Kozeluch is fantastic! I first heard of him in this obscure classical era symphonies series that I bought. His stood out the most of anyone in that series.Originally Posted by presto
Henri Joseph Rigel!!! He is my favorite obscure classicist. Very nutty and unpredictable, always interesting.
Also up there with those two is Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach
This earlier one very much in the vein of his older brother
This one more in the vein of Haydn but with better wind writing and CPE rhythms
Last edited by clavichorder; Sep-05-2012 at 22:32.
+1 for Freitas Branco, Berwald and Louise Farrenc
Others that deserve more attention:
Aulis Sallinen - Symphony no. 4
Allan Pettersson - Symphony no. 7
Rued Langgaard - Symphony no. 4
Herman Koppel - Symphony no. 5
Kalevi Aho - Symphonies no. 4 & 7
Akutagawa - Ellora Symphony
Eisler - Deutsche Sinfonie
Gubaidulina - Stimmen Verstummen
Weigl - Symphony no. 5
Dutilleux - Symphony no. 2
Rubbra - Symphony no. 4
Kurt Atterberg - Symphony no. 6
Korngold - Symphony in F
Lutoslawski - Symphony no. 4
Holmboe - Symphony no. 8
What series?!?!?
Haydn Symphonies threads.
You are in for a treat!
http://www.amazon.com/Chandos-Contem.../3NJLOADIV4HIU
Last edited by clavichorder; Sep-06-2012 at 01:16.
Barenboim released a recording several years ago of Furwangler's 2nd symphony with Chicago SO. In the booklet it spoke of how Furtwangler was considered for and highly wanted to take the main conducting post for the orchestra. It also mentions the very young Barenboim meeting Furtwangler. I'd never known of this symphony if it were'nt for this recording. There are a few other recordings available also. I think Furtwangler left a 3rd Symphony incomplete, I could be wrong?
That looks great - I've already got the Stamitz one from a recommendation on here - and that was really good. Hmmm, finance... I'll probably just make my way through them over time.
It's also a very good way of getting these symphonies better known. Most people will agree that the best of these composers are just as good as the middling/good/very good works of Haydn and Mozart, but because the names are obscure, the music is never touched. Some of them are better known than others in their own right of course.
AMY BEACH e minor symphony it sounds good for a female i have it on cd
^^^^^^
Samuel Wesley is one on that list that is quite good. In the beginning of his career, he was dubbed the English Mozart. Legend has it that Wesley had a head injury in his early 20s though, and his composing career was less sure footed as a result.
Listen for yourself to see how graceful and interesting his works from his late teens were, more advanced than the Johann Christian Bach gallant style that was prevalent in England at the time.
Not appearing on that list like Rigel mentioned above, is Joseph Martin Kraus, a German composer who worked primarily out of Stockholm, Sweden. Kraus had a mighty and adventuresome way with sturm and drang, as evidenced in this slow intro, producing a more serious sound than one generally expects to hear from the non-Mozart's of this era.
And this example from the Czech composer Leopold Kozeluch is a great demonstration of the composer's great melodic and thematic gifts, a very graceful piece of work that wastes no time, it has a lilting rhythm in the fast section:
Going further back, Johann Stamitz was in my opinion a better composer than his son, Carl. Certainly more influential and important as well, and somehow Stamitz has this magical cuteness contained in early classical symphonies of very small dimensions, something Haydn only seems to do in his first 4 symphonies, and most successfully in his 1st, which brings up the point that Stamitz seems to have had a strong influence over Haydn:
"it sounds good for a female". What the HELL is that supposed to mean?
But wait! I'm not yet finished. With J. Stamitz we started making motions to the origins of the symphony. Many interesting products are to be found from the early years of the symphony.
An interesting specimen is Franz Xaver Richter, an alleged Mannheim composer connected with J. Stamitz. Yet as you listen, it becomes less clear as to when this music was made; the sequences of early classicism are prevalent and yet there is a certain plodding and contrapuntal content that reminds one of Telemann, Handel, Graupner, and other high baroque co. This fusion doesn't in and of itself explain the odd dissonances that seem to come up regularly, but maybe the fact that the man even thought to both hop on the trendiest musical bandwagon during the time(Mannheim School) and also be a disciplined contrapuntalist in the fashion of the high baroque gives us a clue. It should be noted that some of his symphonies more closely resemble sonata form, unlike this one:
Georg Anton Benda, another Czech of the classical era composed the most similar instrumental music to CPE Bach I have yet heard, though he can't help but have his own harmonic and melodic foot prints:
And that brings us to a dear favorite of mine, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
I had a dream of this symphony once; back in the annuls of talkclassical, I detailed its significance, the composer appearing to me as you see him in my avatar handed me a fish with a sly grin on his face right as an oboe part came in. A very compact and unusual creation, WF Bach might be the single quirkiest composer of the 18th century, and this is the only such instance of him writing in this 3 movement form his younger brother liked, with much classical restraint. The version I came to know is much more leisurely than this one:
Last edited by clavichorder; Sep-06-2012 at 19:53.
For the final segment (for now), the following by WF Bach is a wonderful piece(probably his greatest instrumental work), but how it must be noted that "sinfonie" is more of a baroque title in this case. Really its the "adagio and fugue in d minor":
And now that the symphony is becoming a hazier thing, I can put forth the 3 movement, high baroque sounding creations(symphonies) of a favorite english composer of mine, William Boyce. The following piece is actually quite famous and often mistaken for Handel until people actually read the track listing of their "best of baroque" compilation:
Such extreme Handelian brilliance doesn't seem like it should hail from a name as unknown as Boyce, maybe its just a fluke or something? Nope:
There's six more where that came from. My favorite is no. 3 in C major.
William Boyce was a symphony man Pre-Haydn, if such a thing exists?; Also one of the most well-known English composers between Purcell and Elgar, if such a thing exists???
Except Gilbert and Sullivan....
If you like Handel chances are you'll also enjoy Boyce.
I remember reading on here about (and consequentially listening to) a symphony that absolutely blew my mind and was completely unexpected...but I don't remember the composer's name. I remember reading that it was preferred to Mahler by some people, and I think the name is something along the lines of Mott or it started with an M or E or something
I also am pretty sure it was in E-Major, so if anyone can shed some light on which symphony it is, I would really appreciate it!
I almost positive it's the symphony of Hans Rott.
Oh yes, that's it. Thanks so much!
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