2023 Unsung Concerts

[Alan Howe]

I'm still buying CDs - but only because because I haven't got the time to digitise them. Maybe I'll digitise my favourites and call them 'Al's Pals'...

[eschiss1]

Brilliant Classics has its -own- (not "Topic:") channel on YouTube which is also full of full recordings (interspersed with commercials, if one has the free version of YouTube; I prefer to stream (Amazon Music) or purchase the recordings) (see https://www.youtube.com/c/brilliantclassics.)

[ewk]

Coming back to the original topic of this thread – I just noticed that renowned violinist Julia Fischer (is she considered world-elite outside Germany? My feeling is that here in Germany, she is considered top-notch, maybe in the second row behind the unchallengeable Hillary Hahn, together with maybe Janine Jansen) is going to perform the

Mieczysław Karłowicz Violin Concerto

in Warsaw on 27&28 Jan 2023 together with the Warsaw Philharmonic / Andrey Boreyko.

Very nice to see this piece performed by such a renowned artist. I have no idea how much it is performed in Poland, but you would never see it performed in Germany, i fear. Let's hope Mrs. Fischer is going to export it from Poland some day.

[eschiss1]

A less-known but not unknown work, Franz Schmidt's string quartet no.1 in A, will feature in a Vienna concert 12 January 2023, played by the Arioso Quartet.

[Alan Howe]

Julia Fischer (is she considered world-elite outside Germany...?)

Oh, definitely!

[eschiss1]

14 April 2023, Helsinki, Finland- concert containing Farrenc symphony 3 (I never thought that her symphonies would start receiving multiple performances) and a Fanny Mendelssohn string quartet.

[britishcomposer]

Horst Hegel, former leader of the Osnabrücker Sinfonieorchester, performed a rare violin concerto each season during the 1990s. That's how I came to know and love the Karlowicz concerto. Osnabrück in the nineties was a hot spot of rare repertoire. GMD Jean François Monnard had a special agenda: he conducted every piece only once during his tenure. The poor Mozart-Beethoven-Brahms-Bruckner-Tchaikovsky-loving community had to rely on the occasional guest conductor for the standard fare. I largely stopped going to concerts after his departure.
(Sorry for the lengthy side-trip.)

[eschiss1]

re the Karlowicz, that should be 27&28 maybe. Bachtrack even lists another work of his, Episode at a Masquerade, 28/29 January 2023, same location (later in the day on the day the 28th.)

[Ilja]

Horst Hegel, former leader of the Osnabrücker Sinfonieorchester, performed a rare violin concerto each season during the 1990s. That's how I came to know and love the Karlowicz concerto. Osnabrück in the nineties was a hot spot of rare repertoire. GMD Jean François Monnard had a special agenda: he conducted every piece only once during his tenure. The poor Mozart-Beethoven-Brahms-Bruckner-Tchaikovsky-loving community had to rely on the occasional guest conductor for the standard fare. I largely stopped going to concerts after his departure.
(Sorry for the lengthy side-trip.)

The same happened with Bamert at the Residentie Orkest (The Hague) in the late 90s and early 2000s, when they performed and recorded a sizeable chunk of the Dutch romantic repertoire. Unfortunately, these periods of repertory innovation rarely last long before orchestras return to the standard fare. That is why initiatives such as Botstein's ASO/OrchestraNow are so valuable.

[Alan Howe]

The non-standard repertoire requires special advocacy - and therefore special advocates. And they're rare.

[eschiss1]

Ok, as I should have mentioned here instead, the Raff Sinfonietta is being performed in Macclesfield, Cheshire, on 1 April 2023, with works by Gipps (Seascape, 1958) and Mozart (Gran Partita). See Winds Unleashed.

[semloh]

Ok, as I should have mentioned here instead, the Raff Sinfonietta is being performed in Macclesfield, Cheshire, on 1 April 2023, with works by Gipps (Seascape, 1958) and Mozart (Gran Partita). See Winds Unleashed.

Gracious! It's good to see that the NCO is still thriving, and offering innovative programmes. I was totally unaware of the Buxton Festival. Thanks, Eric.

[scarpia]

Botstein programmed Suk's Fantastic Scherzo last month at a TON concert at Bard. Later this month is Walter Braunfels' Sinfonia brevis and Hugo Kauder's Symphony No. 1. I never heard of Kauder. The symphony was composed between 1920 and 1921 so it's a bit too modern for this forum. The idiom is supposed to be conservative so I have hope it will be good.

Black composers are getting heard - Petite suite de concert, Op. 77 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was played at the Crane school a couple of weeks ago. William Grant Still's 4th Symphony is on the program for the Springfield Symphony in January. Also Florence Price's Piano Concerto which I heard at SPAC in August. Black + woman = highly programmable these days. The Price 3rd Symphony was on the program last weekend in Lexington MA.

Louise Farrenc Symphony # 3 is also coming up in Springfield. The Symphony # 1 was played in Montreal by the Metropolitan Orchestra and will also be played by the bigger OSM later.

Some good old Russian music is on the program in Gatineau Quebec next month - the Arensky Symphony # 1.

Edit - I forgot to mention the Amy Beach Symphony. Nashua has it in their repertoire and I've heard them play it twice. UMass orchestra will tackle it tomorrow.  They usually play pretty well.

[eschiss1]

We had recordings of works by Kauder (including the symphony in our Downloads (Uploads?) Boards back when. Otoh, at least one of his many string quartets- no.12?*- (according to NYPL's Kauder archives he wrote 30), which I browsed at NYPL decades back was -very- austere (and intriguing.) (The first 4  (1921-27) are on- Centaur maybe, there's another recording somewhere with nos.4&14.)

* Can be perused here.

[Mark Thomas]

The Kauder work, his Oboe Concerto is still available to download from our old archived Downloads Board here.