15 Composers Who Deserve A Serious Comeback 

I think you could readily make a list of 15 more composers who deserve a comeback: Roussel, Bax, Onslow, Godard, Farrenc, Piston, Zarębski, Scharwenka, Tcherepnin, Ludwig Norman, Ernest Bloch, Enescu, Pancho Vladigerov, Cras, Le Flem...Ropartz...Frank Martin, etc., etc., etc.

Stellar list, David! As an avid Hindemith fan, I'm so glad you mentioned him. His name is everywhere, but his music is non-existent in recordings and concerts. I guess they see him as a musician's musician. I'd maybe add Hummel or Kalkbrenner if it were my list, but I have a thing for show-offs. And since this is my first comment, I want to say that I absolutely love your videos. They're always the highlight of my day!

A wonderful list - but 15 composers are far too few. In fact, I awaited that you would nominate Ernest Bloch. I do. (1) Do I notice correctely an avoidance of composers, who inclined more to the opera? In fact, on my list would be SCHREKER (for his marvellous decadent orgies), WOLF-FERRARI (for his witty comedies) and, of course, MEYERBEER (for being the composer, who could write in a singspiel-idiom as in "Abimelek" and in the idiom of musical drama as well, as in "Le prophète") and Gustave CHARPENTIER, the ill-fated left-wing idealist, who wrote one of the best realist operas ever, "Louise", a few vocal and orchestral works, and dedicated his life to musical education of women from poor families and stopped to compose. (2-5) Further, on my list would be Aare MERIKANTO, for me the most interesting finnish composer of the post-Sibelius-generation. (6) Then, there are some french composers totaly neglected: Jean FRANCAIX with the strange but powerful "L'apocalypse" (with a quartertone-orchestra for hell) and his wonderful light hearted other works (7), then Charles KOECHLIN, one o the greatest overlooked composers ever (8) and Igor MARKEVITCH, so gifted that Stravinski trembled (9); "L'envol d'Icare" is, in both versions, one of the greatest orchestra works of it's time, and his other works do not stand apart. And I would nominate also Lili BOULANGER, who composed in her short life (she died aged 24) some of the most astonishing choral music, foreshadowing Honegger with her powerful, luminous and passionate music (10). Of earlier periods: Guillaume BOUZIGNAC, a contemporary of Monteverdi, wrote just a handful of pieces, one Te Deum and a few motets, but they are extraordinary in their dramatic impact and sheer beauty (in the Te Deum). He would deserve a comeback as Gesualdo had one. (11) Further I would call for the other CHARPENTIER, Marc-Antoine, who was in my opinion a superiour melodicist and the only one, whose hand for pomp and glory could compete with Haendel. (12) The next two places go to Italy: Your Casella (or whom I have a great affection) is my MALIPIERO (13). I like his symphonies with their clear contures, his energetic string quartets, and his operas with their experimental use of commedia dell'arte as a concept for other plots, "L'orfeide" f.e., a masterpiece! The other is Nino ROTA (14) the only composer, who continued the post-opera-Rossini, and had the same position in his time: seemingly old-fashioned, but in fact new and modern because of the personal tone and the freshness of the invention. And now 15, and this is for me Luigi CHERUBINI. He was a genius! He wrote one single symphony with hints of late Haydn, a little bit of Beethoven and much fresh air. The same merits one can find in his Piano Sonatas and his string quartets, virtually unknown, because italians don't compose instrumental music. And, in fact, Cherubini wrote glorious church music, fantastic ceremonial works with the rough edged character of the french revolutionary music (like the Hymne Funèbre), and of course, his operas - even them nearly unperformed today, in the music models for Berlioz and even Wagner.

We could all come up with a list of neglected composers and sadly, given the current state of classical music in the world, there's little hope of a Serious Comeback for any of them. Thank God for recordings. The late James DePriest once said to me "We don't have a lack of great music, we have a lack of orchestra time."

I want more Vagn Holmboe. The spiky-but-memorable sounds of Bartok and Stravinsky but with a Haydnesque attention to Classical form. He was going strong for a while and a lot of his music has been recorded but there has been very little lately. I think he is far too good to be relegated to, "You should be happy we recorded it at all," status. The music seems rich enough to be worthy of multiple interpretations.

Casella rules! Discovered him only a year before discovering you, Dave! Both have been enriching for me. Resphigi one of my faves, too! Got all the Chandos plus others. My Casella is almost all the superb Naxos; heard the Decca, they're fine, as well!

Alfredo Casella as a symphonist deserves more attention. Then again so does Respighi with his Sinfonia Drammatica. I would also argue that Casella is best when 'imitating' other composers. Others that should be performed much more ... Dallapiccola and Frank Bridge

If I may add an honorable mention: Frank Bridge. Sadly he's better known as Britten's composition teacher. But Bridge wrote some great gems like 'Enter Spring', 'Suite for String Orchestra', 'Lament', and some amazing chamber music as well. One of my favorites.

I'm so glad George Lloyd made the list, I was lucky to have the opportunity of singing in the chorus of a staged production of Lloyd's opera "Iernin" to mark his centenary in 2013. It was performed in Croydon in the London suburbs and also in Lloyd's home town of Penzance, Cornwall, where George conducted the premiere back in 1934. Marilyn Hill Smith attended our performance along with George's nephew who really supported us. To think this wonderful opera was written when Lloyd was only 21. I must say there are a few dry spots, especially in the middle act, but the chorus scenes are all first class stuff. Sadly, hardly anyone came to see it and George's brother was too frail to attend, apparently he could still remember and sing the music after 70 years. Many thanks Dave for all your hard work putting these great videos together. Regards Mark

How about - Jan Dismas Zelenka; Antonio Cartellieri; Carel Anton Fodor; Muzio Clementi; Ferdinand Ries; Carl Czerny; Ignaz Pleyel; A. Glazunov; Josef Suk; Anton Arensky; Edward German; C.H.H. Parry; C.V.Stanford; Gabriel Pierné; John Alden Carpenter; Lou Harrison; Peter Mennin; David Diamond; William Schuman

I've never thought of Hindemith as an obscure or "forgotten" composer. I think that's because his cello concerto still gets a fair amount of play among instrumentalists, probably due to it being crazy difficult.

Wonderful, heartwarming video. You mentioned many of “my guys”, these absolutely wonderful composers that I discovered all by myself: Kalliwoda, Krommer, Rejcha (check out the symphonies, too), Casella and of course Boccherini (the cpo edition is not HIP and I agree, playing him period-y is a disgrace). And I am just an uneducated music lover, I simply did it “Dave’s way”..I just kept on listening! And there’s so many others! And I don't (yet) know Halvorsen..

I heard a performance of Michael Haydn's C minor Requiem shortly before the pandemic and was blown away. It's dark, gripping music (Mozart might have learned a thing or two from it...) and I think it's a good gateway to exploring his other work.

Thanks David, a very nice list. I would add Cherubini as a composer who could be deserving a comeback

Dear Dave, I am so glad, you picked up important but somehow neglected composers. When reading your title I was sure to see Schreker and Magnard in the list. There are so many, as you mentioned, I assume you will follow this as a cycle. Congratulations

I've been making my way through the 1947 edition of Claire Reis's "Composers in America," stopping to listen to several works (when I can find them) of each composer listed. Well, my visit with Cowell was really fun! I'm up to Ingolf Dahl, who's also very cool, and whose "Music for Brass Instruments" provided the theme for WQXR's "First Hearing." By the way, who knew that Casella preceded Fiedler as conductor of the Boston Pops?

Dave, I refer and wholeheartedly concur with your comments about George Lloyd. He had the audacity to write wholesome tuneful music and got taken down by the establishment for doing so. Not beaten he continued to write a substantial body of works and in later life received the acclaim he was justly entitled to aided in no small measure by you folks across the pond. I am ashamed to say that the idiots in charge still ignore him. and the chances of hearing one of his symphonies in concert over here in the UK is zilch. You met him and I wrote to him following the radio broadcast of a symphony and a violin concerto which greatly impressed. I received a letter in reply which has become a treasured possession'. A Royal Marine Bandsman during WW2 he almost lost his life aboard HMS Trinidad when its torpedo about turned and struck its home ship. Wouldn't you think being home grown the UK at least would promote their own? No chance. Carry on the good work Dave. We might not always agree e g Haitinks VW 5!!! but on George Lloyd we are "shoulder to shoulder." Sincerely Richard Duffin UK

One composer I would love to see receive more attention is Friedrich Gernsheim. I recently pulled out his symphonies again for the first time in a while and recalled why I liked them so much when I first heard them. Yes, on first listen I can understand someone dismissing them as "poor man's Brahms" as I've heard some refer to them, but the more I listen, the more I hear an individual voice that is deserving of greater hearing. I've also heard the Piano Quintets, and if the rest of his chamber music is up to that quality, I think those pieces would be a worthy task for some enterprising musicians to take on.

Next: 15 composers who deserve to be forgotten. Would be controversial, but that's always fun.

Violinists likely know Halvorsen from his arrangement of Handel's Passacaille from HWV 432. His "passacaglia in g minor" is some of Handel's variations (as edited by him, very much in keeping with his era), supplemented with his own original variations. Much more Halvorsen than Handel. But that's not an insult! It's good romantic music that audiences like (look up the piece and see how high the views are). Should have been called "Variations on a theme by Handel". Maybe he was just too respectful. 😄

Everybody always compares these composers to more famous composers. Read a review 20 years ago in a well known uk magazine about boccherini. Every 2nd sentence "he's no mozart". Can't we just talk about the music?

Wow, Boccherini, didn’t see that coming! As a cellist I’ve spent a lot of time on a very small amount of his music - I have have to check out more. This year, the Queen Elisabeth Competition made it compulsory for all cellists to play a sonata on the preliminary round. Several rarely-played sonatas received repeated, stellar performances. They are all here on RU-vid.

Thank you for this wonderful list! I discovered Melartin after reading your book on Sibelius and his music certainly needs some new, better recordings. What do you think of the music of George Enescu?

My list: Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768), Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842), Karl Goldmark (1830- 1915), Max Reger (1873-1916), Arthur Lourié (1896-1966), Federico Mompou (1893-1987)

How about Tournemire, that astonishing 6th Symphony in particular ?

I would select Respighi. He is known for 2 or 3 pieces but there is much more.

It says alot about American Orchestras neglecting homeland composers, when a British pianist turned conductor, Ian Hobson, and a Warsaw based orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, are responsible for giving us a series of fantastic recordings of Don Gillis' compositions.

I'm glad you talked about Krommer! He's WONDERFUL!

I've found that I even like lesser-known repertoire *more* than the standard rep of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. Additionally, it's fun to turn heads when I say my favorite composer is Lorenzo Perosi.

May I nominate George Onslow for his tremendous but largely ignored string quartets?

Lajtha is an interesting example I had a Hungaroton LP with the most beautiful chamber music and songs. Then I got the 9th Symphony, it sounded very oriental using semi-Gregorian chant music against a dissonant background I was so impressed I bought the score at 16, very expensive! It was by a French publisher and as you say there is a lot French influence for a Hungarian composer. I think his neglect is because he does not fit into that "echt" Magyar category.

Great list, tho', as some have said, the 'vibe' and economics of the music industry today may work against all these worthy composers being more regularly performed or recorded. Oddly enough, this morning, I was listening to some M.Haydn's symphonies and a Boccherini Overture in D Major! What charm and real pleasure they give...

Thank you Dave; you've enlarged my appreciation of so many under appreciated composers - gracias!

Casella also was an excellent teacher - I practically have learnt how to write for all the various instrument throught his Manual of Instrumentation.

Maybe Aarre Merikanto is candidate?

Great video! I’m curious, there are two composers I would love to hear your opinion on. They are Xaver Scharwenka and Giuseppe Martucci. They both seem to be fairly unknown, and I’ve been getting into their music lately and wondering how such a thing could happen to their music and them as as musical figures. I’m very curious as to what you think about them.

As for non-wind music by Anton Reicha (Antonin Rejcha), I warmly recommend these two CDs: 1. Piano Trios (Guarneri Trio Prague/Supraphon) 2. Requiem (Zdenek Klauda, L'Armonia Terrena/Nibiru)

David, what about Weinverg?

Im a singer. I’d kill to be in the chorus for Lloyd’s Symphonic Mass.

I nominate Sergey Taneyev! Along with Shostakovich the most accomplished Russian composer of chamber music by a long mile.

Kurt Weill, 1900-1950 Ernest John Moeran, 1894-1950 Othmar Schoeck, 1886-1957

No one has brought up Karlowicz, whose 'Lithuanian Rhapsody' I recently discovered while surfing RU-vid. It's a masterpiece that surprised me for its rich orchestration and gorgeous melodies - apparently based on actual Lithuanian songs.

I recommend this very enjoyable new NAXOS CD with music by William Grant Still: Summerland/Violin Suite/Pastorela/American Suite (Zina Schiff, Violin; Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Avlana Eisenberg)

Great list! I may add Andrzej Panufnik and Carlos Chavez to my own list of somewhat neglected, once famous composers.

BTW. I can't recommend enough Emil Klein's recording of the Boccherini's cello concertos with the Hamburg Soloists that Arte Nova released back in the 90s. It's light, flamboyant, funny, quirky, virtuosic and absolutely everything Boccherini's music should be. For me, the best performance of his concertos ever. Everyone that has listened to Boccherini's cello concertos and not enjoyed them thoroughly should check it out and may have a change of mind. I was absolutely floored when I learned Klein had passed away at a relatively young age. He was a towering cellist, specially with this repertoire.

If you're getting into York Bowen, may I also recommend Algernon Ashton (1859-1937) who wrote a lot of wonderful piano music (including 24 sonatas in each key) and was prolific in other genres.

Thanks for a great list. I will definetly have to look into these names ,some of which I had never heard of. You are absolutely right about Boccherini. Great music. In an earlier video I believe you mentioned Hendrik Andriessen and said that you had to pay attention to his works., I recently bought 4 CPO cd's with his symphonic works and they are very good. Perhaps he deserves a comeback? Please continue with your video's, I enjoy them very much.

May I suggest Niels Gade, specifically for his Symphonies #1,2, 6 and 8 as well as the string octet.

Thanks for mentioning Halvorsen. The 2nd Symphony has always been a favorite of mine - clear form and attractive thematic material. The inciental music can be engaging and atmospheric. I loved your comment about passé - I for one refuse to be a slave of current fashion.

Thank you, David. A most interesting list. When I first heard George Lloyd's symphonies they were a major discovery for me and I have all his Albany recordings. I also have the Ian Hobson recordings of the Don Gillis symphonies - another composer I'm really glad you mentioned. Then there is Neeme Järvi conducting quite a lot of Halvorsen's orchestral music too, with the Bergen Philharmonic. Finally, I wonder of Paul Hindemith's music might be considered old-fashioned in some areas of the musical fraternity. I still love it.

Love your defense of Boccherini. Couldn't say it better. Although I'm not quite as condemnatory of period performances of Boccherini as you are I agree he needs more modern instrument performance. Talented cellists, at the least, can have much fun with him.

I would add Hummel aa well!

15 on a list instead of 16? Is it too early to consider Tippett neglected and deserving a comeback? If so, I'll go with Irving Fine.

Great list! Agree especially on those 18th century born fellas (save for Krommer, he's new to me). M. Haydn's church music is superb, Reicha's chamber music is gorgeous and dramatic, Boccherini made the cello sing like no one before him.

Thanks for the list; so many great composers who deserve to be performed much more. I had the opportunity to participate in a performance of Still's Second Symphony with my college orchestra (playing trombone). It was a wonderful experience and a fantastic work. Another composer I wish got more attention is Carlos Chavez. He wrote so much more than just the Sinfonia India.

Thanks for giving Boccherini some love. The only piece everyone knows by him is that really famous Minuet from his E Major String Quintet. Which is a great work a standard classical era minuet with a trio but I really like his cello concerti which I think gives Haydn’s a run for it’s money.

I do like Hindemith's string quartets, well worth a listen especially for anyone interested in 20th C chamber music.

Great video again Dave...Reicha was SO far ahead of his time, if you dig deeper into his theories you will see the next hundred years of music laid out in a comprehensive list!

I don´t know if, by now, Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) qualifies as a neglegted composer, but he was a good one.

This is a very valuable video, too many good composers live in the shadow of the great ones and should be performed more often. Thanks, David!

So good that you promote Lloyd - but his great work is the early (1934) opera "Iernin" - hopefully still available on Albany Records.

I'd like to add Walter Hartley and William Alwyn to your list.

Hello Dave, thanks for your work! Can I ask favour; can you publish the names of these composers in written form? Kalavoda? Is that him/her? Not that you speak unclearly but Czech names are not immediately spell able for Spotify purposes. Many Thanks

It's sad to see Paul Hindemith's name on this list, as I always thought he was firmly seated in the company of greatest 20th Century composers. But this is the first I've heard of his having written piano concertos, let alone "a bunch of them." So I haven't been as attentive as I should be. A very helpful list!

A couple here that I hadn't heard of. The trouble with "getting them played" is that orchestra programs have to depend on donors in this country, and many of the donors want a steady diet of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. I'm so glad you didn't mention Meyerbeer! Among Americans, Wm. Schuman and David Diamond don't get performed much any more, despite some fine recordings. As for Boccherini, you're obviously better able to distinguish his pieces from each other than I. Thanks for the list..

Thank you! Another neglected composer: Johann Gottfried Müthel. Good friend of CPE, last student of JS. I'm in love with the 'Sturm & Drang'-style of his works, especially his keyboard concertos.

You mean Boccherini wrote other music beside that minuet that is in every other TV commercial for the past 50 years?

Glad you mentioned Hindemith. He is represented in concerts by a few works, but had such a unique voice. I have collected his operas and they are amazing.

George Lloyd sadly hit an era in the UK, when music particularly in the BBC Proms, was controlled by William Glock and Pierre Boulez. I am unwilling to knock the BBC for this, since, thanks to my erstwhile employers, I worked on documentaries with Maazel and the Cleveland, Ormandy and the Philadelphia, Tanglewood, Gary Kerr, Andre Previn and the English brass band tradition, James Galway touring Japan (with Antonio de Almeida), Kyung Wa Chung, Steve Reich, Galway and Rodrigo in Madrid meeting in Rodrigo's apartment for the first time, Rodrigo blind of course and Galway at that time in a wheelchair. Sorry for the diversion, but composers like George Lloyd were very much ignored at that time. And I came to love his music very much because of the Gramophone's advocacy!!!!

Go for Johan Svendsen instead of Halvorsen, Svendsen was more famous than Grieg until he stopped composing (almost completely) during the early 1880s.

One of your greatest lists so far. Kind of "knew" most of them, but never paid close attention. Big mistake! Krommer, Reicha, Boccherini, all of them, are excellent.

Three composers I would like to see more of: Franz Schmidt, Healey Willan, and David Graibheul. (sp). The last, a colleague of Hindemeth at Yale ; Willan, a Canadian cchurch composer, and Schmidt, a Viennese romantic composer who wrote what I consider the best 20th cent. Symphony, his Symphony #4.

Since this is on the subject of composers who deserve to be in the alternate great canon, i have to insert a (slightly wordy) plug for a composer who may the most unjustly neglected composer of the 19th century, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, mainly non-famous during her lifetime because her dad and brother didn’t much like the idea of a woman publishing music, and so she didn’t until the year before her death. (Because Felix finally changed his mind, but too late to see anything published beyond about 10 opus numbers.) But what exists in the notebooks they found is a massive repertoire (over 450 works) of some of the most beautiful range of lieder, piano solo music, and vocal ensembles that I’ve ever heard, and there’ are a few chamber and orchestral pieces which - while they demonstrate that she didn’t have a true opportunity to blossom as an orchestrator - are nonetheless very very original and at the same time echo many great composers whom she admired and learned from. Obviously she had elements of Felix’s music to a great degree, but it’s SO different at the same time… Beethoven is an obvious influence, and of course she knew the music of Bach well, as we all know what Felix did in 1829 (with her help, I may add) - they had the same teacher who was steeped in Bachs music at a time when it wasn’t at all popular. She succeeds amazingly well at writing in that sort of style too, and yet many of her melodies are as skillful as the best Mozart and Schubert ever wrote, and there are numerous similarities to Chopin in other works. But her harmonic sense in some places is literally 50 years ahead of its time (sort of like Chopin but even a little more) and dares to do things that would only be seen in a composer who was fairly comfortable in the certainty that their work would never be heard beyond close friends and family. There happen to be many second-rate performances of beyond-first-rate music to be found on RU-vid but it’s hard to find the best examples (and hard to find the sheet music), as almost NO great performers have ever touched the stuff, and probably don’t even know it. One other thing of interest is that the greatest similarity I sense in her music (in the piano and vocal category at least) is to that of Brahms, and indeed anticipates things that he did late in his life. Of course he was only 13 when she died, but as it so happens she was close friends with - and a major influence on - a young Clara Schumann and a young Joseph Joachim- the idea that they wouldn’t have shown her music to Johannes at some point is beyond ridiculous in my opinion, and I truly think he was influenced by her to a degree. I can’t prove it, but I feel it, ya know. And she is also (as may be evident by now) my new favorite composer, having supplanted Brahms in my personal vote for GOAT. I just hope that some people happen to read this over-long advertisement so that there might be some more word-of-mouth created that may eventually reach some of the recording companies and supreme artists who can elevate her music to the status it deserves. Some good places to start are the Notturno in g minor for solo piano, the song ‘Mainacht” , the piece “Nachtreigen” for 8-part chorus, the late Piano Trio, or the “Hiob” cantata for voices and orchestra (and she wrote 2 other cantatas). And there’s a website I found called Henselpushers where you can find a list (and even some sheet music) of her entire repertory. Almost all of it is sheer brilliance, I promise. So anyway, if you bothered to read all this way, I hope to see her music get addressed in some way, because the more of it I discover, the sadder I am at her obscurity. But there it is.

I'd add: Franz Berwald, Niels Gade, George Frederick Bristow, Salomon Jadassohn, Helena Munktell, Vasily Kalinnikov, Ernő Dohnányi, Nikolai Medtner, Hamilton Harty, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Kurt Atterberg. While Carl Nielsen isn't that obscure, I'm surprised that his reputation isn't on par with Sibelius. Some other composers who also deserve attention for at least a few of their pieces: Amanda Maier (who wrote my personal favorite violin sonata), Ricardo Castro (I think his cello concerto should be standard repertoire), Henry Holden Huss (whose piano trio would probably be standard repertoire if he wasn't American). There are A LOT of great neglected composers out there. I haven't even listed any composers born after 1900, mostly because I'm not sure who's considered "obscure" among more recent composers.

I would add Kalinnikov (two beautiful symphonies, amazing Kuchar/Ukranian Symphony recording on Naxos, imho) and Gliere (love the Chandos box). Oh, and Novák! 😍

Boccherini! Lloyd! Wranitsky! (Probably #16, ennit?) YooToob needs to explain why I have only today been suggested your channel. This is a great video, showing how the backroads of serious music are not stuffy high-brow-only trudges. Thanks!

Xlnt list as usual DH.I Screencap ALL your lists and put them in my Music to listen/hear and get desktop folder.Can't wait for the next installment of what i'm sure we all hope will be an ongioing topic/series....."ANOTHER 16 Composers....part deux......3,4,5,..etc.

Anyone who loves the (original) film The Ladykillers knows Boccherini's String Quintet in E Major. Loads of minor baroque composers out there, but I can always recognise William Boyce -always makes me smile!

Nikolai Myaskovsky certainly deserves a mention. The Father of Soviet Symphonism, the Musical Conscience of Moscow, Myaskovsky was a giant during the 1920s and 1930s, promoted by the likes of Stokowski, Rodzinsky, Koussevitsky, Stock, Malko. His music overall is quite uneven, but there's no doubt the musical journey that represents the composer well, and with that unmistakable honesty and integrity. There are two biographies of him published in the past decade and well worth the read.

Terrific video, David, many thanks. Lots of food for thought and areas to explore just as one was giving up on concert programmes that were presenting works you'd heard a hundred times before.

Thankyou for a printed list of Composer Names and dates, especially appreciated when the names are Russian or the previous East Block.

Would also add Joseph Martin Kraus, who was a contemporary of Haydn and Mozart. There is a wonderful series of his works on Naxos. Well worth your consideration.

Michael Haydn definitely. Did Hindemith really go away? Casella's politics were problematic.

What a wonderful invitation to keep on listening!!! Love Casella’s Scalattiana. What a joyeux work. Thanks

I stumbled across Jordi Savall's recording of "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid" and was blown away. Wonderful stuff!

Reicha also tought Liszt, myabe he encouraged him to use strange chords and chord progressions.

Hilding Rosenberg, 1892-1985 Wilhelm Stenhammar, 1871-1927 Alphons Diepenbrock, 1862-1921 Vitezslav Novak, 1870-1949

Thank you for this. I'm listening to these and I've already found a few whom I really like.

Hi Dave, Great list and awesome video as usual! I am in a full agreement with the choice... There is one composer that I like but for some reason I appear to be the only one who is interested in his music... I hope if I could know your thoughts on the the least known member of the mighty handful, César Cui (1835 - 1918).... Thank you in advance!

Thanks for this talk! I love it. I'm often amazed at the sheer quantity of great music out there that rarely gets played.

The Melartin Complete Symphonies are unavailable. Moreover, they were performed with cuts (except for No 6).

Very much agree with your choices, especially Lloyd, Melartin, Casella, Kalliwoda, Bowen, Lajtha, and Boccherini. My own list would also include Atterberg, Braga Santos, Arnold, Finzi, Tubin, Suk, Magnard, Jean Cras, Kabalevsky, Bloch, Volkmar Andreae (ever heard of him?), and several others. Regarding Melartin, I actually think his style is quite original and distinctive - despite being in a generally late-romantic idiom, there are some very interesting quirky and harmonically complex passages in his music that give it a very “fresh” and unpredictable feel. There’s a great recording on RU-vid of the uncut version of the 3rd Symphony (a masterpiece IMO) conducted by Sakari Oramo, which gives us a glimpse of how his music can sound in a really great performance.

When reviewing classical music, it is less about whether it is good than it is about what is good about it. And some things just don't hit the way they should. I have heard a few pieces that promised great concepts but did not quite deliver on their promises. For example, George Enescu's symphonies, and especially his third, were some of the greatest letdowns my ears have ever suffered. Enescu's symphonies sound like all he has to say with them is, "I am writing a symphony." If ever there were a truly bad thing to say about a piece of music, it would be to call it bland and forgettable.

Sorry to say, my one major exposure to Hindemuth was "Symphony in B-flat", which I once rehearsed as member of a concert band. A previous recipient of my part dubbed it "Cacaphony in B-flat", which I thought was apropos.

Jan Kalivoda, František Kramář, Antonín Rejcha... Well, my little czech heart is pleseantly surprised :D

Wasn't Henry Cowell the composer that inspired Bartók to use clusters? I seem to remember something about Bartók writing a letter to him, asking his permission to use clusters, round about the time of the piano sonata and the first piano concerto. Great video! It seems that the world of classical music tends to draw from an all too limited pool of composers and repertoires. It's naïve to think that every listener is going to connect deeply with one of the five or six well-known names of every period. In the case of some styles there are even fewer. For impressionism you've got Debussy and Ravel, thank you very much, and don't expect to be offered vey much else!

I watched about 5 minutes of your video and couldn't help but going off in search of Kalliwoda - and thank you for introducing me to him! I've now heard a bit of the symphonies and an oboe concertino. In places it sounds a bit like a (very harmonious!) mix of Weber and Arthur Sullivan. Looking forward to hearing more...

I'm in the mood for discovering some new stuff these days, so this list arrives just at time!

I have a disc of Krommer's bassoon quartets and some kind of Boccherini disc. I don't play either very often.

A wonderful list. Thanks for showcasing them.