation topic as the other three, but I still wouldn't say he's under-appreciated. If you want an under-appreciated Italian, I'd definitely go with Maderna over Dallapiccola.

I'd like to restate that the question of whether someone is "underappreciated" is not just a measurement of how appreciated a composer is (which is already hard to define), but also how much you think a composer should be appreciated. It's therefore an entirely subjective question that is rather impossible to get "wrong". If you say Mozart, Eminem, or the Beatles are underappreciated, that's IMHO quite as valid as naming a very "obscure" composer, if you really feel that way.

Well in that case, I am of the opinion that most of the composers that Christopher listed, especially Birtwistle (who is quite OVER-apprecated), are not under-appreciated.

Is that better, Gardener? ;)

P.S. - Kudos on throwing in Eminem, but I'd say that Big L is way more under-appreciated. :D

Is that better, Gardener? ;)

Splendid!

I'd like to mention Jehan Alain, an not for his litanies, but also for all his other work

My middle school orchestra played a concerto grosso by Boismortier my last year there. I thought it was great, but he's so obscure I can't find it. I also think that Rameau is under appreciated, his keyboard suite in g minor is beautiful.

Recently, I heard Bo Linde's Cello Concerto, so I got interested and looked up some of his other works. He wrote some amazing works. He had a kind of neo-classicist esthetic, also influenced by Britten and some other folks. Still haven't heard his Violin Concerto, though. It's a shame he died so young. I would also recommend Elisabeth Lutyens (the woman who supposedly introduced England to serialism, or, well, popularized it), as well as anyone on Hexameron's Youtube channel (people like Reubke, Wyschnegradsky, and even the relatively famous Skalkottas).

Edit: I just realized I mentioned Linde earlier in the thread. I am a failure. :(

Then there are people like Ruth Crawford Seeger, who, while really far from being unknown, still in my opinion merit more attention.

Aldo Finzi, for sure!

uhh, well, there's this guy called Mozart, you probably haven't heard of him, also a phenomenal composer that is dreadfully under-appreciated and very unknown amongst most of the population.

I think he's been discussed in the last ten pages somewhere.

Yeah, sorry to break your bubble, Nacnud, but half of the past ten pages are filled with people suggesting Beethoven, so, yeah, that's getting old. :D

uhh, well, there's this guy called Mozart, you probably haven't heard of him, also a phenomenal composer that is dreadfully under-appreciated and very unknown amongst most of the population.

But, that's like saying EVERY "composer" is underrated... I can almost guarantee you that EVERY composer that is writing TODAY has heard of, revered, or even just sat in awe of the man... I mean, seriously? There isn't a musical soul ALIVE that hasn't heard of him. And, if there is... SHAME on you. Now, this is applies to Western Music only... and NOT pop artists. ;)

Umm, I think that was sarcasm. :P

I think P.L. da Pallestrina and my favourite choral composer Thomas Tallis.

Morivou listen to this...

I think P.L. da Pallestrina and my favourite choral composer Thomas Tallis.

Morivou listen to this...

I will! Right when I get home.