Thoughts about performing unsung music...

[Alan Howe]

Listening to the stupendous recent release of Dvorak's 8th Symphony (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck on Reference Recordings) has set me off on a train of thought about performances of unfamiliar repertoire. You see, Honeck has obviously taken the time to think through his interpretation (which is very individual, but also very fresh-sounding) of such a familiar piece as Dvorak 8 - and he has the orchestra to carry out his wishes. But how often do we actually get a comparably thought-through and brilliantly played performance on CD of an unsung work? One recent excellent example is Dmitry Vasilyev's wonderfully incisive conducting of Bargiel's Symphony in C (on Toccata) and the powerful playing of his Siberian Symphony Orchestra - but how often do we get such a response, and how often do we actually get something rather more dutiful than inspiring in the way of performance? And so then the question which this raises is how often we hear unsung music in performances of sufficient quality do it justice?

Please excuse the ramble...

[Mark Thomas]

I'd cite the two discs we've had so far from Chandos with Järvi's readings of Raff's Second and Fifth, plus the smaller works, as prime examples of this approach.

[Amphissa]

How often do we hear recordings/performances that truly do justice to an unsung work? To state the *obvious*

More performances and more recordings increase the possibility of better quality. If a conductor decides to champion a work, performing it with different orchestras, he will discover nuances to the music that may not be evident upon first reading. But also, if more conductors perform the work with different orchestras, there will be varied interpretations.

Just off the top of my head, here are some unsung composers with selected works that have been performed and/or recorded multiple times with different conductors and different musicians/orchestras:

Martucci piano concerto
Paderewski piano concerto
Suk Asrael Symphony
Gliere 3rd symphony

Myaskovsky -- most symphonies have been recorded more than once, but symphonies 2, 5, 6, 21, and 27 have received the most attention, which has resulted in some varied and very good readings. His cello concerto and cello sonata have been pergformed and recorded many times.

These are just examples. But it raises further questions.

Are there "sung" works by "unsung" composers? I think the answer to that question is yes, just based on the examples above.

At what point does an "unsung" composer become a "sung" composer? This is a more difficult question that we grapple with on this site constantly. Are composers like Saint-Saëns, Korngold, Kabalevsky, Hanson, Rubinstein, and Bruch really unsung? The concert hall repertoire has shrunk to a small set of warhorses, so most of these composers are rarely heard in performance. But they have enjoyed many recordings.

[minacciosa]

It can safely be said that Korngold, Saint-Saens, Bruch and Hanson are not in the least unsung. To prove that I refer you to the rental catalogues of their respective publishers. Like all composers some of their works are performed more often than others, but nonetheless their names can be termed virtually "household". One might also argue that if a work has received five or more recordings, its composer may not be precisely termed unsung. Then there is the matter of audience, as in unsung to who? The very large body of professional musicians maybe familiar or even intimate with certain works and composers, and their being the first line of critical reception (because it determines the likelihood of a work's repetition) means that although they are the most important audience, the music they respect may not have reached a critical mass of the layman audience. (Think of the Boston Symphony with Martinu and Bartok in the 30's and 40's, when Koussy kept shoving their works in front of Symphony Hall audiences.) So perhaps there are differing degrees of the unsung, one being rather dependent upon the other.

Myaskovsky is an interesting case; he's a composer who was championed by many conductors and who had plentiful performances that began to fall off in 60's. Because of the quality of his music and the general love of Russian/Soviet composers, his name came very close to being household. In his case politics interfered with his complete triumph; Myaskovsky became a cold war casualty. Yet his repetitional fire continued to burn quietly, with performances and recordings here and there being aided by his scores being pretty easy to find. He's had major recordings in the 90's and early 21st century, yet he has still to catch on again as he once did. I can attest that it is not due to quality; coincidentally yesterday I listened to his 21st and 25th symphonies which confirmed to me the searing emotion and penetrating psychology of his music. He is a master, one of rhetoric without bombast.

There is only one answer: keep programming the unsung without apology if you believe the music is great and lasting. That is the only way for the unsung to make a transition from that status to something close to being established.

[Alan Howe]

First off, I'd rather we didn't get into a debate about what's unsung and what isn't - that's a different question altogether. What I wanted to know was what friends here think of the general level of performance of unsung music which we encounter on CD. For example, I often wonder what a really first-rate conductor and orchestra and conductor would make of, say, the Klughardt symphonies? If Manfred Honeck were to conduct them with his PSO, would we think more highly of them? Would they reveal themselves as better pieces?

Mark's citing of the Raff/Järvi recordings and Amphissa's mention of works by Martucci, Paderewski, Suk and Glière suggest that multiple performances and recordings really do raise the bar - and change opinions. And minacciosa's encouragement to keep on programming unsung music without apology is surely the way to go. Perhaps we should be lobbying the conductors a bit more?

[Wheesht]

This kind of discussion will be always be interesting to me, although I may not be able to contribute much. As far as Hanson is concerned, I'd very much doubt that he is "not in the least unsung" here in continental Europe – more's the pity. It is probably a question of different linguistic as well as musical backgrounds where a composer is (fairly) well known. By was of example, there will be a performance of the Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams in Freiburg next June and this is the first time as far as I know that it will be performed near enough for me to want to attend (since I became acquainted with the work about 25 years ago). So here in Switzerland at least, even RVW is not a household name even among those interested in music.
Quite often, though certainly not always, even musicians do not seem to know a lot of unsung composers, let alone the concert going public. It is very often a question of trying to 'educate' the public to accept works by composers whose are not familiar. Bruno De Greeve with his concerts in Hamburg is just one example that springs to (my) mind. I have attended two concerts in the rather large Laeiszhalle (over 2000 seats) with programmes devoted to Hans Gál and both times the place was packed.
To win over more of the general public and representatives of the somewhat endangered species of CD buyers, I think it would definitely help if more really first-rate conductors and orchestras embraced unsung repertoire so that there were more recordings to compare such as in the recordings of the symphonies by Rott or Mielck for example.

[kolaboy]

I've yet to hear a recording of Dvorak's 3rd that truly did it justice.

[eschiss1]

Re Myaskovsky, his only symphonies never recorded before Svetlanov's complete series - recorded in any form, radio broadcasts included, I mean... - were 4, 14, and 20 (and I guess the early sinfonietta for orchestra in A, Op.10...)- there were also some, like no.2 and I think 26, which saw their commercial recording premieres with that series or perhaps soon before...

Indeed I was surprised to see Myaskovsky's sym.2- not recorded at all (save for broadcast tape) until a few years back- listed- I only know of three recordings, in fact (Rozhdestvenskii (not a commercial recording exactly- indeed, that was a CD release (Revelation CD) of the broadcast tape in question, I believe!), Svetlanov (part of a complete set), Rabl on Orfeo- so only one recording deliberately made "commercially", not for a radio broadcast, not for a complete set of all 27. (By comparison? I think recordings of his band symphony no.19, which you omit, have been somewhat more common than, I think, almost any of the Myaskovsky symphonies you _do_ list, checking Worldcat somewhat carefully... also, which of the 2 cello sonatas by him do you mean? ... also I assume the Martucci concerto you mean is his 2nd?)

And I still remember when Suk's Asrael was so unknown outside of Czechoslovakia (still a word) that Gramophone devoted a long article to the virtues of the work and praise for Pesek's new recording (if memory serves) (1991, yes, but... still, I guess if it's to be considered relatively sung now , that's only 23 years!)

[Alan Howe]

I've yet to hear a recording of Dvorak's 3rd that truly did it justice.

Really? Not even Kertesz or Kubelik? Or Suitner or Macal? Or Neumann?

At least there's a fair choice of recordings...

[Alan Howe]

Please could we restrict ourselves to the issue of performance standards in neglected repertoire and the difference that really fine conducting and playing might make - preferably with examples?

I remember attending a student performance of Suk's Asrael Symphony in Cambridge in the mid-seventies. The only recording I knew was a great one - Talich's - and it was arguably the existence of his recording that kept the work alive, inspiring later performances...

[mbhaub]

One of the best examples of great performers taking time to do unsung music right was the Barenboim/Chicago Symphony recording of the Furtwangler 2nd symphony. And what a difference it made! Too bad Barenboim spends most of his time replaying the warhorse over and over - and then recording them. Honeck is a seriously dedicated and exciting conductor, his Mahler is great, just as the Dvorak is. I wish he would spend some effort on fellow Austrians Franz Schmidt, Schrecker, Korngold.

[matesic]

I'd almost forgotten, but I played in a scratch Cambridge student performance of Asrael c.1973, possibly with Stephen Barlow finely conducting although he'd have had to have been very young. I don't believe the playing was very fine.

[Alan Howe]

That would have been the performance I attended. From memory it was at King's College. And no, the playing may not have been great - but it was evident that the music was...

[Hilleries]

I just played for some friends and family here at home the Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano by Reinecke, one composer I think is always in the line between sung and unsung. We hadn't heard it before, I think the clarinetist had only heard of Reinecke, but not something from him. It is a very inspiring work, and during rehearsals we had a tough time containing ourselves, from how much it propels us to be "all in" at all times. Our public was also most touched by it (we also played Mozart and Schumann) and thought it was the star of the programme, some noting the second movement specially.

I think we did as well as we could and as well as we would any other 'sung' composer, as testified by the comparison to the other pieces. Maybe "second rate" music gets more played by "second rate" musicians? I know I'm one of those, as I'm trying to ready concertos by Hiller, Ries (I know, I know, shocking!), Berwald and others, knowing that I can't compete with the more estabilshed pianists here on repertoire like Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. I'm, however, giving it my all, as I would those famous composers.

[Alan Howe]

I'd say congratulations were in order - and I'm glad to hear how well the Reinecke was received.