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Kitmills - Gottfred Matthison-Hansen's 3rd organ symphony? I thought he only wrote one...

I meant the American Howard Hanson...my mistake in spelling...

Not that I have the skills to do so, but I think it would be hilarious if someone waited until the BBC list was complete, hacked their network, and changed the list.  Bemused listeners whose idea of adventure is listening to Beethoven's 2nd symphony, would be shocked to find that their peers overwhelmingly seem to prefer, say:

Corigliano 1
Hovhanness 2
Hansen 3
Part 4
Bax 5
Bruckner 6
Sibelius 7
Glass 8
Persichetti 9

Of course, now I need to go listen to #1, 4, 8, and 9 myself...

I came across Tveitt for the first time in an all-Norwegian music piano recital (which I decided to attend at the last moment on a whim) by the young Norwegian pianist Knut Erik Jensen, who was touring the U. S. as a Cultural Ambassador from Norway.  Knut Erik played one or two of the Hardanger tune suites, and the music grabbed me by the throat from the first measure--far and away the most compelling music on the program.  Within the week I'd ordered those suites in their orchestral form and was subsequently startled to find that the pieces had a distinctly different flavor.  Tveitt's orchestrations were colorful and pungent, but organically so, if that makes any sense--enough so that the orchestral versions seemed almost to be distant quotations of their piano antecedents. 

Balapoel - Comparing him to Ravel strikes me as well-intended but back-handed compliment, because I think Tveitt's mastery of color has a flavor that is uniquely his own, more red-blooded and more original than the urbane Ravel.  Both composers definitely bear close study, though.

[the]

I'm not sure if this should go here or elsewhere...

In case anyone isn't already aware of the source of downloadable public domain scores, here it is: http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page

This can be an incredible resource for the many folks here who like poring over the written notes of their favorite undeservedly obscure composers.  There's not a great amount of 20th century stuff available (after about 1920) due to copyright law, but there's tons of other works--including, incidentally, many unsung works of well-known composers.

I hope someone finds this useful! 

JimL - apart from a few symphonies I wrote under the name of Beethoven that seem to be consistently performed, I don't have anything in the current repertoire.

Mark - thanks for your kind note.  You may call me Kit, and of course, I don't seriously expect to enlist evangelists until I've either written music that merits evangelism, or 'til I've created a massive press machine that generates me-related hype ("The Justin Bieber of the Classical World!  Now in 3-D!").  The invitation to cast a piece or two upon the forum waters is thoughtful of you, but I will have to think of how best to do that...I have an almost comical history of inevitable technical failure at premieres, and thus only one or two pieces recorded decently. 

Hmm...well, you could try this download: http://www.c-alanpublications.com/mp3/18variations-full.mp3 

Entitled 18 Variations on an Original Romantic Theme, I wrote this piece for five-octave marimba (xylophone-like instrument, but mellower, for those who don't know) a couple of years ago for a marimba society that requested a virtuosic piece reminiscent of Liszt or Rachmaninov.  The .mp3 is a MIDI file of sampled marimba, so it sounds pretty good, but there are some weird spastic moments and abnormally fast or slow tempi that definitely weren't in the score!  Whenever I have a few spare thousands of dollars to buy my own instrument, I'll be sure to record a real performance to share.  [Note: This isn't probably my most representative work, but then, I dabble in everything.]

If this needs to be posted elsewhere, please do so.  Nor is it my intention to storm onto this forum site and hog all the space with my stuff.  There are unsung composers whose praises deserve to be sung far more than mine!

Sorry if my earlier post seemed a bit rant-ish, especially for a newcomer to the forum.  This topic is a continual sore point for me as one who loves orchestral music (and has worked as an orchestral musician).

While it's hard to see orchestras go under--especially from my standpoint as a composer who occasionally writes and premieres orchestral music (I should post about that sometime if that doesn't stray too far from the purpose of the forum)--I've worked and interacted enough with orchestral musicians to have seen that there are persistent self-destructive attitudes in the orchestral world.  A very skewed sense of reality seems to be engineered in the conservatories as a matter of course, and it impacts a player's entire career.  In conversations and correspondence with musicians and orchestral management I've suggested both common-sense and quirky, innovative ideas for making orchestras more compelling and financially stable, but having them routinely ignored or dismissed without examination has convinced me that a lot of the orchestral world isn't truly serious about creating a vital industry.

A lot of blame can be laid at the door of the musician's union, as well, which I've been happy to avoid personally thus far.  Their outlook reminds me of the American autoworker's unions just about killing the American auto industry (prior to the government bailout) in order to achieve their aims--sort of a "Nero fiddling while Rome burns" scenario.  Find ways to fill seats and procure reliable, steady funding first, then go for nice salaries and benefits packages.

Thanks, Mark -

Well, now that I've posted a few things, that should keep me from appearing as a spammer.  Thanks for looking into it and responding to my note.

Thanks, too, for setting up this great forum! 

I'm a full-time self-employed musician in Washington state, mid-30's, majored in composition a decade ago, and juggle careers in private drum teaching (bread-and-butter, and generally enjoyable), performing (drumset or orchestral, less about income than feeling like I'm using my playing skills), and composing (love/hate but am compelled to do, tiny yet absurdly gratifying royalty checks).  Perhaps I'm a bit of a freak as a drummer who loves--and knows--classical music.  I've gotten plenty of confused looks over the years from fellow musicians when I've suggested alternate chords or better counterpoint between different parts.

I'm a big fan of Vaughan Williams, Holst, and most of their generation, and was recently turned on to Geirr Tveitt and others (I have a strong Norwegian heritage) by a friend who's touring the U. S. and doing residencies in North America as a Norwegian Cultural Artist.  Following a link from the Scandia Symphony in New York brought me here in search of Johann Svendsen's cello concerto, and while I can't come often, I keep coming back here.  This is a great site!  One question: if I qualify as an unsung composer can I have my own thread and at least one or two unquenchable evangelists of my music?

I've already mentioned it elsewhere, but will do so here as well:  this site is an incredible resource.  Ah, the upside of the Internet...

I'm afraid I have little to contribute, music-wise, unless I can include myself in the Unsung Composer category!  Oh well, I'll start by being incredibly thankful to those who do share, and hopefully I'll be able to do my bit down the road.

Thanks so much for the sound file upload of a year ago!  Up 'til now Cipriani Potter only sort of vaguely brought to mind Harry Potter.  Now I regret my unwitting ignorance and low-browed idiocy, and vow to further investigate and promote the unsung C. P. forthwith.

This is a great site, and I wish I could visit more often.  It's like having a constant stream of birthday presents, many of which are things I'd never have thought to ask for, but delight in having them once received and sampled. 

Too bad about the Louisville Orchestra.  Judging from the official statement, it sounds as though management worked it out for them to emerge from bankruptcy but the orchestra members weren't keen on the sacrifices they'd need to make for it to work out.  No doubt the orchestra members have their own version of why they're striking.  Boy, does this sound familiar--all over the country orchestras seem to be finding themselves in the same position.

jimmosk - I checked it out and found it amusing that the "major Austerity Measures" in the Philadelphia Orch. deal still left musicians with six-figure base salaries.  Sure, I realize that the players are excellent and by past standards, they're underpaid. 

The question is, are past standards and expectations for orchestras still valid?  It seems rather similar to the current state of American pensioned retirement--a concept that had its day (relatively short, historically-speaking) and seems to be dying out now due to unsustainable economics.  Orchestras operating on the old model--loads of patronage and funding, loads of prodigal expenditures--are finding that the funding is gone.  Older wealthy patrons are dying off, while the young wealthy tend to buy sports franchises or trophy brides rather than fund orchestras.  A good half of the states are bankrupt or close to it, so arts funding is necessarily way down the priority list of bills to be paid.

The reality that orchestras need to recognize is that they are part of the entertainment market now whether they like it or not.  Not only are they directly competing with the likes of Justin Bieber, Blink 182, and the estate of Michael Jackson, they're competing against .mp3 downloads of Classical Music (that they may well have recorded!).  This calls for new strategies and new thinking.

Hello,

I'm only an irregular visitor who just discovered the page a month ago, but both of the times I revisited the site (several weeks apart, I would guess), I had to register again, and was surprised to be able to do so using the exact same account name and password. 

Perhaps there's a glitch in the Matrix...