Music you've known about but never heard until recently

[jayne lee wilson]

I've always had a problem with earlier Szymanowski, including no.2 - it seems to show its influences too much, and tries a bit too hard to fit in with traditional forms. He needed to get right away from sonata, variation, fugue etc., and found his own flowing and organic voice quite late, in the 3rd and 4th symphonies, 2nd Violin Concerto, and perhaps most definitively of all in the gorgeous Stabat Mater. I'll never forget my first R3 live encounters with it in the early 90s, courtesy Salonen and Rattle. What a hauntingly wonderful piece!

I meant to say earlier that it was very good to see a plug for Szymanowski's marvellous Second Symphony in this thread; why it's not performed much more often that it is I have no idea. The first has recently been assembled and recorded and it's not quite the failure that its composers claimed it to be but it does tend rather to struggle under the weight of its own effortfulness and the third is, of course, far better known.

[ahinton]

I've always had a problem with earlier Szymanowski, including no.2 - it seems to show its influences too much, and tries a bit too hard to fit in with traditional forms. He needed to get right away from sonata, variation, fugue etc., and found his own flowing and organic voice quite late, in the 3rd and 4th symphonies, 2nd Violin Concerto, and perhaps most definitively of all in the gorgeous Stabat Mater. I'll never forget my first R3 live encounters with it in the early 90s, courtesy Salonen and Rattle. What a hauntingly wonderful piece!

At the very start, he does, yes - with the first piano sonata and the violin sonata which even the wondrous Alina Ibragimova doesn't quite succeed in rescuing from itself - and, of course, with that massively problematic first symphony! - but I don't agree that the preoccupation with those traditional forms really affected him adversely - look at the third piano sonata which ends with a fugue just as both of its predecessors do - such a different kind of fugue. The later works that you praise are indeed wonderful! - but the emotional thrust of the Second Symphony still counts for a lot for me, just as it does in the case of the almost contemporary second piano sonata. I can hardly speak of the Stabat Mater; I get choked up just thinking about it...

[Bryn]

I feel that Bryden Thomson never got the credit from British critics and listeners for his Martinu cycle, possibly due to carping early Gramophone reviews - they seem not to have returned to it when issued as a budget remaster, which release has a crystalline clarity and sheer beauty of tone, allied to a walloping dynamic range putting it among Chandos' finest engineering. It is more immediate than others from that label. Musically it's well-nigh flawless.
"Not worthy, not worthy!" (with suitable gesture).

I guess Behlolavek's set has remade the cycle for a new generation, it's certainly warmer and more varied in mood than many. But it doesn't always punch home the big moments in the 4th and 5th symphonies when it should - Martinu loves to create an opulent orchestral explosion as much as Ravel ever did! Thomson or Neumann (best thing he ever did - sounding much better on the Japanese Mastersonic issue) really do go the whole hog here!

Among separates, Ancerl in 5 and 6 is essential, and Munch's 1956 Boston SO 6th is simply one of the unsurpassable classics of the gramophone!

I would not argue against one word of that. Re. JB, glad as I was that he took up the cause of Juliette, would that Sir Charles Mackerras had been well enough and available for that Barbican event, and that he had recorded the symphonies.

[Suffolkcoastal]

The Bryden Thompson set is excellent, I bought for about £15 early last year, he brings out details I'd not heard before, even though I've known the Martinu symphonies for nearly 20 years. As I continue to explore all the time it would be virtually impossible for me to single out any any particular discovery of the past few years. I suppose highlights for me would include hearing the early works of Vaughan Williams for the first time, much better than I'd been led to believe, discovering the complete symphonies of Kalliwoda (one of the finest symphonists of the early romantic period IMO), continuing to discover works by many of the American composers I love, such as Copland's complete scores for Of Mice & Men and Our Town, Roy Harris Orchestral work Melody in a broadcast conducted by the composer on youtube (the work is incorrectly labelled as Fantasy) and the complete symphonies of Miaskovsky.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

To get back to the original question - Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. I heard it for the first time in St Oswald's Church, Filey in July 2010. Up until then, I'd only heard the odd overplayed movement.
To be perfectly frank, I'm in no hurry for a repeat performance. There's only so much you can do with 2 chords.

[pmartel]

What a good idea for a thread! My favourite discoveries in the last 12 months:

Weber Der Freischutz
Mozart Sonata for 2 Pianos
Szymanowski Symphony No 2
Korngold Violin Concerto

I just got through hearing the Korngold Violin Concerto and it is lovely

You can hear a recent performance of that from the Kurt Weill festival at www.performamcetoday.org.

The Max Reger Romantic suite is truly a rare piece and is on the same program.

Thanks for putting me on that, Yup a piece I new about but never really got in to until now

[Panjandrum]

I just got through hearing the Korngold Violin Concerto and it is lovely

You can hear a recent performance of that from the Kurt Weill festival at www.performamcetoday.org.

The Max Reger Romantic suite is truly a rare piece and is on the same program.

Thanks for putting me on that, Yup a piece I new about but never really got in to until now

Glad you enjoyed it. Reger is a composer I have to confess to knowing nothing about. However, on the above recommendation I will try to make amends.

I should also add Walton's Cello Concerto to the list of recent discoveries. For a long time, I had been deterred from making its acquaintance by reports that it showed Walton's inspiration as being sadly in decline. I now realise this assessment is complete rubbish; the work evinces a wistful autumnal quality that would make it an excellent companion on disc to the better known Elgar concerto.

[Panjandrum]

I've always had a problem with earlier Szymanowski, including no.2 - it seems to show its influences too much, and tries a bit too hard to fit in with traditional forms. He needed to get right away from sonata, variation, fugue etc., and found his own flowing and organic voice quite late, in the 3rd and 4th symphonies, 2nd Violin Concerto, and perhaps most definitively of all in the gorgeous Stabat Mater.

I always wonder why people condemn composers' early works as not having found their true voice, when they are often splendid works in their own right. After all, early and middle period Beethoven give very little indication of that composer's late period! I always feel that if Bizet's Symphony in C were attributed to Schubert it would enjoy far greater currency; it is at least as fine a piece as that composer's much better known 5th symphony.

While I would agree that it would be hard, on a blind hearing, to recognise the later Szymanowski in his second symphony, the earlier composition is still a fabulous piece of music. If the name Schoenberg or Zemlinksy were appennded to the title page we would all be raving about what a masterpiece it was, and how fully representative of that composer it was.

[Ferretfancy]

Could I put in a word for Szymanowski's Mythes? This must be one of the most ecstatic pieces for violin and piano ever written. Among others, I still treasure my old LP by Wanda Wilkomirska and Anthony Barbosa. The there's King Roger, Simon Rattle's version is very good, and the sound of the opening chorus is absolutely stunning.

[Pabmusic]

...Reger is a composer I have to confess to knowing nothing about. However, on the above recommendation I will try to make amends.

Reger is enjoyable but he suffers from 'bad press', just like Parry - both were good organists and great contrapuntal writers. To some this combination means 'colourless and tedious'. Not so. Try the Mozart Variations as an easy introduction.

[Panjandrum]

I'm reminded, from another thread of these discoveries:

Lutoslawski Preludes and Fugue for 13 solo strings
Simpson Symphony No. 5 I've only heard this piece in Vernon Handley's magisterial series. However, as I understand, there is a concert performance under Andrew Davis which puts the Handley comprehensively into the shade. Some enterprising record company out there should beg, borrow or steal the tapes if they exist and release immediately!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Davis conducted the premiere of Simpson's Fifth back in 1973 and again at the Proms in 1990. Both concerts were broadcast so the Beeb presumably has the tapes of both concerts somewhere in their archives. One might even appear on a BBC Music Magazine cover? (Pause for hollow laughter all round!)

... I wouldn't be too sure about Handley's recording being put "comprehensively in the shade", though: it is pretty damn fine!

[ahinton]

I always wonder why people condemn composers' early works as not having found their true voice, when they are often splendid works in their own right. After all, early and middle period Beethoven give very little indication of that composer's late period! I always feel that if Bizet's Symphony in C were attributed to Schubert it would enjoy far greater currency; it is at least as fine a piece as that composer's much better known 5th symphony.

While I would agree that it would be hard, on a blind hearing, to recognise the later Szymanowski in his second symphony, the earlier composition is still a fabulous piece of music. If the name Schoenberg or Zemlinksy were appennded to the title page we would all be raving about what a masterpiece it was, and how fully representative of that composer it was.

I think that you have a point in principle but I retain doubts about your latter statement here! I don't think that many people would credit that this work had been written by either Schönberg or Zemlinsky; mature Szymanowski it may not quite be, but it has more than mere skill - it has individuality and is consistent with other works of his from the same period, most notably the splendid second piano sonata. Now if you really want an example of where to try to put another composer's name on a Szymanowski score, it would surely have to be the Concert Overture, Op. 12 which, far from being mere pale imitation Richard Strauss, is absolutely top-notch Richard Strauss - so much so that I find it difficult to listen to it and suppress a smile!...

[Panjandrum]

I think that you have a point in principle but I retain doubts about your latter statement here! I don't think that many people would credit that this work had been written by either Schönberg or Zemlinsky...

I was thinking more of the orchestral colouring and textures of Schoenberg c. Pelleas and the Zemlinsky of Sinfonietta, to which I maintain it bears more than a passing resemblance.

However, I will seek out the Concert Overture if only to see whether your own statement contains a degree of hyperbole.

[cloughie]

However, I will seek out the Concert Overture if only to see whether your own statement contains a degree of hyperbole.

I can confirm that ahinton's claims are not exaggerated.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Szymanowski-Symphonies-Nos-Harnasie-GEMINI/dp/B0000CE7FZ/ref=sr_1_14?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328289624&sr=1-14

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Szymanowski-Symphonies-Nos-Concert-Overture/dp/B0000014ER/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328289750&sr=1-2