Great Unsung Tone Poems

[chill319]

Ippolitov-Ivanov's Mtsyri ...

The harmonic sequence at the opening (and recapitulation) is arresting indeed. This is the sort of opening late romantics could do so well, as Rachmaninov's second concerto or Beach's piano quintet. After the opening Ippolitov-Ivanov is not ashamed to show his love of Balakirev and Borodin (though without matching Balakirev's or Lyapunov's contrapuntal skills) but none the worse for that affection, with attractive melodies and opulent textures galore. Thanks for reminding me of this most enjoyable piece.

Bax's November Woods displays a quite different level of compositional mastery -- and poetic complexity. Once when the work was playing in the car, my musically unsophisticated wife surprised me by saying, "That's the kind of music I like."  To be sure, she was responding to the big love theme in the middle of the work, not to the stressful complexities that surround it. Nevertheless, she showed me how strong Bax's message is, despite his sophisticated craft. I'm so glad Dave mentioned "In Memoriam," another strong score from the same fecund period.

An American tone poem that I have long admired and enjoyed is Chadwick's Tam O'Shanter. Written more or less at the same time as Elgar's Falstaff, it can boast a similar degree of compositional maturity and subtlety.

[eschiss1]

Some Pingoud tone-poems including the one mentioned were recorded, according to Worldcat, on an Ondine CD released in 1997, by Sakari Oramo and the (Finnish) Radion sinfoniaorkesteri.  I vaguely think I recall a review (in Fanfare?) of the CD. Some of Pingoud's music (symphonies?) are or were in the Downloads section, incidentally.

[alberto]

I would indicate:
Sibelius "The Bard" Almost nobody (or really nobody IMHO) has said so much with such modest means (and time)
Liszt "Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe" : a very well proportioned piece, no space here for charges (anyway never by me ) of long-windedness, bombast or even hints of coarseness.
Saint-Saens "Le Rouet d'Onphale". Magical scoring, clarity, concision, great melodic invention.
Berwald : "Wettlauf" (I use the title in German): implacable urgency, great vision and mystery.

BTW I attended two performances of Zemlinsky "Die Seejungfrau" in different seasons (and a third one didn't take place for a conductor unalaivabilty almost at the last moment) but  never I attended a single performances of one of the four above. Just I heard a live radio broadcast of the first Italian perfomance of "Wettlauf" (the four overall lenghth is inferior to "Die Seejungfrau". But , paradoxically, programming likes "the long piece", lasting half a concert; doesn't like "the short piece"). 

[sdtom]

I've devoted one flash stick to favorite tone poems. Even though I have work to do on a review I took time last night to listen to Myaskovsky's "Silence," a favorite tone poem.
Tom

[M. Henriksen]

I admire Oskar Lindberg's symphonic poem "Från de stora skogarna" (From the great forests), Op. 18.
Imagine a winter-landscape with snow-covered pine-trees as far as the eye can see. The same landscape I can see from my window as I wite these words. I think Lindberg's brilliant orchestration combined wth the use of folk-music or self-invented "folk-music" puts him in the category og Alfvèn and Atterberg. 15 minutes well-spent time.

Morten

[LateRomantic75]

You'll have to fill me in on the recording as I've never heard it to my knowledge.
Tom

I see Eric answered re the Pingoud CD on Ondine. In case you were also inquiring about the Alpaerts, it is available on this Etcetera CD http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00153CPOA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1386452145&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

[LateRomantic75]

I've devoted one flash stick to favorite tone poems. Even though I have work to do on a review I took time last night to listen to Myaskovsky's "Silence," a favorite tone poem.
Tom

That's a favorite of mine as well. Another Russian tone poem I love is Gliere's The Sirens, which is a similarly haunting score as the Miaskovsky.

The Belgians must've had a talent for writing beautiful tone poems-in addition to the Biarent and Alpaerts works there is also Paul Gilson's The Sea and Arthur Meulemans' May Night and Pliny's Fountain.

[Alan Howe]

The thread is fast becoming a list of personal favourites. It would help if members could give reasons why particular pieces stand out from the crowd and qualify for the label 'great'.

[LateRomantic75]

The thread is fast becoming a list of personal favourites. It would help if members could give reasons why particular pieces stand out from the crowd and qualify for the label 'great'.

It was my mistake to include the word "great" in the thread title! I actually intended this thread to
serve as a discussion of personal favorites. Threads that debate "greatness" are rather pointless IMO. Apologies for the misunderstanding!

[Alan Howe]

It's a bit late now...

[khorovod]

It's a bit late now...

Never too late, surely! And churlish to say the least to imply thereby that it's the fault of the OP that this thread became a list of lists since it is a regular event! I don't think any apologies are necessary from lateromantic75, if contributors don't follow the unspecified but well known guidelines its hardly his/her fault - but this HAS been an fascinating and inspiring thread.

[Alan Howe]

...this thread became a list of lists since it is a regular event!

It isn't a regular event. In any case, threads like this stand in constant need of arguments to back up mere assertions. List-making is lazy; asserting that one likes something without even bothering to offer a reason or two is beyond lazy. So, thinking caps on, gentlemen, please....
 

[khorovod]

Well if "threads like this stand in constant need of arguments to back up mere assertions" that suggests it is a regular occurrence... But we digress.

[Alan Howe]

It's a tendency which we have regularly to counter. Mostly successfully...

[LateRomantic75]

My goodness, is it really that much of a problem? Thanks for the kind words, khorovod. This has the potential to be a fascinating thread and shouldn't be subject to such scrutiny by the moderators. I wish I could say this nicely, but I just can't.