Unsung Piano Composers

[Alkanator]

I have also recently been looking into Madetoja's piano works, and have very quite impressed with everything so far.

[Gauk]

One recording I've found myself returning to quite often is the ARTA cd of Vaclav Tomasek's Eclogues for piano (Op.35 & 51). Very engaging pieces from a composer that I'd neglected to explore to any great degree...

I find for this period that Bohemian composers seem to be particularly consistent in turning out interesting music.

[JollyRoger]

Pancho Vladigerov anyone???
5 Piano concerti for starters

[Alan Howe]

Vladigerov's off limits here, I'm afraid.

[JollyRoger]

Vladigerov's off limits here, I'm afraid.

Alan:
Sorry I if I am running afoul of the remit here.
If you have heard them, you must know these concerti are tonal, accessable,traditional
and owe much to those of Rachmaninoff. They are certainly not avant garde.
Perhaps he was born too late 1899 – 1978??
According to Wikipedia "Vladigerov is arguably the most influential Bulgarian composer of all time"
Must all his music be piano music?

[Alan Howe]

Tonal and accessible is not enough. The music needs to be thoroughly romantic in essence throughout. Vladigerov's isn't.

[Gauk]

Tonal and accessible is not enough. The music needs to be thoroughly romantic in essence throughout. Vladigerov's isn't.

If I may presume to chip in here, the definition of romantic used in this site is misleading, since it makes consonance the only test. I suggest it should be amplified to include a note that music is not romantic if:

• It uses complex rhythm, polyrhythm, or excessive syncopation;
• It is heavily inflected with harmonies derived from folk music (as opposed to quoting folk melodies);
• It seeks to reinterpret a musical ethic from the 18th C or earlier (so no neoclassical works).

Thus unambiguously cuts out Vladigerov, and probably most of the other composers that are ruled out of order here.

[Rob H]

Some of the downloads of British music available here were considerably more avant-garde than Vladigerov. I deleted some that I gave a listen to as they were too modern for my tastes. Havergal Brian, Judith Bingham and Giles Swayne are just three that I notice. Doesn't the "modern" or "avant-Garde" description apply to British music?
Alan says "The music needs to be thoroughly romantic in essence throughout." - Judith Bingham's "Hidden City" doesn't seem to fit that description yet the work was allowed here in June 2012.

I personally find little of reward in modernish music - just my tastes - but I have to say that I enjoy Vladigerov immensely. He is hardly more avant-garde than some of Dohnanyi's later works and I feel he would be allowed in.

[Alan Howe]

It must be remembered that the change in UC's remit took place in August 2012. Hence you will find more modern music discussed and archived before that point. The situation is quite different now.

[Gauk]

It must be remembered that the change in UC's remit took place in August 2012. Hence you will find more modern music discussed and archived before that point. The situation is quite different now.

... and it would be an inappropriate labour and waste of time to trawl through the archive deleting everything that no longer fits the site aesthetic. It is not that Vladigerov is in any way avant garde - he would not have been appreciated in communist era Bulgaria if he had been. But his style is clearly of its period in both harmony and rhythm.

[Alkanator]

Pancho Vladigerov anyone???
5 Piano concerti for starters

I probably should have been a bit more specific in the thread's title, but I meant piano-solo composers. Thanks though.

[JollyRoger]

Tonal and accessible is not enough. The music needs to be thoroughly romantic in essence throughout. Vladigerov's isn't.

I guess I don't get what "thoroughly romantic" implies...it is an obvious abstraction, and not an absolute.
Perhaps Rachmaninoff, Sibelius and Atterberg would also be out of bounds.
If you dislike or have not heard Vladigerov's music, that is quite another matter..

[JollyRoger]

Sorry I missed this part of your remit..
"and in any event if the music was written after 1918, please email or PM a moderator before posting."
Since you volunteer your time to maintain this forum, you certainly have the right to define the scope as you wish.
I will stick to those composers pre-1918..

[Mark Thomas]

Perhaps Rachmaninoff, Sibelius and Atterberg would also be out of bounds.

Oh no, all are ruled in on stylistic grounds. Indeed, Rachmaninov is specifically mentioned.

[eschiss1]

Everything by Atterberg? Even that weird 9th symphony? Ok... *pulls it out again...*