Which unsungs are on their way to becoming 'sung' - and vice versa?

[mbhaub]

Who's hot: Golijov, Adams, Reich, Glass, Higdon...at least where I live

Who's not: Franck, Mendelssohn, Mahler (surprisingly), Berlioz (there's more than Symphonie Fantastique)

Who should be: Elgar (all we get is Enigma, the violin concerto, and a march or two. Never a symphony.) Schmidt, Korngold, Sibelius, Prokofieff. Granted, only Schmidt and Korngold count as unsungs, but there are many well-known composers whose presence in the concert hall is because of a few, often repeated works. I have heard Prokofieff symphonies 1 & 5 so many times I can't number them. But 3? Once, with Muti.  The local orchestra did 6 once. Svetlanov treated us to 7. But 2 or 4? Never. When Sibelius shows up it's always symphonies 2 or 5, Finlandia or the violin concerto.

There was a time 20 years back when I thought that Mahler's overexposure would send conductors and orchestras looking for similar music and that the time had arrived for Korngold, Zemlinsky, and Schmidt. Alas, never happened. Thank God you live when you do when so much neglected music is available on cd!

[chill319]

Does anyone besides me think Carl Nielsen's star rose considerably during the same period that Bruckner
and Mahler became canonic?

And what of Sibelius? Has he fallen? Or fallen and risen again?

[Mark Thomas]

Certainly there was a Nielsen vogue here in the UK but it's long over in the concert hall at least, whereas my feeling is that Sibelius' popularity continues, aided by a spate of Baltic conductors of our major regional orchestras.

[semloh]

..............my feeling is that Sibelius' popularity continues, aided by a spate of Baltic conductors of our major regional orchestras.

That's certainly true here in Aus. - all the Sibelius symphonies are very popular (even the 4th!), and so too the violin concerto, while his chamber works remain rather peripheral - Voces Intimae was voted 99th in our Top 100 chamber works poll! 

[alberto]

An incidental information about Martucci recordings and performances.
Exists (available?) a Sony recording of Pc 2 with pianist Carlo Bruno, Riccardo Muti and La Scala Orch. (coupled to "La Canzone dei Ricordi" with Mirella Freni).
Several years ago Muti programmed at La Scala Martucci Second Symphony, but withdrew it at the last minute (and I think he has not conducted the Symphonies)..
He conducted in several places "La Canzone dei Ricordi" (also with Barbara Frittoli and Violeta Urmana) and many times the short "Notturno" (often as an encore, always presented with a few and useful words by the conductor).
Between prominent conductors I remember that Chailly has conducted Symphony n.1, La Canzone dei Ricordi (with June Anderson), Novelletta and Notturno.
More recently Noseda has conducted La Canzone dei Ricordi with Barbara Frittoli, and Pc 2 with Oppitz.
But, apart from the worthy and useful revival/resurrection on record, and the Muti advocacy, Martucci remains unsung (or under-performed) even in Italy since the early '60.

[Alan Howe]

Certainly there was a Nielsen vogue here in the UK but it's long over in the concert hall at least...

Don't forget Davis' ongoing Nielsen cycle recorded live at the Barbican (London) with the LSO...

[giles.enders]

If this topic is to be taken seriously then I believe we have to look longer term say over a period of ten years. I recall that when Dohnanyi's piano concertos were recorded by Hyperion there were a number of critics who were very unflattering about him as a composer, yet now nearly all his music has been recorded, some pieces several times over and there are live performances of his works.  Sergei Taneyev, disparagingly described as a 'composer's composer' whatever that means has now recordings of his symphonies and some of his chamber music.  In London there was a time when you could hear all the Mahler symphonies in a year, year after year, this is no longer so.  The reason Unsungs are unsung in my opinion is that they do not have 'staying power' by that I mean there is a core repertoire in each category of classical music and that only very slowly changes, everything else comes and goes. I will stick my neck out and say that now that Bax has been well recorded his popularity has peeked, watch out for his Cd's in second handshops.

Part of the problem is there is a lot of mistrust with the public, having to sit through thoroughly banal works sandwiched between old warhorses and they have become ever more sceptical of trying the unknown.

[Alan Howe]

...thoroughly banal works...

Often contemporary and distinctly transient?

[Ilja]

Practically no difference here in Moscow. Same old Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. I actually think that repertoire has become even more norrow during the last decade. On the contrary, I was in Portugal this spring where I was able to hear Braga Santos' 4th symphony paired with Rachmaninov's 3rd concerto - surely that was one of the best concertos in my whole life

Wow Fronder, I was at the same concert! Great playing by Pizarro in the Rachmaninov (to ovational applause), but the real highlight was the Braga Santos 4th. Terrific performance only slightly marred by the fact that the audience thought that it had ended about two minutes before the coda.

And the Teatro Saõ Carlos is a great, great venue. Love it.

[Ilja]

..............my feeling is that Sibelius' popularity continues, aided by a spate of Baltic conductors of our major regional orchestras.

That's certainly true here in Aus. - all the Sibelius symphonies are very popular (even the 4th!), and so too the violin concerto, while his chamber works remain rather peripheral - Voces Intimae was voted 99th in our Top 100 chamber works poll! 

Yet Sibelius (and certainly Nielsen) is a virtual unknown in the concert halls of continental Europe if you don't count the Violin Concerto. My impression is that he's not that often played in Scandinavia, too. There are tremendous regional differences, that remain in place even in today's allegedly globalized scene.

[Jimfin]

I'd say that Elgar, while not that 'sung' over here in Japan, is at least well-known, whereas I get the impression that he has yet to be regularly performed in continental Europe

[Alan Howe]

Donald Runnicles recently conducted a superb performance of Elgar 1 with the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin:
http://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/2491/runnicles-grosz-quandt-strauss-elgar

[alberto]

The last season of the Berliner Philharmoniker, besides Symphony n.1, included "Enigma Variations" (cond. Rattle) and "The Dream of Gerontius" (cond. Barenboim). I have seen that in the span of one month in Berlin "Enigma Variations" were performed by Rattle, Marriner and Darlington with three different orchestras.
I see that Elgar is slowly finding (some) space in countries like France and Italy where he was seriously neglected.
In my city, Torino, not a metropolis, last season we had Symphony n.1 under Pappano and Rome Santa Cecilia, next season we will have the Cello Concerto with Sol Gabetta.
(A short digression .Quite often I have heard as an encore "Nimrod" (Pappano, C.Davis, D.Matheuz, D.Gatti, Y.Temirkanov -the last 4 or 5 times). Temirkanov shows also a predilection in performing as an encore "Salut d'amour" (listened also with the Baltimore Sym.).   

[Alan Howe]

Very interesting, Alberto. Perhaps Elgar's time has finally come?

[pcc]

One of the oddest and, in a way, saddest occasions I encountered was at a North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA) conference at Yale University two years ago. The highly-touted orchestral centerpiece of the whole affair was a performance of the "rarely-performed" Elgar A-flat Symphony by the New Haven orchestra. (Good performance, but - )  It certainly is rarely performed over here, but for a performance designed for such an audience the piece hardly qualifies - there wasn't even a mention of Elgar in any of the music-oriented papers!  There is so much I would have rather heard live!!  (Our own Rochester Philharmonic performed William Henry Fry's "Macbeth" overture AND the Amy Beach Symphony last year, the latter at the opening concert, and both received enormous ovations!  And those "unprompted" by outside considerations!)