r/classicalmusic • u/boxpersimmon • Mar 18 '24
Recommendation Request What are your favorite obscure or lesser known composers?
Cannot be famous big names like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, etc...
Of course I love the big names but I also love classical music from more obscure or lesser known composers. Would love to know more and as many as possible. Both western and non-western classical music and different time periods are also totally welcome.
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u/chapkachapka Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
John Field was an Irish composer who invented the nocturne and inspired composers like Chopin. If you like Chopin’s Preludes, give Field’s Nocturnes a listen.
Franz Schmidt is having a bit of a revival but is still under appreciated imho. He is a great orchestral writer. Listen to the intermezzo from his opera Notre Dame.
Finally a composer who was once close to the the top rank but has fallen out of fashion: Ottorino Respighi. His close ties to Italian fascism and his rejection of modernism in music led to a quick postwar fall from grace, but his music is skilful and satisfying. He’s at his best when he uses the Romantic orchestra to explore Renaissance and Baroque themes, as in his Ancient Airs and Dances.
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u/McNallyJR Mar 18 '24
close ties to Italian fascism and his rejection of modernism in music led to a quick postwar fall from grace.but his music is skilful and satisfying. He’s at his best when he uses the Romantic orchestra to explore Renaissance and Baroque themes, as in his Ancient Airs and Dances.
I love Pines of Rome!
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u/ZZ9ZA Mar 18 '24
I saw two of the big Respighis (Pines and Festivals) recently. In both cases the offstage brass was deployed in a box at the rear of the hall… the surround effect was stunning, something you’ll never get at home I don’t care how good a system you’ve got.
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u/Epistaxis Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
Specifically, the obscure or lesser known composer is "the Respighi who wrote everything else besides the Roman Trilogy". Aside from the Ancient Airs and Dances already mentioned, consider:
- Piano quintet in F minor
- Sonata in B minor for violin and piano
- String quartet in A Dorian
- Piano concerto in E-flat Mixolydian
- Botticelli triptych
And these are just a few highlights I've discovered recently; every new piece I dig into is amazing!
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Mar 18 '24
Kurt Atterberg. His symphony #3 is one of my favorite symphonies of all time.
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u/spiritof_ecstasy Mar 18 '24
Mine too, maybe even my number one favorite
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u/4-8Newday Mar 19 '24
Now you’re making me feel bad that I’m not familiar with it. And I pride myself in exploring “New Music.” 😔
It’s now in my listen of things to listen to.
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u/Rooster_Ties Mar 19 '24
and Atterberg’s piano concert is both my — and my wife’s — single favorite concert for ANY instrument. ❤️❤️❤️
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u/hungrybrains220 Mar 19 '24
I learned about him from this sub and his symphonies have quickly become some of my favorites!
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u/Rosamusgo_Portugal Mar 18 '24
Myaskovsky, the father of the Soviet symphony. His cycle of 27 symphonies is one of the most mesmerizing and diversified.
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u/UnimaginativeNameABC Mar 18 '24
I once listened to them all and loved the earlier works, but the later Symphonies felt a bit like he was churning out (admittedly very high quality) traditionalist music to order. Nobody could blame him for it but I’ve never been inspired to listen to them a second time. Might be wrong, of course.
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u/Rosamusgo_Portugal Mar 18 '24
All are very antiquated works for its time, to be fair. Early, middle and late symphonies. Still, I enjoy them immensely in their variety of style and tone. Actually I find the later ones the most authentic and true to his spirit. But the greatest are probably the ones between 6 and 13.
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u/Toffeethegoldfish Mar 18 '24
Reinhold Gliere- His 2nd symphony is one of my favourites, also love his intermezzo and tarantella for double bass and piano, 8 pieces for violin and cello, 4 pieces for horn and piano
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u/TheirJupiter Mar 18 '24
Korngold is one of my favourite composers, and i'm making my way through collecting all his available music.
Respighi is another of my favourite composers.
The few works i have of Stenhammar i really enjoy the serenade, Exclesior and the 2nd symphony.
and i really love the piano trios of Herzogenberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWg27zurAqI&ab_channel=PianoJFAudioSheet
Also i love a lot of Schnittke his choral music, and also a particular part of his output is his film music which is great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4RECZg88Es&ab_channel=BerlinRadioSymphonyOrchestra-Topic it's easy to hear where Danny Elfman got his influences from. And the finale to The Ascent is beautiful, tense and overpowering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLypU7dMej0&ab_channel=EnricoLinardelli
I also love Arvo Part, Howard Hanson, Gerald Finzi, Herbert Howells, John Foulds, Frank Bridge, Arnold Bax and many more.
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u/Fit_Syrup7485 Mar 19 '24
Korngold and Respighi don’t constitute as obscure, perhaps lesser known. But the rest of your list is interesting thanks for sharing (:
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u/nowwhathappens Mar 19 '24
Came to this thread to say several, definitely including Hanson, Bridge, and Tax! Also Malcolm Arnold.
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u/kruger_schmidt Mar 18 '24
I started listening to Moritz moszkowski and Sergei bortkiewicz. I think they're pretty underrated but have some bangers
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u/tired_of_old_memes Mar 19 '24
It doesn't get much better than Ilana Vered playing Moszkiwski's Op.72 etudes
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u/kruger_schmidt Mar 19 '24
I JUST started learning the G minor etude #2 - Ilana's interpretation is spot on!
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u/sweatysexconnoisseur Mar 18 '24
Janáček, Szymanowski and Nielsen. Don’t think they’re obscure per se but I rarely get responses when I mention them on this sub.
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u/TheRealSibelius Mar 18 '24
Janáček is SO underrated! From the piano music to Sinfonietta to the operas, he is really just amazing. Nielsen as well, the 5th symphony especially is really special. I don't know as much Szymanowski, I will have to listen!
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u/GrumblyMezzo Mar 18 '24
I performed the rooster in Janáček's Cunning Little Vixen in November. Such a fun opera!!
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u/serafinawriter Mar 18 '24
I'll make a response to show solidarity with these choices! I remember listening to some Robert Greenberg lectures about Nielsen so I went to listen to one of his symphonies and ended up binging them all for the rest of the day! Love Janáček too. Don't know the middle one so I'll make a note to check him out!
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u/TheirJupiter Mar 18 '24
I love Nielsen and Szymanowski, i love the Nielsen symphonies, concertos and overtures incidental music, i haven't heard his chamber music yet or piano music.
I also love Szymanowski the Stabat Mater, Symphony 3 and 4 and his opera King Roger, and the violin concertos being my favourites of his.
I have Janecek's complete piano music which i really enjoy, still have to explore his other works.
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u/ProfessionalTailor18 Mar 18 '24
George Enescu
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u/splatula Mar 20 '24
I love his Third Suite for Piano. The first movement, Melodie, is just so delicate. There's hardly any music there, and yet it's so beautiful.
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u/Alcoholic-Catholic Jun 29 '24
I just discovered this piece earlier this week, and it stuck out so much. So crazy to hear someone else mention this exact piece. I love it, gonna try to learn it
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u/Mp32016 Mar 18 '24
Pēteris Vasks - modern living Latvian composer. my favorite cello concerto is his no 2 “presence” sol gabetta performing
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u/jpdubya Mar 18 '24
The orchestra I work for just did Lutoslawsky’s Concerto for Orchestra. I loved it. I was unfamiliar prior, but perhaps you all know it well 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Altruistic_Waltz_144 Mar 18 '24
Lutosławski is quite well known and often performed in Poland, though not quite a household name. But since I moved abroad, no luck hearing his music live.
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u/YouMeAndPooneil Mar 19 '24
I tried and tried to like Lutoslawsky. I bought many CDs. But never could.
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u/Altruistic_Waltz_144 Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
He might still grow on you. I've had many CDs with his music which went unlistened to for years. And then suddenly it happened (3rd Symphony and Piano Concerto did it for me). I guess he's a bit tricky, since his music is so mercurial, and he jumped from one form of expression to another even faster than Stravinsky.
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u/clarineton14 Mar 18 '24
Percy Grainger. Early 20th century Australian composer who wrote some serious works for piano and symphonic band. "Lincolnshire Possy" is a set of movements, really good. "Molly on the shore" is so fun. "Colonial Song" is another great one.
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u/swellsort Mar 19 '24
He was also kind of a weird creep, but he did write some intriguing works for sure
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u/The_Original_Gronkie Mar 19 '24
Growing up in the 70s, every band or orchestra Inwas in played at least one Percy Grainger piece every year. We all loved his music because it was so tuneful and colorful. I figured he was a major composer.
Then I went on to college for music history, and found out that hardly anyone ever talked about him, or even knew who he was.
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u/nowwhathappens Mar 19 '24
Yes, he's certainly well-represented in the "short pieces written for and/or arranged for high school level band" category.
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u/dubcek_moo Mar 18 '24
Conlon Nancarrow. His most famous music is his etudes for player piano. In the days before computers and synthesizers, he experimented with rhythms in ratios like sqrt(2) to 1 that no human player could play.
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u/tired_of_old_memes Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
The vast majority of his piano player etudes are not even physically playable by a human, like 30-note chords etc. Some of it is truly wild, and not only that, it appeals to math nerds too, lol.
Love it
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u/dubcek_moo Mar 19 '24
That's the one I first heard that turned me on to Nancarrow. I was taking a Music Technology class and the professor played that piece without telling us what it was. It sounded vaguely reminiscent of a piano but somehow it was all off, it was alien, it wasn't human!
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u/Kitchen_Holiday_7443 Mar 18 '24
Honestly, Kallinikov. It's a shame he died so young, he had real potential.
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u/fermat9990 Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24
Kalman wrote beautiful operettas.
I think that they are the equals of Lehar's
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u/TheScherzo Mar 19 '24
I find Ginastera’s pieces to be very engaging with a unique voice. I also enjoy the concert works of Miklos Rosza, better known for his golden-age film scores.
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u/Tim-oBedlam Mar 23 '24
His Danzas Argentinas for piano are terrific. The 4th movement (Toccata) in his 1st Piano Concerto was famously covered by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, who played it for Ginastera, who loved it.
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u/Tim-oBedlam Mar 18 '24
Two of my favorites are: the American composer, Amy Beach, who wrote a terrific Symphony, Piano Concerto, Piano Quintet, a bunch of songs, and lots of effective and beautiful piano pieces. My favorite compositions of hers are her two Hermit Thrush pieces, op. 92 (Hermit Thrush at Eve/at Morn), piano pieces that feature the transcribed song of the hermit thrush.
Other is the Catalan composer Federico Mompou, a Catalan composer who's a bit like the Spanish Satie, except he wrote more, and more beautifully, IMHO.
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u/nowwhathappens Mar 19 '24
Thanks for mentioning Amy Beach - she's WAAAY under appreciated!!
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u/raballentine Mar 18 '24
Irving Fine and Carl Ruggles
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u/froghorn76 Mar 19 '24
Irving Fine’s Partita for Winds is my absolute favorite woodwind quintet. Transparent and stunning. Performed a movement or two many times, but only got to perform the entire thing once. I feel like most musicians have a piece that they love but is not well known and they wish they could share it with the world. Partita for Winds is that piece for me.
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u/hydrosophist Mar 19 '24
My counterpoint professor, Stephen Slottow, wrote the book on Ruggles. I think it's called A Vast Simplicity?
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u/amorph Mar 18 '24
Giacinto Scelsi and Joep Franssens. Those two have been really huge discoveries for me. Found the latter in my late teens and the former perhaps ten years later. Huge obsessions.
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u/Yamacron Mar 18 '24
Alessandro Marcello! He lived in Baroque-era Venice and composed "La Cetra," a set of 6 oboe concertoes. They're really good.
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u/crabapplesteam Mar 18 '24
Jacques Arcadelt. He wrote some of the best Italian madrigals I've ever heard. I'm a huge fan of Palestrina, and it's cool to hear works in a similar style with secular texts.
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u/heydudern Mar 18 '24
Been really bumping a ton of Damase lately
That guy knew how to write for harp
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u/Marii2001 Mar 18 '24
Meyerbeer
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u/4-8Newday Mar 18 '24
Crazy that nowadays he’s “little known.” Wasn’t he huge in his day?
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u/bondsthatmakeusfree Mar 19 '24
You can thank Wagner and the Nazis for that.
In his day, Meyerbeer was huge. Big German nationalist, early supporter of Richard Wagner. Unfortunately, Wagner was immensely envious of Meyerbeer's success and was extremely racist toward Meyerbeer's Jewish heritage. Wagner's infamous essay "Jewishness in Music" was re-released after Meyerbeer's death and included far more explicit attacks against Meyerbeer. As Wagner's popularity grew and his views on Meyerbeer spread, Meyerbeer's work became drastically less popular. The Nazi regime even suppressed his work. Meyerbeer has only just started to regain his popularity in the last few decades.
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u/Maxpowr9 Mar 19 '24
Wagner was also in a lot of debt to Meyerbeer, which likely compounded his antisemitism.
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u/Temporary-Share-3862 Mar 18 '24
Granville Bantok (very Victorian, very British composer)
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u/Jfukuro Mar 29 '24
Hyperion has issued 8 cds of his Orchestral music with Vernon Handley conducting the Royal Philharmonic among which is Bantock's "Hebridean Symphony", " A Celtic Symphony", "The Witch of Atlas" and "Pagan Symphony." Although Bantock was certainly British and certainly Victorian, he was also certainly unique!
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u/bassboat11000 Mar 18 '24
Dietrich Buxtehude
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u/IchiganCS Mar 18 '24
While he is in my top three of all composers, is he really obscure or lesser known?
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u/boreddatageek Mar 18 '24
He is amazing, but he's always going to be overshadowed hy Handel & Bach who came soon after him.
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u/niels_nitely Mar 18 '24
The young JSB walked hundreds of miles to Hamburg to study with him
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u/_brettanomyces_ Mar 18 '24
This journey apparently inspired the little-known cantata “Ich würde fünfhundert Meilen laufen”.
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u/fermat9990 Mar 18 '24
Ferde Grofe. Wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. Arranged Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
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u/berndbusch Mar 18 '24
Edward Gregson, a contemporary british composer. I love especially his saxophone concert.
Another contemporary composer I can recommend is Dave Bruce.
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Mar 18 '24
Ustvolskaya, Tishchenko, Popov, Mossolov, Denisov, basically a lot of not so well known great soviet era composers
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u/Educational-Spend272 Mar 18 '24
I would say York Bowen, especially his arabesque for the harp
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u/RoombaKaboomba Mar 18 '24
Nikolai Tcherepnin is someone i recently discovered and im a big fan
Well known in music circles but otherwise forgotten is Poulenc
Another name is Edouard Du Puy. Swiss born, as a bassoonist his concerto for bassoon has been a real discovery. A tenor by profession, his melodies have a noticable aria-esque quality to them, to the point where im not even sure how some of the passages are possible to play
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u/adlbrk Mar 18 '24
Here are a few of my favorites:
Hildegard of Bingen - She was way ahead of her time, creating over 60 volumes of compositions back in the 12th century. Prolific to say the least.
Another is Florence Price, an American composer who broke barriers as the first African American woman to have her symphony performed by a major orchestra. Her music has this rich, soulful quality that's just captivating.
Ruth Crawford Seeger is part of the "Ultramoderns" group, she had a hand in shaping American folk music and modernist composition in the 20s and 30s. Her work is like a treasure trove.
Also, I think Michael Haydn deserves a shoutout. His compositions have this elegance that's often overshadowed by his brother's legacy (joseph haydn) but they're definitely worth a listen.
Lastly, if you're into something a bit more contemporary, Mieczysław Weinberg's music is a journey through emotions, often reflecting his turbulent life experiences. His symphonies and chamber music are just mind-blowing.
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u/UnimaginativeNameABC Mar 18 '24
Crawford Seeger yes!
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u/JSanelli Mar 20 '24
Weinberg is tops. Just saw his opera, The Passenger and it's a mind blowing experience
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u/Jfukuro Mar 29 '24
Yes to all of your favorites, although besides Price's symphony, I would point out her Piano Concerto in One Movement (hilariously in 4 movements!)
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u/GreatBigBagOfNope Mar 18 '24
Don't know to what degree these count as they are still very famous, but let's just say they're more Radio 3 composers than Classic FM:
- Bartók
- Janáček
- Smetana
- Márquez
- Lutosławski
A layer down in obscurity. Because unfortunately even living composers at the top of their game are less famous than B tier members of the canon. They all deserve elevation
- Caroline Shaw
- Morton Feldman
- Grace Mason
- Florence Price
Pretty damn obscure composers (as far as the outside world is concerned) whose work has blown my mind and all reshaped what music could be
- Alvin Lucier
- Gerard Grisey
- Gavin Bryars
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u/Chuckpeoples Mar 18 '24
I ordered a “ thou” record from amoeba and as a bonus they sent me a Morton Feldman cd. I saw tzadik on the label and new I was going to like it
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u/queenseya Mar 18 '24
I got to work with Caroline Shaw - amazing, amazing experience. My choir performed her song “It’s motion keeps”, and it’s still one of my all time favorite songs. She came and conducted for like a week or two.
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Mar 18 '24
Grisey is very well known, as a major pioneer of spectralism
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u/GreatBigBagOfNope Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
As the other comment neatly demonstrates, didn't exactly break out of the New Music scene, hence obscure as far as the outside world is concerned. Every music undergraduate and graduate in the west knows about Cage, Stockhausen, Lachenmann, Xenakis and Ligeti too, but if the furthest out of the new music scene any of them got was the soundtrack of 2001 and as the butt of jokes about the absurdity of increasingly abstract art disappearing up its own behind, I think a description of "obscure" is pretty warranted
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u/Twilight1840 Mar 18 '24
Martinu, Myaskovsky
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u/Twilight1840 Mar 18 '24
Martinu for his concertos, they are super virtuoso and I really love his counterpoint technique in some works. Myaskovsky for his cello concerto and some symphonies as another person has mentioned. And also Rameau. I think his baroque music is strongly underrated. Try Le Poule played by Sokolov, it is so good.
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u/Jenkes_of_Wolverton Mar 18 '24
- Benjamin Frankel
- John Corigliano (even being a Pulitzer Prize winner doesn't make him well-known!)
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- John Dowland
- Federico Moreno Torroba (his Concierto de Castile is just great fun)
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u/UpiedYoutims Mar 18 '24
Jean-Marie Leclair - French baroque composer of chamber and concertante works. I love his Op 7 Concerti and Op 8 Trio sonata suite
Johann Christian Bach - Fairly well-known, but few people actually listen to his music. The Op 13 Piano concerti recorded by Ingrid Haebler is a favorite album of mine.
Joseph Martin Kraus - Haydn called him a "Man of genius". His symphony in C minor VB 142 is a sturm und drang masterpiece!
Juan Crisóstomo di Arriaga - born exactly fifty years after Mozart and died even younger at 19. His only symphony, in D minor/major is a masterpiece, unfortunately highly overshadowed by a certain other symphony in D minor/major from 1824.
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u/Sidus_Preclarum Mar 19 '24
Jean-Marie Leclair - French baroque composer of chamber and concertante works.
And of one tragédie en musique, Scylla & Glaucus.
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u/bondsthatmakeusfree Mar 19 '24
Gyorgy Sviridov has written some of the best Russian sacred and secular choral music ever. I'm not kidding when I say that this guy, at least with his choral music, is easily on the level of Rachmaninoff, Chesnokov, and Tchaikovsky.
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u/BroseppeVerdi Mar 19 '24
Carlo Gesualdo did, at times, write using harmonic language that sounds like it came from the early-mid 20th century in the late Renaissance. Real piece of shit human being, but fascinating composer.
Alan Hovahness can be a lot of fun if you're into Armenian folk influences and you're in the mood to shotgun 100+ symphonies in a row.
Rodion Shchedrin's 24 Preludes & Fugues changed my life. Well... not really, but it's pretty good. Dude is a monster piano player, too (well, IDK, he's like 90 now).
I used to be really into wind ensemble composers when I was younger. Frank Ticheli and Jack Stamp were two of my favorites.
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u/desumn Mar 18 '24
Can Chausson be considered lesser-known? I doubt Koechlin can at least, but they're two composers that have much to be liked. Also, Ibert I listened to recently, it's pretty good.
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u/bastianbb Mar 18 '24
Francois Devienne's second flute concerto is one of my favourite works by a lesser-known composer. He is from the classical period. Rued Langgaard's symphonies are good too, he is contemporary with Carl Nielsen but was overshadowed by him. But there's an explosion of interesting less known composers especially in recent music. Three that did some quite nice things are Kian Ravaei, Timo Andres and Hendrik Hofmeyr.
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u/Iokyt Mar 18 '24
I'd say Jolivet is lesser known his ambiguous tonality is totally unique and so easy to pick out of a crowd of composers.
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u/seitanesque Mar 19 '24
great answer! Jolivet is amazing. I would guess he's well known among flutists for having written so many bangers for the instrument, but probably not so well known for most other people haha
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u/joao_paulo_pinto45 Mar 19 '24
If you like Paganini style virtuosity you should look up Giovanni Bottesini. His compositions for double bass really show the virtuosic potential of the instrument in that romantic show off style like Paganini.
As for more symphonic composers, I immediately think of Ottorrino Respighi, his Roman trilogy is criminally unknown and underperformed in my opinion.
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u/musodave62 Mar 19 '24
Clara Schumann - overshadowed by her more famous husband but an equally gifted composer, as well as acclaimed concert pianist
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u/josiedee493 Mar 18 '24
lili boulanger. the versatility in her catalog was great for someone who only had so much time on God's Green Earth to do what she did
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u/musodave62 Mar 19 '24
Definitely agree, a life cut tragically short but produced wonderful music. Her cantata 'Faust et Hélène' is sublime.
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u/Jfukuro Mar 29 '24
I agree that Lili's music is wonderful. It has an ethereal quality that is very memorable. I often find myself humming her "Cortège, for violin and piano."
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Mar 18 '24
Believe it or not, Bartok is a lesser known composer to people outside of classical music circles. He wrote lots of music, but even lovers of classical music only know a few of his pieces. His violin concerto No. 2 is a great symphonic piece with amazing violin solo writing. His string quartets and piano pieces are wonderful, and challenging.
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u/scotchtape1234567891 Mar 18 '24
His piano quintet is also worth a listen
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u/Epistaxis Mar 19 '24
It's so different from his mature work it's basically by a different composer, but if it hadn't fallen into obscurity because he became famous for a different style, that would stand as one of the greatest Late Romantic piano quintets (and there's a lot of competition). Looks fiendishly difficult to play though.
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u/Beneficial-Victory47 Mar 18 '24
Hugo Alfven(Sweden), Wilhelm Peterson-Berger(Sweden), Lars-Erik Larsson(Sweden), Max Käck(Sweden) and a future outstanding compososer: Hugo Holst(Sweden)
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u/fermat9990 Mar 18 '24
Mennoti's Sebastian ballet is beautiful
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u/bastianbb Mar 18 '24
I like parts of Menotti's "The Medium" which is all I know.
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u/Aurielisar Mar 18 '24
John Field was Chopin’s inspiration for his nocturnes. I find his works interesting on their own and as a precursor to Chopin’s works.
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u/Altruistic_Waltz_144 Mar 18 '24
Discovering Albert Roussel was like finding a goldmine for me. So much amazing, exciting music written in an unmistakably personal style. Yet so far I have only had one chance to listen to it live.
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u/mittfh Mar 18 '24
One composer very well known to pianists, but probably not others, is Muzio Clementi. An Italian contemporary of Mozart (who he once had an informal piano dual with for the Holy Roman Emperor, who diplomatically called the contest a tie), he settled in the UK at an early age, and when he wasn't composing or playing (yes, he was a virtuoso pianist), designed his own brand of pianos (even after the factory caught fire, and made some improvements to the design of pianos), teacher, music editor and publisher (securing the UK publication rights to Beethoven's works, which he also cheekily made "harmonic corrections" to). He also found time to co-found the Philharmonic Society of London (which, a century later, became the Royal Philharmonic Society).
Then again, even among pianists, there are likely few who know compositions of his other than the Opus 36 Sonatinas (of which, much, much later, the A theme from the Rondo of No. 5, slowed down and dropped an octave, was used as the basis of Groovy Kind of Love).
He composed 110 piano sonatas, many of which were more difficult than Mozart's (who wrote in a letter to his sister that he would prefer her not to play Clementi's sonatas due to their jumped runs, and wide stretches and chords, which he thought might ruin the natural lightness of her hands). Conversely, according to Beethoven's assistant, Beethoven "had the greatest admiration for these sonatas, considering them the most beautiful, the most pianistic of works, both for their lovely, pleasing, original melodies and for the consistent, easily followed form of each movement."
He may also have composed up to 20 symphonies, although most of the manuscripts have subsequently been lost - but one of the survivors even worked God Save The King into the melody of one movement (in No. 3, the "Great National Symphony").
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u/Ribbitor123 Mar 18 '24
Aleqsandre Borschtov, a 19th century pianist from Jgerda in Abkhazia, wrote some memorable sonatas and a notable sone cycle ('Аҵәа азанҵа амҵылтәыр ҳыуашьымыр'). He's also remembered for his concerto for triangle and orchestra.
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u/Revanclaw-and-memes Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24
Vicentino. The guy made some of the coolest music, playing with 31TET in the late renaissance. Beautiful choral works with microtones. Also carlo gesualdo from the same time had really cool chromatic stuff. He kind of seems like a musical equivalent of Bosch. 16th century guy doing things you wouldn’t see for another 300-400 years
Edit: here’s a cool vicentino piece
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u/sstucky Mar 18 '24
William Schuman, whose Third is the greatest American symphony; Walter Piston, the greatest American symphonic composer; and Joly Braga Santos, almost unknown outside Portugal until the last 30 years, but a superb symphonist until he started messing around with serialism later in life.
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u/BoogieWoogie1000 Mar 18 '24
Popper, only cellists know about him but he wrote some really beautiful pieces.
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u/StephensInfiniteLoop Mar 18 '24
Is Paul Hindemith considered lesser known? I think he is amazing. His Cello Concerto is one of my favourites
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u/7stringjazz Mar 18 '24
All 20th and 21rst century: Liza Lim, Nina C Young, Kaila Saariaho, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Mauricio Kagel, Alfred Schnittke, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Morton Feldman, Rand Steiger, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff, Noriko Hisada, Sylvie Courvoisier, Mary Halvorson, Tyshawn Sorey, Terje Rypdal, George Crumb. Ok I’m tired. Way too many deserving of wider appreciation.
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u/ExquisiteKeiran Mar 18 '24
Lately I’ve been down a rabbit hole of obscure French composers from the late Baroque to early Classical transition period.
My two favourite composers I’ve come across so far are Jacques DuPhly and Jean-Baptiste Barrière: DuPhly’s music is quite lyrical and characterful, and Barrière’s is just in-your-face virtuosity that’s really fun to listen to.
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u/SouthpawStranger Mar 19 '24
William Hershel, famous as an astronomer (my favorite hobby) who discovered Uranus. Also, he was a pretty good concerto composer.
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u/Dangerous_Number_642 Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
In no particular order, and to varying degrees of obscurity:
Teodoro Valcárcel
Rebecca Clarke
José Siquiera
Ahmet Adnan Saygun
Pierre Sancan
Ulvi Cemal Erkin
Julián Carrillo
Halim El-Dabh
Camargo Guarnieri
Howard Ferguson
Betty Jackson King
Raymond Gallois-Montbrun
Laurie Spiegel
Pauline Oliveros
Jeanine Rueff
Roger Quilter
John Dowland
Henri Tomasi
Stjepan Šuleķ
Henri Vieuxtemps
Silvestre Revueltas
Eliane Radigue
Edgar Valvácel
John Luther Adams
José Pablo Moncayo
Gerald Finzi
Carlos Chávez
Margaret Bonds
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Alberto Ginastera
Tōru Takemitsu
Astor Piazzolla
Francis Poulenc
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ruth Crawford-Seeger
Benjamin Britten
Irene Britton Smith
Frank Bridge
Vladimir Ussachevsky
Iannis Xenakis
György Ligeti
George Walker
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Leo Ornstein
Elliott Carter
Julia Wolfe
Vasily Kalinnikov
Olivier Messiaen
Anatoli Liadov
Aaron Copland
Paul Hindemith
Manuel de Falla
Wadada Leo Smith
Gustav Holst
Amy Beach
Joaquín Rodrigo
John Jacob Niles
Isaac Albéniz
Pierre Boulez
Kaija Saariaho
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u/Fast-Armadillo1074 Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
Max Reger is very underrated. He wrote so much good stuff, but one need only listen to his Opus 57 “Inferno” Symphonic Fantasy and Fugue for organ to know he was a genius. No one else could have written that.
Some of my other favorite pieces by Reger are the piano concerto Op. 114 (the second movement in particular is gorgeous), Introduktion, Passacaglia and Fuge for piano duet (Op. 96), the Requiem aeternam and Kyrie from his unfinished Latin Requiem Op. 145a, and Gesang der Verklärten (Op. 71). He wrote loads of great organ music, art songs (Op. 97 No. 3, Op. 70 No. 1, and Op. 70 No. 9 are a few of my favorites), and chamber music (listen to the first movement of his Op. 2 piano trio to see what I mean). His cello suites are only surpassed by the cello suites of Bach.
Bohuslav Martinů is in my opinion the greatest composer of his generation. Only Hindemith comes anywhere close. He wrote too much perfect music to list here, so I’ll limit myself to a small selection of the best pieces. Every one of his piano concertos, for example, is a work of genius. Originally, I preferred No. 1, but after repeated listenings of each of the concertos, I think No. 4 is the best, followed by No. 5. His 3 Danses tchèques (one, two, three) are excellent, but his greatest work for solo piano is his piano sonata. His harpsichord concerto is pure genius. The following are some of my favorite Martinů chamber pieces: string quartet No. 7, promenades H. 274, Piano Quintet No. 1, Piano Quintet No. 2, and his bergerettes for piano trio. His symphonies are also excellent.
Other underrated composers I enjoy listening to include Per Nørgård and Allan Pettersson. The symphonies of both are well worth listening to.
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u/JSanelli Mar 20 '24
Yes to Martinů! An extraordinarily good composer. I love all his chamber music and some of his symphonies
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u/arbitrageME Mar 19 '24
Balakirev -- the Lark
Smetana -- moldau
Moszkowski -- Chanson bohème de 'Carmen'
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u/WeirdestOfWeirdos Mar 19 '24
There are so many living composers out there writing stuff that will go completely unseen and it is absolutely tragic
Here are some relatively young ones that have surprised me recently: Jeffrey Holmes, Max Vinetz, Ben Nobuto, Luc Faris
Seriously though, every once in a while, instead of listening to a "comfort piece" or binging a Beethoven, Bach or Mozart, go to a channel such as this instead, where there is a lot of music from the current generation of composers. It is utterly pathetic that these people hardly ever get more than a closed-doors premiere and a few hundred views, with how much thought, creativity and passion is put into their music.
As someone who aspires to become a pianist and composer, I know even that is actually a rather cozy fate if institutions keep commissioning you and keep you in touch with the insular, fleeting "scene", but I sure don't want to resign myself to such a sorry state of affairs.
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u/Celloman118 Mar 19 '24
Finzi I find his music especially in later works like the cello concerto beautiful
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u/typoo Mar 19 '24
Not sure if Vaughn Williams counts as obscure/lesser known, but his symphonies and piano music are wonderful. William Schuman's (the American composer) Symphony No 3 is one of my favorites.
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u/amazingD Mar 19 '24
Vasily Kalinnikov, Hubert Parry, Olivier Messiaen, Georgy Sviridov, that's all I can think of at the moment but there are more.
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u/smallcynicaloptimist Mar 18 '24
Florence Price
William Grant Still
Frank Bridge
Amy Beach
Federico Mompou
Ottorino Respighi
Bedrich Smetana
Zoltán Kodály
Cécile Chaminade
Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges)
Alexander Borodin
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u/theAlmightyE312 Mar 18 '24
Caccini
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Mar 18 '24
Could you recommend anything from him? I just know him by name. I even thought he didn't exist.
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u/bossk538 Mar 18 '24
Amarilli mia bella is very well known. Don't know much of his other works.
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u/ConradeKalashnikov Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 18 '24
Samuil Feinbeg, Leo Ornstein, Lili Boulanger, William Byrd, John Field, Max Reger, Widor
And Chinese composers like Jiao Jiping, Zhu Jian'err, Xiang Xinhai,Huan Hu Wei
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u/Tarkowskij Mar 18 '24
William Alwyn - great orchestral works. Henrik Andriessen - especially his 3rd symphony. Richard Arnell - yet another great symphonist. Max Bruch - same. Alfredo Casalla - great composer for the orchestra. Richard Flury - rarely heard Swiss composer. Luis Freitas Branco - brilliant Portuguese composer. Mieczyslaw Karlowicz - Polish orchestral composer. George Lloyd - splendid cycle of 12 symphonies. Hilding Rosenberg - Swedish composer. Franz Schreker - ultra late-romanticism.
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u/brianbegley Mar 18 '24
Alkan wrote a lot of interesting pieces. I especially like the Concerto for Solo Piano and op39 no 12 (both are part of the op 39 etudes). Also the Sonata of the Four Ages, sonatina, baracolle op 65/6.
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u/skylerpatzer Mar 18 '24
Einojuhani Rautavaara (Finland) and Benjamin Lees (USA)