The power of unsung music...

[Alan Howe]

Well, I've been wandering around with a symphonic theme in my head for most of this afternoon and just couldn't dislodge it - nor put my finger on what it was! So I sat down, had a proper think and, by a process of elimination, worked out that it was the first movement of Reinecke 2, which I'm listening to as I type. And it made me realise not only the effectiveness of this particular symphony - which is absolutely superb, by the way - but the power that lies in so much unsung music to do what only the sung repertoire is supposed to do, i.e. lodge itself powerfully and permanently in the memory. You see, I hadn't actually listened to Reinecke 2 for months...

Has anybody else had this sort of experience with an unsung piece of music that simply refuses to go away?

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

Carlos Chavez's third string quartet.  I heard it first at a Library of Congress concert some years ago - later in the week, when I was walking back to my office from another part of the complex, it flashed through my mind again.  Took some doing to track down what it was, too.  It's a lovely piece, very Copland-esque.

[M. Henriksen]

Richard Wetz is the composer of the symphonic theme that appears in my head over and over again. And every time I'm humming it, I'm wondering : Who wrote that? And the fact that it's Wetz always comes as a pleasant surprise. This theme starts at about 3:30 of the first movement of his 2nd Symphony (cpo recording).


Morten

[Dundonnell]

You are absolutely correct, Alan

So much "unsung music" is unjustly neglected and has the power to move one in a similar way, if, usually, to slightly lesser degree than the great, established masterpieces.

It is one of the great joys of exploration of the "unsung repertoire" to come across a piece of music which makes one suddenly sit up in amazement at its beauty or power or whatever strikes the individual listener.

It is that very quest that impels me to go on seeking out new composers and new music from the particular era or of the particular type which most appeals to my musical sensibilities. I know that I shall never lose that exploratory imperative

[mbhaub]

The slow section of the 3rd movement of the Bloch symphony c# minor gets stuck in my ear frequently, and only a listen to that superb work relieves it. Such a simple theme, but so memorable that I'm constantly drawn to it.
Another is the 3rd movement of Raff's 3rd symphony. The moment when he brings in the slow theme to the 2nd movement in counterpoint to the scherzo is utter genius and one of the most magical things in all music I know.
Both of these works get lodged in the brain and from time to time pop to the forefront and demand to be heard. Such is the power of great music.

[alberto]

The experience mentioned by Alan happens to me not rarely.Then a little challenge occurs until I remember the theme or section.
The last "passage" haunting my mind without immediately recognizing it has been from the second movement of Hashimoto Symphony n.1.

[Alan Howe]

Raff certainly has the ability to write themes - or even motifs - which bury themselves deep in the memory department and refuse to go away. The openings of symphonies 2, 4 and 6 all do that for me - as do the mysterious and wonderful horn-calls in the first movement of Im Walde.

[chill319]

The lovely opening of Fibich Symphony 1 can haunt me for hours.

[Alan Howe]

I hadn't played Fibich 1 for a long time and indeed it opens with a wonderfully evocative rising theme in the woodwinds and then in the horns. Thanks so much for reminding me of music so redolent of Bohemia's countryside: now it'll be haunting me too!

[kyjo]

One moment in an unsung piece that haunts me often is in the first movement of Gade's sixth symphony where the cellos play a beautiful rising and falling theme over a gently rolling timpani capped with trilling flutes. Also, the glorious big tune in the finale of Rott's symphony. Is Scriabin's second symphony unsung (for me, it is, at least compared to his piano music)? Well, if it is, I'd like to nominate the stirring march tune in the finale of this symphony. Try to get that out of your head!

[JamesAdam]

It is difficult to compose and direct an unsung music. But why did you use the word ' Haunts' to it?