Composers out of their comfort zone

[DublinJimbo]

I am a member of a group (together now for fifteen years) which meets weekly to listen to recorded music. The format of our meetings is simple: each visitor brings a contribution from his own music collection on CD or DVD, typically 10-15 minutes long. As our meetings rotate among members' homes, the host of the day acts as DJ and decides the order of play. The session concludes with one member presenting a 30-minute programme which may be a single favourite work or a mini-concert of shorter pieces. This formula results in members getting to hear a great variety of music both familiar and unfamiliar.

Occasionally the host of the day will decide to have a themed session, and one of these is coming up shortly. The theme is 'Composers out of their comfort zone'. Might I appeal to people here for suggestions, please. I already brought Bellini's Oboe Concerto when the theme was 'Hate the composer; love the piece', and last year when we had a Mahler Day in honour of his anniversary my choice was his Piano Quartet Movement. The host who came up with the comfort-zone theme already gave the Bellini as an example, and anyway I've brought that before (anyone remember it as the theme music for Music Magazine (?) back in the glory days?).

My list of possibilities weighs rather heavily at this stage on opera composers doing something different: Rossini's String Sonatas or his Sins of Old Age piano pieces; Donizetti's string quartets; Humperdinck's string quartet or piano quintet; Offenbach's Cello Concertos; Verdi's or Richard Strauss's string quartets; Puccini's Crisantemi ... But not only are these all opera composers, but the out-of-comfort-zone choices are all heavily weighted towards chamber music.

So, any ideas anyone? The more off the wall the better.

[Roehre]

What about
Wagner's symphonies or piano sonatas,
Schönberg's Suite for string orchestra (1938 iirc), Stelldichein or Nachtwandler;
Beethoven's folk song(-arrangements), dances (e.g. WoO 14),
Bruckner's string quartet or -quintet or piano pieces, his overture in g-minor,
Massenet's 7 orchestral suites
Berio's folk songs
Webern's Im Sommerwind
Mozart's Musikalischer Spass KV522
Brahms' Liebesliederwalzer opp.52 and 65?

[Serial_Apologist]

What about
Wagner's symphonies or piano sonatas,
Schönberg's Suite for string orchestra (1938 iirc), Stelldichein or Nachtwandler;
Beethoven's folk song(-arrangements), dances (e.g. WoO 14),
Bruckner's string quartet or -quintet or piano pieces, his overture in g-minor,
Massenet's 7 orchestral suites
Berio's folk songs
Webern's Im Sommerwind
Mozart's Musikalischer Spass KV522
Brahms' Liebesliederwalzer opp.52 and 65?

The finale of the second string quartet of 1907 and everything Schoenberg composed after that.
Frank Bridge's Piano Sonata
John Ireland's Piano Sonatina
Berio's Sinfonia - Movement 3

... for late night starters!

[JFLL]

Elgar's sketches for an opera 'The Spanish Lady', his Piano Concerto and his orchestral arrangement of Bach's organ Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, Schoenberg's arrangements of Bach's St Anne Prelude & Fugue (which out-stokowskis Stokowski) and of Strauss's Emperor Waltz, Berg's arrangement of Strauss's Wine, Women and Song, Brahms's Hungarian Dances (Brahms said, incidentally, of the Emperor Waltz 'alas, not by J. Brahms'), Mahler's completion of Weber's opera Die Drei Pintos.

Talking of Mahler's Piano Quartet movement, it has a a delicious theme which always reminds me of a passage in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel – but it was written well befor H & G.

[DublinJimbo]

Massenet's 7 orchestral suites
Berio's folk songs
Webern's Im Sommerwind

All three take my fancy, most especially the Massenet (don't know the orchestral suites at all, but I see I can listen to them at the Naxos Music Library).

[Chris Newman]

Hansel and Gretel[/I] – but it was written well befor H & G.

I am not near to my books but remember reading that EH and GM were flatmates with Hans Rott (him of a marvellous symphony who died in awful circumstances).

[DublinJimbo]

Elgar's [...] Piano Concerto

That sounds interesting. Might chase that up to see what it's like.

Schoenberg's arrangements of Bach's St Anne Prelude & Fugue (which out-stokowskis Stokowski) and of Strauss's Emperor Waltz, Berg's arrangement of Strauss's Wine, Women and Song

I presume those were all produced for Schoenberg's Society for Private Musical Performances. We've had a couple of end-of-session presentations devoted to these arrangements, so these would lose out on originality for our group.

Talking of Mahler's Piano Quartet movement, it has a a delicious theme which always reminds me of a passage in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel – but it was written well befor H & G.

I hadn't spotted that. Must listen for it the next time.

[JFLL]

I am not near to my books but remember reading that EH and GM were flatmates with Hans Rott (him of a marvellous symphony who died in awful circumstances).

Aha! Quite agree about poor Hans Rott -- didn't Mahler put in a good word for him? That might not have endeared him to Brahms, though, who I think scuppered his chances and pretty soon his life as well.

[Chris Newman]

Aha! Quite agree about poor Hans Rott -- didn't Mahler put in a good word for him? That might not have endeared him to Brahms, though, who I think scuppered his chances and pretty soon his life as well.

That's the story I am thinking about. Though I am sure that Brahms did not expect such a dreadful outcome to criticism.

[MrGongGong]

Following on from the Schoenberg
Webern's arrangement of Bach's Ricercar from The Musical Offering is rather good indeed

[Roehre]

Webern's Schubert orchestrations (he made them from songs as well as from a set of dances) shouldn't be missed either.

In terms of string quartets: Hindemith's Minimax is a nice work, a persiflage of all kinds of more popular genres, like a military march, a salon piece about a lost love, etc.

[aeolium]

Mendelssohn's overture to Ruy Blas, commissioned for a charity performance of Victor Hugo's play. Mendelssohn hated the play ("detestable", "beneath contempt") and referred to his overture as the 'Theatrical Pension Fund overture' after the charity it was to benefit.

[DublinJimbo]

Mendelssohn's overture to Ruy Blas, commissioned for a charity performance of Victor Hugo's play. Mendelssohn hated the play ("detestable", "beneath contempt") and referred to his overture as the 'Theatrical Pension Fund overture' after the charity it was to benefit.

I like that idea. A bit of lateral thinking in terms of being outside one's comfort zone. Poor Mendelssohn! Still, I suppose he got paid for his efforts, and I quite like the Ruy Blas overture.

[DublinJimbo]

And here I am, answering my own question ...

How come I hadn't thought of Hugo Wolf and his Italian Serenade? Or some of his piano music.

[aeolium]

Still, I suppose he got paid for his efforts

I don't think he did, DublinJimbo, since it was a commission for a charity. He wrote the overture in 3 days. I quite like the work too, and you can't really tell that it was written with gritted teeth.