Most Memorable Unsung Tune.

[John H White]

It would be interesting to hear forum members' thoughts on what they have found to be the most memorable melody they have come across from an unsung composer. For me, it has to be the march from Raff's Lenore Symphony. After hearing just one performance of that symphony on the BBC back in 1949, I kept that tune in my head for 40 years until I was able to come across a secondhand LP of the work in a record shop in York in 1989.
I wonder if that is some sort of record.

[dafrieze]

I don't know if it's a record, but for the last 35 years or so, my favorite "unsung" tune (although it's by a composer with one big blockbuster hit) has been the third movement, Scène de Nuit, from Gustav Holst's Suite de Ballet in E Flat, Op. 10.  It's a gorgeous, long-limbed melody sung by a solo violin and accompanied by string orchestra; there's nothing else quite like it in Holst's output and, as with all unsung works, I have no idee why this wonderfully scored four-movement suite isn't a concert staple.

[FBerwald]

The second theme from Bortkiewicz's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 16 First movement... I believe its played out on the flute with piano accompaniment, then strings. I just love this tune!

[thalbergmad]

I concur with the Bortkiewicz PC 1. I have never forgotten a note since my first hearing.

Thal

[Alan Howe]

For me there are too many to name. But a lot them would be by Raff, that's for sure.

[Balapoel]

For me it would have to be (among others) the main theme of the second movement (Grave) of the Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 7 by Robert Hermann. Sublime, moving, profound - it gets me every time.

[TerraEpon]

The first that comes to mind with be Peterson-Berger's Romance for Violin and Orchestra. It has a wonderful soaring theme that really gets stuck in my head.

[Alan Howe]

For me it would have to be (among others) the main theme of the second movement (Grave) of the Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 7.

By...?

[Balapoel]

oops. Robert Hermann.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks. Lovely stuff, I agree.

[Gauk]

Well, that Raff march is a tune which you just have to mention and I can call it to mind, even though it is years since I last heard it. The same is not true for the Bortkiewicz for me; and I last heard it much more recently.

[Josh]

This is a bit of a tough one for me. I'm taking it as an exercise: if I could pick only one melody to suggest to a skeptical someone in the hopes of getting them to say "wow, I have to admit, that's incredible", what would it be?

Considering my virtual worship of Raff, obviously things like the main theme from the first movement of his Symphony #9 spring to mind, but actually I keep coming to the Arpeggione Nocturne in A minor by Friedrich (no, not Norbert) Burgmüller.  As far as I know, this is incredibly obscure, but a tune of the highest beauty and memorability.  If you haven't heard this before, I feel safe in assuring that you would feel well-rewarded even if you expended considerable effort to seek it out.

And I know I'll definitely be doing some seeking of my own to find the ones people are mentioning on here!

[Peter1953]

Moscheles. Oh yes, that has to be his Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 58, in particular the opening. After so many years this overwhelming tune can still drive me to tears. What an utterly gorgeous, most thrilling and deeply-felt opening. And the 'old' Ponti is the winner of the two performances I have.

[JimL]

Moscheles. Oh yes, that has to be his Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 58, in particular the opening. After so many years this overwhelming tune can still drive me to tears. What an utterly gorgeous, most thrilling and deeply-felt opening. And the 'old' Ponti is the winner of the two performances I have.

That's a shame, because the Ponti performance uses an edition (probably by Reinecke) that hacks much of the opening tutti out.

[Alan Howe]

I like Moscheles PC3, but it doesn't figure on my list of all time great unsung tunes. And I too would rather have the whole thing...