Everyone has heard musical works that are wonderful, should be famous, but aren't. I can think of a few -

1. Glazunov - 4th Symphony
2. Ralph Vaughan Williams - 'Serenade to Music' (for Solo Singers and Orchestra)
3. Schumann - Violin Concerto
4. Virtually all works by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)
5. Prokofiev - Cantata on the 1917 Revolution
6. Virtually all works by Andre Medtner
7. 'Banks of Green Willow' and 'A Shropshire Lad' (orchestral) by George Butterworth

etc.

I'd love to know other members suggestions

Thanks

Interesting list there Robert. Here's mine in no particular order:

1. Tchaikovsky - Piano Sonata No. 3
2. Thalberg - Fantasia on Rossini's Moise
3. Thalberg - Grand fantasia on Beethoven's 7th
4. Henselt - Poem d'amour Op. 3
5. Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 1 Op. 26
6. Mendelssohn - Piano Sonata in E major Op. 6
7. Glazunov - The Forest symphonic poem
8. Balakirev - Tamara symphonic poem
9. Nicolai - The Merry Wives of Windsor overture
10. Lortzing - The Armorer of Worms overture
11. Reger - Fatherland overture
12. Mozart - String Quartet K. 464 (or is this by Luchesi? )
13. Busoni - Introduzione e Capriccio Paganini
14. Godowsky - Passacaglia based on the first eight bars of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
15. Mosonyi - Funeral March for the Death of Istvan Szechenyi
16. Chopin - Marche funebre in C minor
17. Pixis - Fantasia dramattica on Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots
18. Franck - Pastorale Op. 19
19. Hummel - Piano Septet No. 1 in D minor
20. Berlioz - King Lear overture
21. Berlioz - Les francs-juges overture
22. Rossini - La charite
23. Liszt - Fantasy and Fugue on a theme of Meyerbeer
24. Beethoven - Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 2
25. Alkan - Concerto for Solo Piano Op. 39

I listened to an early string sextet (1)? or (2)? of Brahms, and found the fiddle tune fit enough to stick in my head for a long time, still have it up there. And a late work of Carl Orff 'De Temporum Fine Comoedia', just as powerful as 'Carmina Burana', not to mention the amazing plot has to do with Lucifer asking forgiveness from God. (Karajan/Cologne Radio Symphony/1979/DG)

I need a definition of “famous works” to be able to do this.

A possible list is the Classic FM Hall of Fame, even though it is a bit biased towards the UK market.

http://www.classicfm.com/Article.asp...3578&spid=9443

Missing items that I like are:

1. Beethoven: Cello & Piano Sonata No 3; Archduke Piano Trio
2. Berlioz Roman Carnival
3. Brahms Piano Solo Op 119; Piano Quintet; Clarinet Quintet
4. Bruckner Symph 4
5. Franck Cello & Piano Sonata A Maj
6. Glazunov Violin Concerto A min
7. Liszt Piano Sonata B Min
8. Mozart Symp 39
9. Respighi Fountains of Rome
10. Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Festival Overture
11. Schumann Piano Solo Op 11, 17, 28/2; Symps 1-4; Piano Quintet; Cello Concerto, Op 70 Adagio & Allegro; Op 92 Konzertstuke; Violin Concerto
12. Schubert Piano Sonatas 18, 20, 21; Impromptus; Piano Trio No 2; Adagio in E Flat Maj (Notturno); String Quartet No 13 & 14; String Quintet C Maj
13. Tchaikovsky Marche Slave

...........


Topaz

I only discovered the music of Sir Granville Bantock quite recently. Much of his orchestral stuff is well worth trying, and I am particularly keen on his Celtic Symphony.

Good cello concertos are in short supply, and I think those by Dohnanyi, Schumann, and Matinu should be better known. The Dohnanyi piece is very tuneful and I am surprised that it is not more popular.

It is amazing that a composer as influential as Bartok is so little heard and understood these days. I think he did manage one entry in the latest Classic FM Hall of Fame. His 2nd Violin Concerto is one of the all-time great pieces.

Riders to the Sea-Vaughan Williams
Resphigi-Roman Festivals
Lacrimosa-Penderecki
Howard Hanson-Symphony #4 "Requiem"
William Schuman-Symphony #7
Paul Creston-Symphony #2
Messiaen-L'Ascension
Sibelius-Lemminkanen Suite (3rd movement is an obvious exception-it's "The Swan of Tuonela)

Classic FM Hall Of Fame: For those who don't know how this list is compiled, it's a once a year thing around Easter. Anyone can vote and you can include up to 3 pieces of your choice. The voting takes place over several weeks, and over the 3 days before Easter Sunday they play the results in reverse order culminating on Easter Sunday at the number 1 spot. There is plenty of advance publicity for the voting, so it should be quite big but they never publish the results of the number of votes cast.

The main weaknesses are that it's limited to 3 pieces, and that some people simply refer to a whole piece like Tristan Und Isolde. The latter especially rather messes things up, but the organisers haven't found a way round this. Some results are surprising (eg hardly any Schumann, no Liszt or Bartok), but that seems to be the preferences in the UK. I reckon this could be partly the result of the limitation to 3 pieces. Who is going to put down a piece of, say, Bartok in a list of 3? One or two maybe, but not many. I reckon it should be up to 10 choices. I think I'll e-mail CFM accordingly.

Incidentally, Kurkikohtaus, this is where I got my inspired "guesswork" of the rank order of preferred composers among UK listeners. It wasn't guesswork at all. I used a spreadsheet to work out which are the most popular, using a simple declining weighting system for these works.

The BBC (Radio 3) would never dream of doing anything so vulgar! They're far too reserved to contemplate anything like this.

Are there any similar radio-station lists in other countries? It would be interesting to compare the results in other countries, especially in USA, Germany.



Topaz

This classic FM list is very interesting, almost no Bartók, no Telemann or Corelli and no Poulenc! Not even Mahler's ninth! I would definately choose a Bartók piece in my top 3, and I know many that would. Seems like heavier works won't get onto this list.
According to the CFM-list my own list at this thread would have to be much longer, but I really restrained myself...


Baroque
Jan Dismas Zelenka: Six Trio Sonatas for Two Oboes, Bassoon (and basso continuo), Litaniae Lauretanae and Concerto a 8 concertanti
Heinrich Pisendel: Sonata for Orchestra, in c
Arcangelo Correlli: Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 1 & 4
Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for Oboe d'amore
Georg Philip Telemann: Canon Sonata no. 1, for two Sopran instruments and Viola Concerto
-
Classical
Wolfgang A. Mozart: Gran Partitta, for Wind ensemble, KW361
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata nr. 6
Antonio Rosetti: Oboe concerto in D
-
Romantic/Lyrical
Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 1, 4 and 'Manfred'
Antonín Dvorák: Piano Quintet, in A, Op.81
Camille Saint-Saëns: Septet for trumpet, piano, 2violins, viola, cello & contrabass
Samuel Barber: Summer Music, for wind quintet, op. 31
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Violin, Sonata for Oboe and Organ Concerto
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet no. 1 and Viola Sonatas
-
Modern
Paul Hindemith: Violin concerto
Béla Bartók: 15 Hungarian pesant songs, Roumanian Christmas Carols, The Miraculous Mandarin, Piano Concertos, Violin Duos, Violin Sonata, Music for Strings, percussion and celesta, String Quartet no.3 and Bluebeard's Castle (really, it's the only opera I have ever enjoyed)

Wow, you guys know a lot of composers. Some I haven't even heard of. Where the hell do you have time to listen to all that music?

For me, I try to make it 6/7, as in 6 hours a day, 7 days a week. My commute in the morning and in the afternoon gives me a full hour of classical music in the car. And then from 6-12, no matter what I'm doing, I've got a constant stream of classical music playing. You'd be surprised how much music you can familiarize with that schedule...

Ah, there are so many but here's an excerpt - on top of my head:

• Max Reger: Variations & Fugue on a theme of J.S.Bach (for piano), Op.81
• Bohuslav Martinu: Les fresques de Piero della Francesca (and many other works of this great composer!)
• Marcel Dupré: Symphonie-Passion, Op. 23 (somewhat famous in organist circles, yet not outside)
• John Ireland: Concertino Pastorale

hmmm... those are just the first that comes to my mind, but I'm missing a lot, so I'll probably add many more later. Anyhow, these are in my opinion all true masterpieces that deserves much more recognition that what they've got.

__________________
Contemporary Classical Composer, Concert Organist and Pianist

Chopin - Polonaise in C minor

You must hear this before you die! - ALL OF YOU!

Seeing Edward Elgar's post has jogged my memory.

Edward Elgar's Crown of India Suite. Has anyone ever heard the whole work? It's so beautiful but recordings of it seem to be hard to come by.

I urge you to listen to it, if you can find a recording of it that is.

Lynne

I second that.

The music of British composer Gerald Finzi.