Try this series of articles:
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/307642,top-12-great-symphonies-you-probably-havent-heard.aspx/1 (http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/307642,top-12-great-symphonies-you-probably-havent-heard.aspx/1)
Gosh you could be opening the flood-gates here!
Don't worry! Only comments on the articles allowed! (No personal lists!)
Interesting but certainly no revelations in there. I would imagine most of the folks around here have, as I do, all these works on their CD shelves.
I do think that the use of the word "essential" (i.e. absolutely necessary) is overdone, since there are very good, if not better, recordings of many of them. The Gounod, (Symphonies 1&2, of course - there is a discrepancy between the header and the info on the CD image) for instance, were recorded by Plasson/Toulouse. Is the Naxos rendering by Sinfonia Finlandia (?) really better?
Anyway, it all acts as an encouragement to listen, again, to some of these works.
PS - I would choose the Kalinnikov First ahead of the Second.
I'd just say this. If this list is intended to be THE 12 greatest unsung symphonys, then they're way off the mark on progbably half of them. On the other hand, if it's just another list (hohum) of great unsungs,.....well, we all have our own list.
Jerry
I quite agree it wouldn't be my exact choice, but I am a big fan of a lot of them, delighted to see the Brian and the Benjamin in particular, and it is fabulous to see a list like this in a more mainstream publication. A refreshing change from all the sung lists for people who have never heard Dvorak's New World symphony
I saw this on FB from Chandos, but when I clicked the link it just sat there spinning saying "Waiting for www.limelightmagazine.com.au" etc. When I click on it here the same thing happens. It just waits but fails to connect. I'm doing it on my work computer, which works better than my home computer. Maybe there is a firewall problem here. I'll try it at home.
I wouldn't argue with quite a few of these but no Draeseke, no Raff?
Quote from: febnyc on Wednesday 08 August 2012, 14:31
The Gounod, (Symphonies 1&2, of course - there is a discrepancy between the header and the info on the CD image) for instance, were recorded by Plasson/Toulouse. Is the Naxos rendering by Sinfonia Finlandia (?) really better?
Not to mention Marriner and The Academy, who toss in the Faust ballet music as well.
Quote from: febnyc on Wednesday 08 August 2012, 14:31
PS - I would choose the Kalinnikov First ahead of the Second.
Me too, easily. The themes in that one are about as good as it gets.
I'm assuming that Kalinnikov 1 is kind-of well known...
I wouldn't say so, except amongst the cognoscenti. When was it last programmed in a mainstream concert?
One has to wonder whether concert programming is a reliable guage of a piece's popularity these days. Symphonic programming in the US is ultra-conservative and in NY whenever a conductor comes to town with something unusual/unsung it's sure to be panned in the Times (I recall this with the Korngold sym. Walton 1, Asrael Symphony, Autumn Symphony, Shcherbachev 2, Schmidt Book of the Seven Seals. Surprisingly, Paul Griffiths gave a glowing endorsement to the Dukas Symphony [my favorite unsung composition of all time] when Slatkin conducted it some time in the 90s).
That said, many of the works on the Limelight list are well known and some, like the Schuman and the Roussel, used to be programmed with some frequency. The Gounod is reliable aural wall paper on "classical" radio. The Korngold is rightly gaining ground in the concert hall.
Walton 1- unsung :o? His 2nd is unsung,but not his first! But, you're right, X. Trapnel, Walton 1 is unsung when it comes to being programmed in American concert halls :(.
Glad Benjamin's symphony was on that list. It's a powerful, dark piece and very much a product of its time (WW2). It's a shame that Benjamin didn't write any more symphonies; he proves to be a master of the form and it betrays none of the light music influence that much of his other music has. And seconding the Korngold. It deserves to be played just as much (or even more!) than his sometimes sickly sweet VC. And the Rott truly deserves a place on that list; its forshadowings of Mahler are quite striking and that big tune in the finale gives me chills (well, not quite chills, but...). And Alan, you say that Kalinnikov 1 is quite well known-more so that Gounod 1? I'd like an explanation from the moderator, please :P! But why Brian 3 and not the Gothic :o? Although I quite like Brian 3, with its two-piano obbligato. And why Weill 2 but not Krenek 2? The latter is truly a Mahlerian heck of a piece- get the Zagrosek performance on Decca: it's more expansive (and expensive ;D ;D, being OOP) than the CPO performance and gives this monster more breathing room. And love that timpani in Schuman 3! But one symphony I would have liked to have seen on that list is Braga Santos 4. I would go as far as to say that this symphony is a masterpiece, and definitely one of the best symphonies of the last century! Sorry, another one of my nighttime ramblings ;D!