Unsung 20th Century Symphonists

[Alan Howe]

Please excuse the breadth of this topic, but I would be grateful for suggestions as to which 20th century unsung symphonists to pursue - only those, please, who have been recorded, otherwise severe frustration will ensue on my part! No need for a lengthy apologia on behalf of a particular composer: name and work(s) will suffice!

[Rainolf]

Some masters from Great Britain come to my mind:

Robert Simpson, with 11 symphonies. [all recorded]

Edmund Rubbra, with 11 symphonies. [all recorded]

Bernard Stevens, with only 2 symphonies [both recorded], but additional some other orchestral works in truely symphonic style (eg. the Variations op. 36, which seems to be a short and very concentrated 4 movement symphony).

Daniel Jones, with 13 symphonies. [4, 6, 7, 8, 9 recorded]

And of course Havergal Brian, with 32 symphonies.

[Rainolf]

Some from eastern Germany:

Max Butting, 10 symphonies. [7, 9, 10 recorded on LP; 9 released on CD] (comparable in style to Honegger, but less classicist)

Leo Spies, 2 symphonies. [2 released on CD] (emerges of late romanticism, great melodist)

Ernst Hermann Meyer, 4 (unnumbered) symphonies (for string orchestra, Concertante for piano and orchestra, Symphony in B, "Kontraste - Konflikte") [all recorded on LP but nothing released on CD, Symphony for strings on youtube] (more dissonant in style, very expressive, comparable to late Shostakovich and Weinberg)

Fritz Geißler, 11 symphonies. [some recorded on LP; 3, 5 and 11 released on CD] (dissonant expressive works, not in classical forms, but developing in free organical manner)

[eschiss1]

Hrm. I recommend at least the following too-
*Matthijs Vermeulen (Dutch, 7 symphonies, recorded on Donemus and some of them on Chandos)
*Niels-Viggo Bentzon (quite a few. Have heard two. Intriguing! Hrm. Not sure how many have been recorded. Seek out, I say.)
*Hilding Rosenberg. (a few on CD though not yet all 8, I -think-. Again though, seek out, worth hearing, good enjoyable worthwhile stuff.)
*Allan Pettersson (Swedish, 15? symphonies - 17 numbered but 2 of them may be incomplete??, so that's nos. 2 to 16 -  but 2 to 16 are all recorded at least once. I have quite a few of them on CD etc. and am glad of it )
*Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996. already mentioned in this thread. also sometimes called Moisei Vainberg, esp. on earlier recordings. Not all his symphonies recorded, but more and more are.)
*Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996. 13 symphonies, 3 chamber symphonies, 4 string symphonies. Almost all recorded (except maybe the 3 chamber symphonies, and I think that gap will probably be filled. Sometimes described as neoclassical, not really.)
*Hendrik Andriessen (father of Louis and Jurriaan, Louis has some greater fame ) - 4 symphonies
*Henk Badings (the label cpo is recording his symphonies. I have heard a few on the online archive of the radio station Concertzender. Pretty good.)
*Eduard Tubin (Estonian-Swedish. Somewhat better known, sort of.) 10 symphonies and an unfinished 11th. Very, very good indeed, or so I think; the brief 9th grabbed me as did some of the others when I first heard them 2 decades ago at my college music library; decided to get some of the CDs when I could (and there are now several recordings - indeed, two complete recordings of them, I think. To which I say yay!)
*Nikolay Myaskovsky - often Romantic in mind (though his symphonies 7 and 13 are- well, ok.  Another pause here. "Romantic" and "19th-century-like" has to include music like late Liszt and Wagner for example (not only, emphatically) or else it would be good to define the term rather better. And as Schoenberg pointed out about a pupil's music (Berg's opus 3, I think, though unspecified), it doesn't go beyond the 19th century harmonically... he didn't say what music in the 19th century he was thinking of, but middle and late Liszt and Wagner is part of what I would guess. And others too. End{digression}.) Anyhow, Myaskovsky symphonies recommended by me, especially early but extremely passionate no.2 in C-sharp minor, but also the late war symphony no.22, and the slightly earlier no.20 (what a slow movement, and what becomes of it!), ... and others, too. And even more, though you didn't ask, some of the string quartets I'm a fan of his. (Sorry )
*Evgeny Golubev (1910-1981). Mostly only on LP at the movement (symphonies 5 and 7 out of, I think, 7); a few works on CD. Myaskovsky pupil; taught Schnittke. (I made MIDIs of some of his works and am convinced that I do need to hear more though. Quartets 8 and 9 are rather good.)
*Vissarion Shebalin (5 symphonies  numbered, at least one unnumbered (haven't heard but has been recorded), all I think once available on Olympia CDs. Have heard the 5 numbered ones and recommend them, as I also do the 5 of Ukrainian Gliere pupil
*Borys Lyatoshynsky.
And seconding Havergal Brian and curious about Butting whose symphonies and 2 of whose quartets I have skimmed...

[febnyc]

Richard Arnell (1917-2009) - all his symphonies recorded on Dutton
Hakon Børresen (1876-1954) - symphonies (3) on DaCapo
Rutland Boughton (1878-1960) - Dutton/Hyperion

[semloh]

I think Rubbra's symphonies are badly neglected, and I love the swashbuckling symphonies of George Lloyd (12 in all).
We don't seem to give the Americans much coverage here, so how about Piston (, Mennin (9) and Cowell (15) .... not my cup of tea, but definitely unsung symphonists, at least outside the US. Not sure how well recorded they are, though. More to my liking are the symphonies of Roy Harris (12), although we rarely hear anything except the 3rd.
Among Scandinavians, Rosenberg (8 syms) is usually overrlooked, and once we turn to Eastern Europe and the old Soviet empire, the list could be almost endless......
This may be an opportunity to place a request to the forum - does anyone have Symphony No.2 - 'I Have Loved the Lands of Ireland' by Seóirse Bodley? My old ex-radio cassette recording is almost unplayable.... and it's a beautiful work.

[Rainolf]

To the American composers, mentioned by semloh, I would add Christopher Rouse, although he seems to be relatively sung for a living composer. His vigorous 2nd, and until now last, symphony [which is recorded as it is his 1st] makes him my fouvourite American symphonist after Mennin [whose symphonies 3-9 are recorded].

[Alan Howe]

Bodley's Symphony No.2 is available on CD...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Se%C3%B3irse-Bodley-small-drifts-Ireland/dp/B001Q8KQ6S/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1314190922&sr=1-2

[eschiss1]

as to Harris, I'd like to especially recommend symphony no.7; Ormandy's recording of it may still be available, and there're at least one or two newer ones that I haven't heard.
Roger Sessions' 9 symphonies fall well outside the orbit of this forum except for the tonal first two (which are more neo-classical than Romantic, I suppose, though no.2 is hardly neo-Classical... expressionist tonal is closer to the mark? No.3 is a quiet, calmer work, filled with birdsong evocation, closer to neo-classical- and it's serial non-tonal. So much for labels. Hah.) Anyway... I like them- though nos. 6, 7 and 9 deserve much more focused performances than they receive from Davies on Argo. Nos. 4 and 5 receive the best performances and recording put together of all of his symphonies, I think (from Badea on New World) though Mitropoulos in no.2 reissued on CRI is excellent (in not so excellent sound ).

[Rainolf]

Elliott Carter's 1st symphony is a pretty work, too. What a pity, that there was no "Symphony No. 2" written in this style.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, everyone. Keep 'em coming if you have any more suggestions...

[M. Henriksen]

From the excerpts I've heard, Latvian composer Janis Ivanovs would be worth exploring. He composed 21 Symphonies, so take your time!

From the Naxos homepage:

JANIS IVANOVS 
(1906 - 1983)

Janis Ivanovs was born on 9 October1906 in a small Latvian town called Preili. He graduated in 1931 from the Latvian State Conservatory in Riga, where his studied compositions with Jazeps Vitols and conducting with Georg Schnéevoight. He continued post-graduate studies with Vitols until 1933. In 1931 he began a long association with Latvian Radio, eventually becoming the artistic director of the Latvian Radio Committee. In 1944 he joined the faculty of the Latvian State Conservatory, becoming full professor in 1955. He was president of the Latvian Composers' Union and was awarded the titles People's Artist of the Latvian SSR (1956) and People's Artist of the USSR (1965). Janis Ivanovs died in 1983 after completing three movements of his Symphony No. 21.

Ivanovs is considered Latvia's most distinguished symphonist. His grasp of orchestral colour and musical texture was so extraordinary that his colleagues often praised him for his precise, expressive, and nationalistic musical idiom. Had be only written his Fourth (Atlantida), Fifth or Sixth (Latgales) Symphonies, he would have left an indelible mark on music history. However, he composed 21 symphonies, three concertos for various instruments, cello, violin, and piano, five symphonic poems, three string quartets, and numerous vocal, piano and chamber works.

The bulk of Ivanovs' compositions is orchestral. Stylistically his early works show influences of Scriabin and his later works that of Prokofiev and Shostakovich. These, however, are just passing influences. The hand of the mature master is evident all his works, early or late. The language is distinctly Ivanovs', nationalistic, dynamic, powerful, dramatic. "Janis Ivanovs is like thunder and lightening, cleansing the air with his Lucifer sounds. His symphonies are like ancient Greek tragedies, filled with ecstasy and purification." So wrote another Latvian composer and music critic, Margers Zarins. Although every composition of Ivanovs delivers something fresh and unusual, we also hear the familiar. His music provides us with an unusual sense of intimacy. Here is a composer who is speaking to us, perhaps battling something, defending us from obstacles and taking us on a safe and welcome path. His love of melody is evident in all his works. In fact, the melodic content is the essence of each of his compositions. Ivanovs drew upon the native songs of the Latgale district (eastern Latvia) for his inspiration. Latgale's folk-music combines both Slavic sadness and restrained beauty. this is definitely a trademark of Ivanovs' music. Pathos, colour, intensity, tightness of structure and expansiveness of musical ideas are also concern-stones of his style.


Discography here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Finnish_and_Baltic/Finnish_and_Baltic_Symphonies.htm#ivanovs


Morten

[eschiss1]

You're probably going to have to look for this one on LP for now (and even then only a few of his works are on LP I think...), but hopefully eventually more available: Ján Zimmer (1926-1993), Slovakian composer of, I think, 11 symphonies and 5 piano concertos.
Thumbs up here on Ivanovs too, terrific symphonies and concertos.

I hear good things about composers Laszlo Lajtha and Alexander Moyzes, and have heard one or two of the former's and a few of the latter's symphonies at that- rather good, rather good

[Latvian]

Here are some recommended names, and suggested starting points. Unfortunately, there are many other names I feel compelled to add, but since they didn't fulfill your requirement of available recordings, I resisted. By no means a complete list, there's also the consideration of where to draw the line between "unsung" and "sung," and "20th Century" and otherwise.

Alfven, Hugo (#1)
Alwyn, William  (#1) 
Arnell, Richard (#2)
Atterberg, Kurt (#2)
Blomdahl, Karl-Birger (#2)
Braga Santos, Joly (#1)
Brian, Havergal (#1, 9)
Creston, Paul (#2)
Dopper, Cornelis (#7)
Dutilleux, Henri (#1)
Englund, Einar (#2)
Freitas Branco, Luis de (#1)
Gerhard, Roberto (#2)
Harris, Roy (#3, 7)
Holmboe, Vagn (#7,
Ivanovs, Janis (#4, 6)
Kokkonen, Joonas (#4)
Landowski, Marcel (#1)
Lloyd, George (#6)
Madetoja, Leevi (#3)
Melartin, Erkki (#5)
Miaskovsky, Nikolai (#21, 24)
Nystroem, Gosta (Sinfonia del mare)
Panufnik, Andrzej (#3)
Peterson-Berger, Wilhelm (#3)
Pettersson, Allan (#7,
Pijper, Willem (#2)
Piston, Walter (#6)
Rosenberg, Hilding (#2, 4)
Rubbra, Edmund (#2, 7)
Saeverud, Harald (#3)
Sallinen, Aulis (#1, 3)
Sauguet, Henri (#1)
Schuman, William (#3, 5)
Silvestrov, Valentin (#5)
Simpson, Robert (#3)
Thompson, Randall (#2)
Tournemire, Charles (#5, 7)
Vermeulen, Matthijs (#4)
Williams, Grace (#2)
Wordsworth, William (#3)

In a couple of cases (such as Williams and Wordsworth)  there really isn't opportunity to go much farther among commercial recordings of any symphonies, but if you like them enough, you may want to seek out downloads of other symphonies of theirs, probably owned by many of the members of this forum. In the case of Silvestrov, I don't think there's much else in his symphonies worth bothering with, but #5 is a knockout -- very untraditional, perhaps initially baffling, but ultimately tremendously rewarding. There's also a wide range of styles here: some very conservative (such as Alfven & Lloyd), others more challenging (such as Gerhard). All worth investigating, though, IMHO.

[Latvian]

Ján Zimmer (1926-1993), Slovakian composer of, I think, 11 symphonies and 5 piano concertos.

12 symphonies, actually (I have a copy of #12).