[PeterKC]

I suppose this question gets asked continually throughout the thread, but I will ask it in my own way. What composers have you discovered in the past year or two that have made you ecstatic in the find? They could be famous, known but underplayed, or completely obscure. I will start with two: Henry Cowell and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Both were very productive composers with truly original voices. Cowell was marred with a sexual assault conviction early in his career which may account for his elusiveness. Villa-Lobos - famous as much for his character as the few compositions that endure. For me the excursion so far has taken me through all of Cowell's Hymn and Fuging Tunes and all Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras. I have yet to enter the world of their symphonies! I would love to hear what has torn you from the standards and sent you down a happy rabbit hole of music. The good thing about all this, is the way it has encouraged me to look at so many other composers of the same era.

 

[NoCoPilot]

I have been astonished to discover the composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert this year. Very creative, very strong music, and he wrote a lot of it. Why isn't he better known?

 

[PeterKC]

I have been astonished to discover the composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert this year. Very creative, very strong music, and he wrote a lot of it. Why isn't he better known?

I think I at one time had a Turnabout Lp with some of his organ music. Any specific suggestions?

 

[NoCoPilot]

I think I at one time had a Turnabout Lp with some of his organ music. Any specific suggestions?

"L'Harmonium Excentrique" Vol.s 1-4
"Ultimate Organ Works"
"Complete Works for Flute"
Piano sonatas

I'm still diving into his oeuvre.

 

[Neo Romanza]

I have been astonished to discover the composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert this year. Very creative, very strong music, and he wrote a lot of it. Why isn't he better known?

To answer your question, it's got to be his surname. The way it awkwardly rolls off the tongue (along with a heavy amount of spit).

 

[Lisztianwagner]

Alexander Zemlinsky; I discovered this composer some months ago and now he's one of my favourites. Unfortunately, and a bit unfairly, he is known less than he deserves, as he composed very impressive, deeply beautiful music, absolutely awe inspiring! So far I've listened to his String Quartets, several of his orchestral works and, I think, almost all his operas.

 

[PeterKC]

"L'Harmonium Excentrique" Vol.s 1-4
"Ultimate Organ Works"
"Complete Works for Flute"
Piano sonatas

I'm still diving into his oeuvre.

Thanks much!

Alexander Zemlinsky; I discovered this composer some months ago and now he's one of my favourites. Unfortunately, and a bit unfairly, he is known less than he deserves, as he composed very impressive, deeply beautiful music, absolutely awe inspiring! So far I've listened to his String Quartets, several of his orchestral works and, I think, almost all his operas.

He was a great friend of Mahler, I think. I will listen to the quartets. Thank you.

 

[Lisztianwagner]

He was a great friend of Mahler, I think. I will listen to the quartets. Thank you.

He was, and a great friend of Schönberg, Berg and Webern too. I hope you'll enjoy the String Quartets!

 

[PeterKC]

He was, and a great friend of Schönberg, Berg and Webern too. I hope you'll enjoy the String Quartets!

I'm thinking I will. I appreciate your recommendation.

 

[PaulFranz]

Rautavaara blew my mind this year, as did Scharwenka's four piano concerti.

 

[PeterKC]

Which piano concerto did you like best?

He was, and a great friend of Schönberg, Berg and Webern too. I hope you'll enjoy the String Quartets!

Listening to the second quartet now. It is quite good. Very original.

 

[Neo Romanza]

Alexander Zemlinsky; I discovered this composer some months ago and now he's one of my favourites. Unfortunately, and a bit unfairly, he is known less than he deserves, as he composed very impressive, deeply beautiful music, absolutely awe inspiring! So far I've listened to his String Quartets, several of his orchestral works and, I think, almost all his operas.

He's one of my favorite composers, too. I think he's unfairly neglected and is unfortunately overshadowed by not only his pupil Schoenberg, but Mahler and Strauss as well. I have yet to hear a bad work from him! I need to revisit some of his operas, though, as it's been too long. I remember being absolutely enchanted with Der Zwerg and Eine florentinische Tragödie from start to finish.

 

[Neo Romanza]

A composer I haven't really listened to or given much thought over the past 14 years or so is Felix Mendelssohn (who is my current avatar). Earlier in the year, I revisited some of his symphonies, concerti, overtures and Ein Sommernachtstraum. I'm now officially hooked, but I decided to branch out and start exploring his chamber and solo piano works. I also just bought a recording of Elijah, which is a work I've heard a decade ago, but that's about all I remember. What strikes this listener about his music is not only his fantastical inventiveness, but the clarity he was able to get from whatever instrument he was writing for. I once heard that he's a Classicist with a Romantic heart. I think this sums up his general compositional style. In this regard, I'm reminded of his successor Saint-Saëns who is another composer I've come to absolutely adore over the past year or so. If you don't believe me, I've got the CDs to back up this statement!

 

[Lisztianwagner]

He's one of my favorite composers, too. I think he's unfairly neglected and is unfortunately overshadowed by not only his pupil Schoenberg, but Mahler and Strauss as well. I have yet to hear a bad work from him! I need to revisit some of his operas, though, as it's been too long. I remember being absolutely enchanted with Der Zwerg and Eine florentinische Tragödie from start to finish.

Yes, indeed; maybe if he could have taken that little step towards atonality more confidently, he would have had better luck; he was also a bad champion of his own works. Absolutely agree about two operas you mentioned, they are both astounding, especially Der Zwerg, which is deeply touching and beautifully overwhelming. About Zemlinsky's operas, Schönberg said: "One thing is out of doubt, in my opinion: I know not one composer after Wagner, who could fulfill what the theatre demands with better musical substance, than he. His ideas, his forms his sounds and every turn of them, sprang directly out of the action, out of the scenery and out of the singer's voices with a naturalness and distinction of supreme quality." Good, old farsighted Schönberg! 😁

 

[RandallPeterListens]

Music doesn't need to be recently composed to be recently discovered. Recently, I listened to a multi-CD set of organ music by Dietrich Buxtehude in performance by Rene Saorgin. Buxteude, even while writing several decades before Bach, gives Bach a run for his money in organ composition. One hears a lot of Bach in Buxtehude. It makes it clear why Johann Sebastian walked, like, a couple hundred miles to Luebeck to hear Buxtehude play.
There have been quite a few releases of music by Johann Friedrich Fasch in recent years. Some of his music is right up there with Bach, Handel, Telemann and company. Although a good deal of baroque music was saved from the flames of the bombs in WWII (I am thinking of the manuscripts in the Woelfenbuettel library, for instance), a lot was still destroyed (how much in Dresden alone?). Sad to think of all that music we will never get to hear.

 

[golfer72]

A composer I haven't really listened to or given much thought over the past 14 years or so is Felix Mendelssohn (who is my current avatar). Earlier in the year, I revisited some of his symphonies, concerti, overtures and Ein Sommernachtstraum. I'm now officially hooked, but I decided to branch out and start exploring his chamber and solo piano works. I also just bought a recording of Elijah, which is a work I've heard a decade ago, but that's about all I remember. What strikes this listener about his music is not only his fantastical inventiveness, but the clarity he was able to get from whatever instrument he was writing for. I once heard that he's a Classicist with a Romantic heart. I think this sums up his general compositional style. In this regard, I'm reminded of his successor Saint-Saëns who is another composer I've come to absolutely adore over the past year or so. If you don't believe me, I've got the CDs to back up this statement!

I've been listening to Mendelssohn's solo piano music a lot lately. Very very good. Id put him in my top ten though in the lower 5. I listen mostly to solo piano so cant comment on his Orchestral but have heard some of the Symp though its been awhile

 

[Josquin13]

I've not made any "revelatory" discoveries over the last year, but I've made a bunch of interesting ones over the past decade or so. Among them, I'd include the following composers & works,

1. Charles Koechlin

--Paysages et Marines--both versions:
a. For solo piano (1917),

b. & the later chamber arrangement (1949-50),

--Au loin, Op. 2, No. 2,

--String Quartet No. 1,

--Violin Sonata

--Viola Sonata
Charles Koechlin - Viola Sonata, Op. 53
--Trio for flute clarinet and bassoon, Op. 92
Charles Koechlin: Trio for Flute, Clarinet, and Bassoon, Op. 92 (1924)
etc.

2. Darius Milhaud

--Violin Sonata No. 2:
Darius Milhaud: Sonata No.2 per violino e piano, Op.40 (1917)
--Le Printemps, Books 1 & 2:
Darius Milhaud: Le Printemps (Books 1 and 2); William Bolcom, piano

3. Vagn Holmboe

--Symphony No. 8 "Sinfonia borealis"--the 2nd movement is a wild ride,
Vagn Holmboe: Symphony No. 8, "Sinfonia boreale" (Owain Hughes)
etc.

4. Joonas Kokkonen

--Symphonie 1-4
Symphony No. 1: I. Moderato
Symphony No. 3: I. Andante sostenuto
--String Quartet No. 3:
String Quartet No. 3: I. Allegretto
String Quartet No. 3: II. Allegro
String Quartet No. 3: III. Adagio
--Pielavesi Suite:
Pielavesi Suite: I. Preludietto. Molto moderato
--5 Bagatelles:
5 Bagatelles: I. Praeambulum. Allegro vivace
etc.

5. Magnus Lindberg,

--Violin Concerto no. 1:
Violin Concerto: I. ?
Violin Concerto: I. —

6. Peteris Vasks,

--Violin Concerto "Tala gaisma" or "Distant Light":
Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra "Tala gaisma"
--String Quartet No. 4
Vasks: String Quartet No. 4 by the Navarra String Quartet (Lincoln Center, 7 February 2019)

7. Philip Glass,

--Violin Concerto No. 1, premiered by Gidon Kremer:
Philip Glass - Violin Concerto No. 1 (w/ score) (1987)

& in early music,

8. Guillaume Faugues,

--Masses (performed by The Sound & the Fury)
Guillaume Faugues - Missa "Le serviteur"

9. Johannes Ciconia--the complete works:

Musique profane: I. Una panthera in compagnia di marte
Motets et mouvements de messe: VI. Gloria spiritus et alme No. 6

10. Johannes Ockeghem,

--Mort tu as navré de ton dart--a motet that Ockeghem composed in memory of the Burgundian composer, Gilles Binchois,

Mort, tu as navré - Miserere
Ockeghem: Mort tu as navré de ton dart

 

[Neo Romanza]

I've been listening to Mendelssohn's solo piano music a lot lately. Very very good. Id put him in my top ten though in the lower 5. I listen mostly to solo piano so cant comment on his Orchestral but have heard some of the Symp though its been awhile

Thanks for the feedback. Right now, the only recording I have of any of his solo piano works is Lieder ohne Worte with Daniel Barenboim. From here, I might check out the Piano Sonatas. Honestly, I'm trying my best not to get overwhelmed, because I do have a lot of his chamber music on the way (BIS and Hyperion recordings), so I think it might be a good idea to cool it for awhile. Also, I still need to get familiar with his symphonies and concerti again. One thing I can say for certain: I'm definitely looking forward to exploring his oeuvre.

 

[Ulalume!Ulalume!]

I'm still at the stage of exploring the general landscape of classical music rather than digging around and uncovering hidden gems.
I believe last year I properly began my explorations of vocal music. I got into lieder some time during covid via folk music, seeking out musical settings of poems (mainlynorfolk and liedernet.. great websites!) I believe it was Haydn's settings of Burns (and a brilliant cd by Meredith Hall) that first made me rethink my prejudice against "classical singing" (which I had previously dismissed as "yelling"). I ended up going back and listening to the vocal works of composers I already liked e.g. Schubert. Then Philip Larkin's Selected Letters (great read!) put me onto Handel's oratorios. Then I began investigating the output of various condutors (Hogwood, Gardiner, Pinnock) which led me to Bach's cantatas that I listened to in full (Gardiner & Suzuki) during the first half of this year. I then went crazy over various compilations of operatic arias but couldn't get beyond Mozart, my old prejudice reappeared when I got to Rossini and co. I retreated back to the 18th century and before (esp. Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Purcell). I gave the countertenors a chance (Michael Chance) and discovered countless great albums.
It was only in the last couple of months I gave the post-Mozartian opera fellas another chance. And it was all thanks to this forum! I rarely post, not having much to say, but I spend a decent amount of time reading the Singer Vs Singer threads on the opera board which taught me a vital lesson... I wasn't entirely wrong to feel unsatisfied with the recordings of Rossini etc. I had listened to. Clearly I ought listen to the older singers! I learned my lesson and am now in the process of listening to the older singers (Crespin, Farrell, Caballe, Janowitz, Steber, Sutherland, etc) and their recordings. Apologies to Rossini, Verdi, Puccini and co, the beauty of your music is quite overwhelming.
I'll finish this ramble by mentioning Strauss. The "Four Last Songs" to be specific. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on vocals.
nonvocal postscript: Argerich's Shostakovich

 

[Chilham]

Bartók. Damned by having no, "Stand-out", piece that flies into every compilation of classical music, or is played repeatedly on classical radio, I'd hardly listened to any of his work. But what depth of quality. Easily made my top-five list of composers.