Neglected masterworks

[Thomas Roth]

I am quite disappointed in the Naxos symphony series. The piano music with Geoffrey Burleson is a must, though. Also, I love his violin concerto and would like to hear what a star violinist could do with it. It surely is a most erratic and strange concerto. I didn´t know that Kubelik did the seventh, but I´m not surprised as he was a great and curious musician. I have the Stokowski and like it a lot.

[PJPJ]

unsungcomposers.com is well worth exploring for out-of-the-way not-on-CD material - there's a bit of Harris there, some double figure symphonies.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Yes I been looking at that site fairly recently the performance of Harris 10 & 13 are the same as the ones I have though I may download them to see if they 'come out better'. The real value is the complete performance (its only ever performance) of the 12th, I've had some recent difficulties downloading the 2nd part but it finally seems to have worked last night. The recording level is very low and rather bass heavy but it does give a unique opportunity to hear Harris's largest symphonic work. Also of value on this site which I didn't have are Diamond's 10th symphony (pity the complete 11th isn't also available) and Creston's 6th symphony. Some of the other 'off air' performances are the same ones that were donated to me several years ago.

[DublinJimbo]

Shostakovich: The Execution of Stepan Razin.
I heard this for the first time on acquiring the Kondrashin recording. Perhaps it is the subject matter, the Russian text or the difficulty in slotting it into a programme but this is every bit as much the real voice of Shostakovich as any of the symphonies.

Stepan Razin is Magnificent. A deal better than some of the symphonies IMO.

Thanks to both. I had never heard of this before, but just had to investigate after these recommendations. I'm listening to it now in the Gerard Schwarz Naxos recording with the Seattle Symphony. Impressive stuff indeed.

[PJPJ]

Yes I been looking at that site fairly recently the performance of Harris 10 & 13 are the same as the ones I have though I may download them to see if they 'come out better'.

All sorts of gems there - I'm interested in hearing more Vladigerov and have just discovered Gerhard Frommel. Both are much neglected; whether there are masterworks among their compositions is another matter, but Vladigerov was a craftsman of the first order and ought to be known better. Just the one mp3 album and one CPO CD of his orchestral works on amazon, and no other CDs......

[Pabmusic]

Has anyone mentioned Rudi Stephan? There are several excellent pieces by this young German who died in WW1. The 1910 and 1912 Musics for Orchestra are well worth hearing. (If he's already been mentioned, and I've overlooked the post, I apologise.)

[AmpH]

Stanford Symphonies - I recently picked up the 4CD Chandos set of Syms 1 - 7 with the Ulster Orch / Vernon Handley and have loved what was basically new music to me and which I don't recall hearing much about before . Surely they deserve a wider hearing ( as do Parry's Syms ) ? Does anyone else like these works ? Are there any other recordings of them ?

[Pabmusic]

Stanford Symphonies...Surely they deserve a wider hearing ( as do Parry's Syms ) ? Does anyone else like these works ? Are there any other recordings of them ?

The third ('Irish') is said to have been the most often played British symphony of the 25 years before Elgar's 1st came along. It then disappeared completely. All the symphonies are enjoyable, with Brahms and Dvorak never far away. There's also a set from David Lloyd-Jones and the Bournemouth SO on Naxos, as well as a very good 'Irish' from Norman del Mar, also from Bournemouth, on EMI.

[Roehre]

Stanford Symphonies - I recently picked up the 4CD Chandos set of Syms 1 - 7 with the Ulster Orch / Vernon Handley and have loved what was basically new music to me and which I don't recall hearing much about before . Surely they deserve a wider hearing ( as do Parry's Syms ) ? Does anyone else like these works ? Are there any other recordings of them ?

I got these recordings as single (and full price) CDs in the 1980s and 1990s and these are wunderful works.
I have never understood why the first two of these haven't received an opus number.
Personally I rate them in a higher league than Parry's (apart from the slow mvt in Parry 2 and Parry 5).
By accident I listened to both Parry 5 and Stanford 2 within a couple of hours - there are quite nice coincidences, despite the works separated by more than 30 years.

[Pabmusic]

Personally I rate them in a higher league than Parry's (apart from the slow mvt in Parry 2 and Parry 5).

Not sure I would, for the simple reason that Stanford can often sound rather anonymous - another one of the host of fine symphonic composers around at the time. I think Parry's sound is a little more distinctive. My favourite among the Parry symphonies is the 3rd, which is fun from beginning to end.

[Barbirollians]

I have the del Mar Stanford Irish Symphony but it strikes me as a work full of reminders of other composer's tunes especially Brahms.

[Pabmusic]

I have the del Mar Stanford Irish Symphony but it strikes me as a work full of reminders of other composer's tunes especially Brahms.

Well yes, precisely. There's even an apparent lift from Brahms 4.

[Serial_Apologist]

I have the del Mar Stanford Irish Symphony but it strikes me as a work full of reminders of other composer's tunes especially Brahms.

Having admittedly only heard this work once, the treatment of folk materials, the modality etc, did seem to presage Vaughan Williams's more bucolic settings

[AmpH]

The third ('Irish') is said to have been the most often played British symphony of the 25 years before Elgar's 1st came along. It then disappeared completely. All the symphonies are enjoyable, with Brahms and Dvorak never far away. There's also a set from David Lloyd-Jones and the Bournemouth SO on Naxos, as well as a very good 'Irish' from Norman del Mar, also from Bournemouth, on EMI.

Thank you for the information Pabmusic

[Roehre]

Well yes, precisely. There's even an apparent lift from Brahms 4.

The "quotes" from Brahms IV 2nd mvt as they appear in Stanford's III 3rd mvt are interesting from a chronological point of view. Brahms' work dates from 1886 and Stanford's from 1888 (and was performed at the very first regular concert ever given by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in november 1888), but the latter cannot have seen the score before completing the "Irish", leaving us with the question whether Stanford attended one of the first performances of Brahms' IV.

Obviously the "Beethoven X" string theme from Brahms' I finale returns in disguise in Stanford's "Irish" finale.

Interesting in Stanford III also is the coda of mvt 1: Beethoven IX's mvt 1 coda springs immediately to mind.