Great Unsung Tone Poems

[LateRomantic75]

Oops, forgot to include Bax in that honorable company...

[semloh]

Suk, Novak, Karlowicz - for me that just about sums up the best in late romantic tone poems. Sadly, although they are fairly well covered by recordings, they are never heard in the concert hall in Australia. My impression is that Strauss and Sibelius are the tone poets of choice here.

[LateRomantic75]

Oddly enough, Sibelius' tone poems (with the exception of Finlandia) are not programmed with much regularity here in the US. But, then again, not much is ...

[Dave]

Speaking of Bax, I played his "Christmas Eve" the other day and was reminded why I was so enraptured by it in the first place. It's truly a glorious work.
Then there's Atterberg's "Älven" which I find very enjoyable also.

[LateRomantic75]

Indeed, Christmas Eve is one of Bax's most underrated works. It is made all the more gloriously transcendent by its prominent organ part.

I was listening to Atterberg's Alven the other day. There are two aspects of it I find quite interesting:

1. Ironically, the harps are not utilized during The Waterfall section (at least to my ears), yet they have a prominent role elsewhere in the work.
2. As I had mentioned before, the jarringly modernistic section that is The Harbor proves that Atterberg wasn't just a hopelessly old-fashioned romantic and that he kept up with the musical trends of the times. More likely than not, he was mocking rather than respectfully emulating the sounds of the modernists in this section.

[LateRomantic75]

Ever since reading this article, I have longed to hear Benjamin Dale's tone poem The Flowing Tide: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jun02/Dale_flowing_tide.htm

Some others that I don't think have been mentioned:

G.W. Chadwick: Aphrodite. This is not the Brahmsian/Dvorakian Chadwick of the Second and Third Symphonies. This is a bold, impressionistic work which shows Chadwick was aware of current trends.

Jan Levoslav Bella: Fate and the Ideal (only on YT). This dramatic, Tchaikovskian work makes one wish Bella had written more orchestral works.

Adolf Wiklund: Summer Night and Sunrise. This is the epitome of Scandinavian late-romanticism-no surprises here.

Sir John Blackwood McEwen: Where the Wild Thyme Blows. A hauntingly atmospheric work that evokes the rugged Scottish coast.

Hans Grimm: The Way of Love and Death (only on YT). A beautiful work which, rather surprisingly, bears the influence of Impressionism.

William Lloyd Webber: Aurora. The father of the much more famous Andrew left behind a small output, and his most major work is this warmly romantic tone poem.

Ludomir Rozycki: Anhelli, Boleslaw Smialy, and King Cophetua (only on YT). Those who know Rozycki's hyper-romantic PCs will know what to expect here.

Eugeniusz Morawski: Nevermore. Morawski captures the morbid atmosphere of Poe's The Raven vividly in this work. What a terrible shame the majority of his output was lost during the bombing of Warsaw during WWII!

[chill319]

Indeed, Christmas Eve is one of Bax's most underrated works.

The one Bax tone poem I haven't heard. Thanks for the reference. It's on order.

[adriano]

I think pieces from Reger, Zemlinsky, Marx, Koechlin etc. should no more been called "unsung", especially after various recordings have been done.
Incidentally, I recorded a beautiful Francesca da Rimini by Pierre Maurice (on Sterling) and From the Book of Job by Fritz Brun (on Guild) - shall we call them "unsung" too? And the pieces by George Templeton Strong? And what about Honegger's "Le chant de Nigamon"?

[Amphissa]

LateRomantic75 wrote:

Ever since reading this article, I have longed to hear Benjamin Dale's tone poem The Flowing Tide: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jun02/Dale_flowing_tide.htm

I've uploaded a recording of this broadcast. It's not an especially good recording by today's standards. If someone has a better copy, by all means, upload it.

Despite the MusicWeb review, even a pristine recording, I fear, would not encourage me to add it to the recommendations in this thread. But others might like it better than I.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks very much for uploading this, which I do look forward to hearing. Judging by your comments I might be in for a disappointment, but Dale's magnificent Piano Sonata does raise one's expectations about the rest of his output.

[Amphissa]

Well, my tastes in music do not always coincide with others, and I'm just an amateur, so I am no arbiter of quality. I'm happy to contribute what I can, though.

[Mark Thomas]

Hmm. Well, the piece, at the very least, is an extremely pleasant listen. It is modestly tuneful and expertly orchestrated in a colourful manner reminiscent of Ravel, although without any of his more piquant touches. In terms of style it belongs firmly in the 1900s, although it was begun in the 1920s and not finished until shortly before Dale's death in 1943.  But, for a single orchestral span it is long (32 minutes) and, to my taste after a couple of hearings, distinctly rambling. I began by thinking that a major influence was Elgar, and there is certainly an Elgarian swagger to it at first, but its episodic nature soon delivers passages of what used to be called "cowpat music", that all-purpose English pastoral style which was once so prevalent. The work ebbs and flows interminably and, no doubt if one invested more time and intellect in unravelling it, the passing scenery would make more sense, but I'm afraid that I'm left feeling that it would have been much better if Dale had been less self-indulgent and had edited it down to, say, 20 minutes. It's neglect after the first performance speaks volumes. Maybe had he lived he would have compressed it into something truly impressive.

There's a long and very interesting article about Dale and The Flowing Tide at MusicWeb International here.

[eschiss1]

Used to hate the very idea of tone poems , I think (I have never cared for the over-representational variety, and thought they all were- I will thank Alan Walker's Liszt biography for completely setting me straight about that, if I'm not sure that it hadn't started earlier.) So I've had a late start and don't know nearly as many by sound, though I've run across quite a few in score (full or reduced, - or parts, for that matter) (e.g. @ IMSLP) and while understanding that 95% of them are bound to be (insert Sturgeon's law here &c) - am hoping to hear enough more to make a better judgment. (I have heard several of the standards and even the "better-known unsungs", some by Bax, Karlowicz (I think I have...), Rozycki,  several composers represented on the download/upload boards here - + also concert overtures, and concert overtures may or may not belong in this category (I forget???)... (if they do, well, I especially enjoy Fuchs' overture Das Meere und D. Liebes wellen, for instance...) - but - well... no, not in a position to make satisfactory recommendations... now, anyways. (Later, Henrik, later.)

[mjmosca]

Saint-Saens' Phaeton is one of the great unsung tone poems. Beautifully organized, and very exciting, there is this gorgeous central section depicting the Sun chariot soaring across the heavens- it has been recorded occasionally, often played too fast. The Pierre Dervaux recording, which I find to be the best, is available on an EMI disk entitled the "Best of Saint-Saens" which is a collection of what EMI had in their archives, in this case quite a number of wonderful recordings. Oddly the Dervaux recording of La jeunesse d'Hercule is not included, another superb tone poem and the longest of Saint-Saens' four. All four were issued together on an Angel LP, and beautifully played by the then relatively new Orchestre de Paris. Chausson's Vivienne is also very beautiful -arresting themes and orchestration and has a marvelous conclusion where the sorceress Vivienne puts Merlin to sleep. The only recording that I know of is on Erato- a fine recording too.

Do you think that tone poems are being edged out of symphony concerts? it seems that in general, tone poems are less often played in live concerts; thank heavens for recordings! 

[Amphissa]

I rarely encounter tone poems in concert these days. Unless those short pieces by modern composers qualify as tone poems. 99% of those are destined to be the unsung works of tomorrow -- eminently forgettable.