Unsung 20th Century Symphonists

[vandermolen]

britishcomposer,

I just found your post.  I'm so glad you liked David Diamond's Third Symphony! I think that it deserves to be up there with the great 'American Thirds', alongside those of Roy Harris, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives and William Schuman. David Diamond wrote a charming response to my fan letter a year or two before he died.  My recent discovery has been Daid Matthews's 6th Symphony on Dutton - influenced by Vaughan Williams's epic 6th Symphony, it is written in a tonal but more modern style and I found it to be a searching, visionary, inspired and thematcally memorable work, which I keep playing.  As for Braga Santos, his first four symphonies are all terrific (I love 4 and 3 in particular). The 4th by his teacher Freitas Branco is also very good.  On the basis of this thread I must look out for Saeverud's 7th Symphony and I am delighted to find that I do have a CD of Klami's 1st Symphony, which I have hardly ever plaed - so, I must fish it out.
Best wishes
Jeffrey

[X. Trapnel]

Diamond's Fourth is a wonderful work, an amalgam of the Vaughan Williams 5th and (can't believe I'm saying this) neo-classical Stravinsky.

[Arbuckle]

Kurt Graunke, 9 symphonies I think, recorded by his own company?

[eschiss1]

wonder if someone will be recording Diamond's symphonies 6, 7, 9 and 10 and the rest of 11 (or is there more than one movement of 11? I forget), for instance, sooner than eventually. Though I forget if I've heard 11, the scores of the later symphonies do look interesting (not saying that the earlier works aren't! Though I regret to say I fell asleep briefly during a performance of one of his string quartets, with a concluding slow movement- no.4? no.3?... - at college, with the composer in the audience. He answered some questions interestingly though and coming back to the quartet on CD in the Albany complete quartets series I find it better than I remembered- I was I suspect just tired and sleepy, and prone not to be able to follow contrapuntal (whether or not slow ) music of the kind I now really do enjoy more - when I'm alert enough to enjoy it...
Eric

[X. Trapnel]

Regarding Diamond's unrecorded symphonies, Naxos seems to have abandoned their once strong commitment to 20th century American symphonism. They appear to have abandoned their Hanson/Nashville Sym. cycle and are now simply reissuing the Gerard Schwarz Delos recordings. I'm not sure where they are with the Harris symphonies and I'm still holding out hope that we'll get the rest of Giannini. The cataract of Carson Cooman music isn't much by way of compensation.

[eschiss1]

Many of those mentioned Naxos recordings were reissues and reassemblies of Delos and other generally no longer available recordings, I gathered, with some exceptions (some Harris, Piston and others for example).  Albany seemed to be starting a new series at one point also a few years back (which I think may still be in progress, with orchestral music by Leon Kirchner and an opera by Lee Hoiby released this past month, (and offtopic, a piano disc of music by    Papandopulo is out or on the way from them... there's a name familiar to me from BBC broadcasts...) 

Hrm. Schwarz did (does) make good recordings (though comparing his Delos account of Piston symphony 4 to Ormandy's, available or once available on an Albany CD with excellent (I think) symphonies by Harris and Schuman, I unsurprisingly I guess much prefer Ormandy's...)

Graunke: I see symphony no.3 published by Edition Sedina and several works of his recorded by the "Sinfonie-Orchester Graunke" (with which other composers conducted their own scores for other labels, i also notice) on the lp and cd label "Sedina" (e.g. symphony 7 on LP in 1983- but Symphonie E-dur Das Heimat on EMI, also with the Sinfonie-Orchester Graunke, so not exclusively on Sedina...)- was/is that his publishing/recording label?

[Odd Rydland]

There's also a new W Schuman disc on Albany with On Freedom`s Ground and Sinfonia da Camera included.

[Alan Howe]

Kurt Graunke, 9 symphonies I think, recorded by his own company?

Judging by the excerpts from his symphonies available here...
http://www.edition-sedina.de/assets/s2dmain.html?http://www.edition-sedina.de/
...and on YouTube, I think we may be dealing with pretty turgid stuff.

Has anyone out there actually listened to a whole Graunke symphony?

[eschiss1]

... erm- I expect the composer has, and probably others too... why?

[semloh]

I've never heard a symphony by Diamond. Can you please suggest where best to start?

[Alan Howe]

... erm- I expect the composer has, and probably others too... why?

Re. Graunke: because I can't find any reviews anywhere, apart from those at the Graunke website...and because, in all honesty, they sound like pretty hard going...

[semloh]

And, have we mentioned Persichetti, with 9 symphonies? I only know of his rather freaky organ music, and would be interested to know what members think of his orchestral works.

[Holger]

I have Graunke's Symphony No. 9 in my collection, so maybe I can say a few words on him though I assume some features of his style must have changed over the years (the Ninth is not tonal any more, though it's not particularly modern either). Honestly, I listened to this symphony only once and my impression was not good at all. I remember it as a lengthy (almost 70 minutes) and altogether rather boring piece, and I haven't felt inclined to explore his other symphonies. So if you ask me I don't expect much from these symphonies.

[alberto]

Re:reply 99.
As for Diamond Symphonies I have always kept a strong affection for n.2: a very "big" symphony by a youngster of 28 (in 1943). I have it on Delos (Schwartz and Seattle, later reissued on Naxos coupled to the short n.4)

[Odd Rydland]

And, have we mentioned Persichetti, with 9 symphonies? I only know of his rather freaky organ music, and would be interested to know what members think of his orchestral works.

Not to mention his Piano sonatas which I've been thinking about for some time....