Unsung concerts 2017

[eschiss1]

I see a few other works I hope it's ok if I mention-

At the Jupiter Symphony Concerts @ NYC: Tyberg's piano trio in F on October 30th, Dancla's quartet no.8 and Dubois' piano quartet on November 27, works by Krommer and Goldmark on December 4, Jongen's rhapsody for piano and winds and Saint-Saëns' (better-known) piano quartet on December 18, Rozycki's quintet (as mentioned) on January 22, Dohnányi's early piano quartet (1891) on February 5, works by Lauber & Martucci on February 19 (and others, as in other cases), music by Zumsteeg, Franz Lachner, and two different Schuberts on March 5, Glière's 3rd string sextet, Grechaninov's clarinet sonata, Arensky's piano quintet (and Shostakovich's Op.8 first trio) on March 19, a string quartet by Eduard Franck on March 26, and  - etc.

On September 22, in Suntory Hall @ Tokyo, a chamber concert with works by Mel Bonis & Arnold Bax.

On October 7, @ Schubertiade Hohenems, Markus-Sittikus-Saal, Hohenems, Reger's clarinet quintet.

On November 14, in Tokyo, Reger's Böcklin-Poems performed by the Tokyo Symphony (Hubert Soudant conducting.)

[scottevan]

I was able to attend two of the opera performances mentioned here: Dvorak's "Dimitrij" at Bard College and Donizetti's "Siege of Calais" at Glimmerglass Opera, both in NY state. The performers, conductors and overall productions made an excellent case for each work. Interestingly, both dealt with specific historical subjects, yet both were set in more-or-less modern dress. Though overall I prefer Dvorak's score, the updating worked considerably better for Donizetti, perhaps because his story is more direct, heartfelt and, in a way, more universal. Since the stories were about large political / social issues, the chorus played a significant role in each opera, and were superb on both counts.

Reviews of both were largely positive, and, almost predictably, included the sentiment "Why don't we hear this work more often?" Answer: because it takes a good deal of dedication and courage to mount unfamiliar works such as these, especially in a country where support for the arts is anything but a priority...

[Mark Thomas]

If anyone is in the Cincinnati area in October there's a rare chance to hear Raff's Cello Concerto No.1: Cole Tutino will be the soloist in a performance of the concerto at a concert at 7:30pm on Friday 6 October 2017 at the Hall Auditorium, Oxford, Ohio (about 35 miles NW of Cincinnati). The Miami Orchestra (of Miami University in Oxford, not from Miami, Florida!) will also play Beethoven's Symphony No.7.

[eschiss1]

I see also a performance of Raff's Sinfonietta programmed for December 9 2017 by the University of Maryland School of Music Wind Orchestra (see their blog.) (The Oakland Symphony -did- perform Juon's episodes concertantes (Oct. 2016) and Raff's third symphony (Nov. 2016) late -last- year. Hrm. Neat. Didn't see that... not at all near me, but still. Ah well. That's off-topic and might deserve a thread-type of its own maybe- kudos? Dunno. Ah well.)

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for that, Eric.

[MartinH]

I don't know how unsung Glazunov is, but I rarely get to hear him in concert. This weekend the Tucson Symphony played the daylights out of the Fourth Symphony - my favorite of his 8. I've never heard it in concert, only the Fifth. The orchestra played it beautifully. It was magical to hear it live. The finale was thrilling - that great ending where the tune passes from the low brass then on up to the trumpets was hair-raising. The audience leapt to its feet immediately.

What's really exciting is that their new and tremendously talented and energetic conductor, Jose Luis Gomez, gave a pre-concert talk where he said that when he discovered Glazunov he felt a deep bond with the music and couldn't explain why this music wasn't as well known as the works by the Mighty Five or Tchaikovsky. He said he fully intends to play more Glazunov, especially more of the symphonies. He summed up saying that orchestras and conductors have an obligation to keep this beautiful music from dying from lack of exposure and sure, he'll do his share of the standard repertoire and some newer music, but there's a lot of great music waiting to be rediscovered by orchestras. It's a tantalizing future.

[hyperdanny]

i just recently discovered this great website, and I hope that my first post is a bit of (hopefully) useful information.
Here in Milan the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra (better known here for their recording of Sgambati's 2nd symphony) will play the IMHO absolutely gorgeous Kalinnikov 1st.
Full info:
fri Mar 23 & sun Mar 25, 2018
Auditorium Di Milano, Milan , Italy
Kalinnikov symphony n.1
Tchaikovsky violin concerto
Stefan Milenkovich, violin
Giuseppe Grazioli, conductor

[hyperdanny]

..still rummaging through the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra 17/18 season, I found out that they teamed up with Palazzetto Bru Zane for 2 concerts in June 2018 (8 &10).
If the main item is hardly unsung ( Saint-Saens's 3rd, why not some Dubois or Felicien David symphony?) the concerto is "very" unsung (the piece, if not the composer): they will resurrect the rediscovered Gounod's concerto for piano-pédalier and orchestra from 1889.

[Ilja]

More information about the performance of Gounod's Piano-pedalier Concerto here. Roberto Prosseda is a particular champion of this work; I saw him perform it in Palermo's Teatro Massimo years ago, with the same orchestra IIRC. Perhaps not the deepest piece of music, but it's great fun and one rarely gets the opportunity to watch this instrument in action.

[chill319]

Nowhere near as unsung as the Gounod Concerto, but just a reminder that on Friday, Oct. 27 (TODAY! - A.Howe) the BBC Symphony Orchestra, under Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, will be performing Schmitt's Symphony 2 at the Barbican Centre -- something that doesn't show up live every day. I'm presuming it will be broadcast at some point, too, since it's BBC.

[hyperdanny]

another one from the Giuseppe Verdi SO, Milan

an unfairly unsung piece from an IMHO oversung composer.
In march 2018 (15-16-18) the Respighi Sinfonia Drammatica will get a very rare outing conducted by John Neschling (who of course has also recorded it).
Now, I usually can't stand Respighi's overindulgent turgidness, and while the Drammatica is not free of it, I think it has a sincerity and urgency of inspiration that sets it apart. I always saw it in the tradition of those pieces roughly 1910-1914 that are sort of a Belle Epoque "farewell-requiem" before WW1 ends it all.
I suspect that me liking it is also due to the fact that I was exposed to it through the marvellous Downes recording.. what a really great conductor he was.
In fact it's the only Respighi cd I keep in my collection, but by all accounts Neschling's is very good too.

[eschiss1]

Tangentially a little: Respighi's best-known works are probably often-played, but he has many, many many rarely or even almost never-played works. Have a look at his worklist on IMSLP or Wikipedia sometime. Several string quartets besides the Doric; several violin sonatas; a fair number of orchestral works, operas, cantatas... (thanks to Hadrianus for recording La Primavera e.g.!) In this way a bit like some other otherwise "sung" composers we have, yes, occasionally discussed here when their much-less-sung works come up (Schumann's late choral works, just for instance , have merited at least one thread here, and I think we've talked about undersung Dvořák works too. Haydn operas are too early for our remit )

[edurban]

I won a pair of free tickets to a nifty program at Carnegie Hall this Friday: TON (The Orchestra Now)...which I take to be the Bard Conservatory Orchestra...playing music of B Herrmann and Korngold.  The 'big' work is the Korngold Symphony.  Botstein conducts.    Best, David

[Gareth Vaughan]

Lucky devil!

[adriano]

@hiperdanny
Respighi's "overindulging turgidness":
Before going to write such a general verdict, one should listen to all of Respighi's music, please - including his chamber music and songs. And, symphonically, just start with his works from his earlier period (some of which I have recorded...). From his later years, just listen to "Toccata", "Concerto a cinque", "Metamorfoseon" or "Concerto gregoriano": are those turgid??