Ravel should be known for Daphnis et Chloe rather than Bolero - which, I might add, isn't even one of his better works.

 

He should be known for everything other than Bolero.....Daphnis et Chloe is gaining in popularity I think, it's only a matter of time before people discover how great the full ballet of Ma Mere l'Oye is.....literally every work of his is a masterpiece.

IMO Wagner should be more known for Meistersinger than Tristan, it's an infinitely better opera. But music students get an earful of Tristan and comparatively little else.

Prokofiev should be 'known' for Scythian Suite, but I don't hear it nearly as often as much of his others.

Vaughan Williams' Bass Tuba Concerto.....the outer movements are plenty of fun and the middle one is as deep as anything that's ever been written.

Scriabin's symphonies - the potency of his musical ideas in these works exceeds anyone else in the genre who might be called 'Romantic', they are easily the most exciting among Romantic symphonies proper, though not the most finely crafted.

 

. . . or the Belkis Queen of Sheeba ballet, Church Windows, or his epic opera Semirama.

 

I would agree with you regarding Church Windows but Belkis ... that thought gives me a headache

 

Beethoven should be better known for his Symphony 7 over Symphony 5. Both are great works!

 

Grieg is best known for Peer Gynt and his piano concerto, but for me his best works are his violin sonatas and his songs.

 

Ah yes: 'Kirsten.'

 

Beethoven's late period Cello Sonatas (especially No. 4, which like most of his late period works, has a heavy strain of weirdness). Also the Violin Sonatas (not named "Kreutzer" or "Spring") should be better known. No. 10 is more "pastoral" than the 6th symphony! It's some of the most beautiful music he ever wrote. I also love No. 7.

 

A very belated thank you (I only just found this thread). I thought I'd just about heard all the good Beethoven there was to hear over many years, but somehow I missed the Violin Sonata #10. The adagio is ethereal!

 

I think anything by Ralph Vaughan Williams is dignified, redeeming, and beautiful- but I feel his virtually unknown Epithalamion cantata deserves more than an honorable mention; as well as the "Three Kings March" from his Hodie Christmas cantata.

The Epithalamion is celebratory erotic exuberance and the "Three Kings March" is the stuff of titans.

 

John Cage's Roaratorio for electronics (i.e. magnetic tape), speaker, and folk instruments is an all time classic, and a synthesis of all the best qualities of his unique style and voice. It is an absolute masterpiece of his late period and deserves to be better known. It's incredible!

 

Rossini---William Tell

 

Other works that should be better known:

Xenakis's Persepolis is probably one of the best electroacoustic pieces, like, ever. It's a giant ride through the universe.

Feldman's Crippled Symmetry is also somewhat neglected. It's a buzzing, energetic, colorful, and deep experience. Yes, it has the same instrumentation as For Philip Guston (flute, piano/celesta, and percussion), but it is not merely an inferior version: it's a wild sound world.

Mozart and Brahms both wrote wonderful clarinet trios. Their clarinet quintets are more famous, but their clarinet trios have a strength and intamacy in the dialogue between the clarinet, viola/cello, and piano.

 

Dukas, known for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, should be known for his piano sonata.

 

I would add La Peri and the Symphony in C

 

Saint-Saens shouldn't be primarily known for Carnival of the Animals but by a piece such as his perfect Clarinet Sonata.

 

As much as I love the Fifth Symphony, I would prefer it if Shostakovich were known for his Fourth.

 

Purcell, probably best known for Dido and Aeneas, especially "When I am Laid in Earth," or perhaps for The Fairy Queen, should be known for King Arthur.

 

Fauré, best known for his Requiem, should be known for his piano quintets.

 

Martinu, best known not for his Field Mass, should be known for his Field Mass!

 

Bernstein, best known for West Side Story, should be known for his second symphony.

 

Enescu, best known for his Romanian Rhapsody #1, should be known for his opera, Oedipe.

 

Berlioz best known for Symphonie fantastique, It should be Les Nuits d’été !

 

Berlioz best known for Symphonie fantastique, It should be Les Nuits d'été !

Or Les Troyens.

 

Barber, rather than Adagio for strings, should be known for Knoxville summer of 1915.

 

Orchestras have made sure that composers stay known for what they're known for.

 

Frayed knot ~ orchestras capitulate quite readily to what is the most favored by the broadest of public tastes, which are not always near the finer / finest of a composer's output.

Look at Art Rock's post #25, above, a perfect example:
Barber, Adagio for strings, then the quintessential work many consider the composer's masterpiece, Knoxville Summer of 1915.

 

Messiaen, best known for the Quartet for the End of Time and Turangalila Symphonie should be known for Éclairs sur l'au-delà...

 

Wagner, best known for Die Walküre should be known for Parsifal.

Sibelius, best known for Finlandia and the Violin Concerto should be known for Symphony No. 4 and Tapiola.

Debussy, best known for Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and La mer should be known for Pelléas et Mélisande and Jeux.

a more realistic version of 'should be known for':

Wagner - Tannhäuser

Sibelius - Symphony No. 5

Debussy - his entire oeuvre except Le Martyre de saint Sébastien or any "completion" of his Poe operas

 

Pavel Haas, best known for having a string quartet named for him, or being "that other Haas" should be known for his own 2nd string quartet.

 

Manuel de Falla - El amor brujo or Noches en los jardines de Espana rather than The Three-Cornered Hat.

Korngold - Symphony in F# major op. 40 or the opera Die todt Stadt op. 12 rather than the 'Errol Flynn' film music.

Sibelius - Symphony no. 7 in C major op. 105 rather than Finlandia.

 

Rachmaninoff should be better known for his Preludes and sacred music than for his concertos or symphonies.

 

Plus his Etudes Tableaux and his First Piano Sonata. I'll also add his one act opera "The Miserly Knight" which is pretty compelling stuff.