[Waehnen]

Please recommend 1-3 masterpieces you think not all that many know of but which you truly love.

I feel that it is getting harder and harder for me to find true gems. I am sure many feel the same. So let’s help each other!

Not a list of tens and tens. But if you insists, split the tens and tens into posts of 3. Easier to process.

My three:

Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony no. 3 (Berglund conducting, especially)
Joonas Kokkonen: Durch Einen Spiegel
Esa-Pekka Salonen: LA Variations

They are Finns and the works are of course known by some, but it is OK. They sure are outside mainstream. Wonderful music!

(Edit: Please do not take pressure AT ALL for making sure that nobody has ever heard of the piece. That is not the point at all.)

 

[Art Rock]

Peter Warlock - The Curlew
Toru Takemitsu - From Me Flows What You Call Time
Peteris Vasks - Cor Anglais Concerto

 

[mbhaub]

Ernest Bloch: Symphony in C sharp minor
Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Night in the Tropics
Frederick Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter

 

[prlj]

Philip Glass: The Light
Geirr Tviett: Hardanger Suites
Quinihico Hashimoto: Symphony No. 1

 

[Montarsolo]

I buy vinyl at thrift stores. It remains to be seen what the offer is. Mostly the well-known pieces. But sometimes there are records that surprise me enormously. Here some recordings that surprised me. Not very unknown music but certainly gems! I couldn't stop listening to them.

Bizet Symfonie in C (composed at age 17!)

Ancient airs and dances from Respighi (what an orchestration!)

Dvorak serenades op 22 and 44

Smetana quartet. Strangely enough I didn't know it yet. What a masterpiece, not a weak note!

I bought this without knowing exactly what it was. What a great surprise. Recording is often recommended to test audio.

 

[Xisten267]

Alfvén: Symphony #4 "From the Outermost Skerries"
Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus
Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne

To me these three works are masterpieces.

 

[Philidor]

Difficult. All early baroque lovers know Monteverdi's "Selva morale e spirituale", all baroque violin lovers know Corelli's violin sonatas op. 5 (possibly with Manze), all late-romantic piano aficionados know Medtner's piano concertos, ...

So I'll try these and I hope that all who already know one or more of these works will forgive me for insinuating that they didn't know this wonderful music ...

Perotin: Viderunt omnes (if possible, the recording with the Hilliard Ensemble)
Rued Langgaard: Sfaerenes music (Music of the spheres) [alternatively: symphony No. 1]
Alfred Schnittke: Choir Concerto

 

[Kreisler jr]

There is a second Smetana quartet that is virtually unknown, compared to "From my life", but a very interesting piece, terse and "Janacekian".

 

[Bwv 1080]

Some 20th Cent orchestral pieces I dont see mentioned a lot here, that are not too modernistic

Dutilleaux - Metaboles
Henze - Ondine (suite)
Hindemith - Four Temperaments (piano & orch)

 

[Heck148]

Holst - Suite for Military Band #1 in Eb Major
Schuller - 7 Studies on Paul Klee
Wm. Schuman - Sym #3

 

[SONNET CLV]

Three "American" works that deserve greater exposure:

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, by John LaMontaine
First performed in Washington, D.C. by the National Symphony Orchestra on November 25, 1958.
Pulitzer Prize for Music, 1959.
Available on CRI (Composers Recordings Inc.) LPs -- CRI SD 189 and CRI 166, performed by the aptly named Karen Keys with Guy Fraser Harrison conducting the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra

Symphony No. 3, by Ned Rorem
Available on NAXOS 8.559149 (Bournemouth SO with José Serebrier ) along with the first two symphonies, and on Turnabout vinyl, TV 34447S coupled with the Schuman Seventh Symphony, with Maurice de Abravanel and the Utah SO.

Symphony No. 3, by Benjamin Lees
Available with the first two symphonies on an ALBANY CD (TROY 564/65), but you should hear it first on the Louisville First Edition record LS-752 with Paul Orton on tenor sax and the Louisville Orchestra conducted by Jorge Mester.

 

[N Fowleri]

Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?

 

[Xenophiliu]

Vítězslav Novák: The Storm
Franz Berwald: Symphony 3
Frank Martin: Mass

 

[mbhaub]

Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?

I'm not Dutch, but the CPO series of music by Julius Rontgen has been astonishing. Extremely well written, beautifully scored, great tunes, luscious harmony...it's all been soooo good.

 

[Bwv 1080]

Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?

Does Flemish count? There is that Van Beethoven guy

 

[Simon Moon]

These are certainly masterpieces to me.

Harrison Birtwistle - Earth Dances (1986)
Charles Wuorinen - Fourth Piano Concerto (2003)
Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic (1972)

 

[ORigel]

Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto no. 9
Dvorak: String Quintet no. 2 (with a double bass)
Norbert Burgmuller: Piano Concerto

 

[N Fowleri]

I'm not Dutch, but the CPO series of music by Julius Rontgen has been astonishing. Extremely well written, beautifully scored, great tunes, luscious harmony...it's all been soooo good.

Where would you start with that series? Thanks!

 

[justekaia]

Since we have Dutch people contributing here, how about the greatest Dutch compositions to try?

-Netherlands: Rudolf Escher (1912-1980), Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), Johannes Schenk (1681-1767), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)**, Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967)
-Netherlands: Peter Adriaansz (1966), Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012), Louis Andriessen (1939-2021), Michel Van der Aa (1970)*
As you can see there are not that many great Dutch composers, but a lot of their compositions are worth a listen.

 

[N Fowleri]

-Netherlands: Rudolf Escher (1912-1980), Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), Johannes Schenk (1681-1767), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)**, Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967)
-Netherlands: Peter Adriaansz (1966), Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012), Louis Andriessen (1939-2021), Michel Van der Aa (1970)*
As you can see there are not that many great Dutch composers, but a lot of their compositions are worth a listen.

Thanks so much! Could you name 2-3 specific recordings that are your favorites?