Sung composers that you just "don't get"

[Pickler_MZ]

Handel:  I had a vinyl box set of the Concerti Grossi, Op 3 and Op 6, (ASMF, not period instruments) and I would have to say I got more joy and pleasure out of that box than almost anything else I've owned. 

I'm not particularly a lover of Baroque music, but those concertos ought to appeal to almost anyone, I would have thought.

[izdawiz]

I agree that some sections of Bruckner symphonies might be boring.. But the Scherzo of each symphony are great! Hands down  the best section to  listen to. 

[Delicious Manager]

I'll pitch in my tuppenneth-worth.

Brahms. Sad to say, I struggle with a lot of Brahms, despite recognising that there is a great technician at work. However, too much Brahms lacks 'soul' for me and some of it is, to my ears, just downright turgid (I nearly cried with boredom during a performance of Ein deutsches Requiem several years ago).
Bruch. Poor Brahms (and that oh-so-overplayed First Violin Concerto; I can't bear to hear it anymore).
Chopin. I know he was very important in the development of the piano and piano music, but there's just too much effete fiddle-faddling for me. And a composer who can't write a single piece that doesn't involve the piano has to be viewed with a little suspicion in my view.
Philip Glass. Glad to see I am not alone here. Glass is to me the "emperor's new clothes" of music - greatly lauded (by those who think they should), marketed to the point of hype and so over-performed it makes me despair. I don't have a problem with a lot of so-called 'minimalist' music per se, just the charlatan Glass. The exceptions to this are his trilogy of film scores, Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, all of which I think are very effective in the context of the films they accompany.
Hovhaness. Urged repeatedly by people who claim to love this music ("try THIS piece, or THAT piece") I have really tried to find something of substance in Hovhaness's music. However, I have failed to do so; to my ears, his music is overblown, over-praised second-rate film music (and I LOVE first-rate film music, make no mistake) feebly wrapped-up in quasi-symphonic form.
Michael Nyman. With one or two notable exceptions, my comments about Glass above could equally be applied to Nyman.

[Delicious Manager]

To those of you who struggle with Bruckner (and I can see why people might), I urge you to try recordings by Gunther Wand and, more recently, Donald Runnicles. These conductors REALLY know what Bruckner was about and manage to communicate it more successfully than anyone else.

[Alan Howe]

...and start with Symphony No.7. Karajan's your man here, either for EMI or DG.

[Gauk]

A Mass of Life has been recorded, but is definitely unsung. Not the same thing at all.

It's been recorded four times I think. It's not performed that often, because it requires such large resources. One would need to compare it to the number of performances of say, Berlioz's Requiem. It's not as if few people knew of its existence, as one might say of Wagner's Das Liebesmahl der Apostel, for instance.

[Alan Howe]

I frankly doubt whether the average music lover has heard of, let alone heard, Delius' mass.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

And - if they had encountered it - would have been utterly at sea with its sung text deriving from Nietzsche.

Actually, Gauk, I think one reason why it is so rarely performed is not so much on account of the large resources required but because it is the absolute devil to pull off satisfactorily. Not the sort of thing to stake your credentials as a conductor upon!

[Amphissa]

Hmmm ... I didn't know Delius is a "sung" composer. He's certainly not here in the U.S.

[eschiss1]

Apologies for continuing the tangent, but just wanted to check - Delius performances in this next year in the US (as noted @ Delius.org.uk, anyway) include-
(just missed: violin sonata no.3 arranged by Tertis for viola, in Washington DC, 24 March, with works by Benjamin Dale, Bowen and Brahms)
*song recital with works by Delius (April 7, hosted by the German Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia)
*his Romance for cello and piano in a cello concert on April 14th; and yes, that's it that they know of, for awhile. Hrm. Ok- no argument...

[Peter1953]

Bruckner? I get them all. I enjoy every single note. Cannot be long enough. No better advocate than the KCO under the baton of Bernard Haitink. IM more than HO of course.
I don't like Reger. Too mechanical. Music is not mathematics. Well, maybe a lot of modern music is, but that's to my ears hardly anything else than a curious way of using instruments. In that case I prefer Roger Waters. But how sung is Reger anyway?

[eschiss1]

Reger and Szymanowski and others, at a guess here if I may, fall into a limbo of too sung by one standard and definitely unsung by another (admittedly, Szymanowski after a certain point wouldn't particularly qualify for this forum anyhow because of the sort-of-impressionism (... or something) of his middle works... Enescu comes to mind for some reason as a very vague parallel- likewise very original/imaginatively new (original has this connotation of "returning to origins" that makes me think of Hubay's Venus de Milo with its attempt to evoke a Greek scale- and similar things... - but not really that much else...), modern later works (in a different way).)

[Gauk]

...and start with Symphony No.7.

Oddly enough, Bruckner 7 was the second piece of music I ever listened to (exploring the family LP collection at random). Which probably explains a lot.

I agree partially about Chopin. He did write some great music, but a lot of warbling too, and I cannot understand why anyone bothers with those tedious piano concertos.  Definitely not a "rounded" composer in terms of competence, but you might say that about Verdi as well.

[Alan Howe]

I agree partially about Chopin. He did write some great music, but a lot of warbling too, and I cannot understand why anyone bothers with those tedious piano concertos.  Definitely not a "rounded" composer in terms of competence, but you might say that about Verdi as well.

Both were specialists - but I can't think of two more rounded specialists in their particular fields. If there's a more rounded, life-enhancing opera than Falstaff, I don't know it...

[semloh]

Re Bruckner: Many commentators say his 4th, but I agree with Alan that the 7th might the best place to start. I also have a soft spot for the String Quintet.

I have to respond re Delius: The few early performances in New York were not well received, and there has been no subsequent champion in the US comparable to Beecham in Europe. It has been left to Floridians - notably Jacksonville University - to promotes his music, which it does with a passion.

Without being exactly 'popular', his music seems to be consistently represented in performance (e,g, Proms 2012; A Mass of Life was the opening concert of the 2012 Edinburgh Festival; and, see http://www.delius.org.uk/forthcomingconcerts.htm for an example of forthcoming Delius concerts), on CD (The Delius Society currently lists 16 new releases devoted exclusively or mostly to Delius), and on the radio - a steady stream. I haven't looked at representation in the rest of Europe, but he also gets a fair go here in Australia

In February 2012 Delius was one of ten prominent Britons honoured by the Royal Mail in the "Britons of Distinction" stamps set, and from my Anglo-Australian perspective, I couldn't possibly regard him as unsung, even if his qualities are not widely recognized in the US.