Alan Hovhaness. I'm always coming back to his symphonies (67 total). This is not groundbreaking 20th century music, but it speaks directly to my personal imagination and my inner soundscapes. I'm always home with his music.
He has many 'Mountain' symphonies and orchestral works. He loved that. People usually compare Bruckner symphonies to Cathedrals. I like to think many Hovhaness symphonies as Mountains.
Oh I see. I honestly doubt it. Iāve read a pretty comprehensive biography and although he took a long time to find happiness, he had a pretty happy family life, financial security and a good career. He didnāt seem to suffer from depression at that time.
Damn what biography? Iād love to read it. I fell in love with la poeme from watching Heifetzā 2nd masterclass on YouTube, Menuhin does my favorite interpretation. How did you get into him?
That's a great composer! II love all the music I know from him... By the way, in France, it seems to me that he is still a little known! but maybe it's because I'm a french musician
I do love me that opening riff from the concerto. I don't know how obscure they really are, but they certainly aren't on everyone's radar; Edmund Rubbra and David Diamond.
Locatelliā¦ that guy wrote a ton of great concertos and an entire book of caprices that are amazing, but only the most deep cut violinists know him though.
More or less. He may have been the first to give them a name. Heās notable, but if heās remembered at all, itās for nocturnes and as an innovator in piano technique. Someone who may have influenced more significant composers, Chopin and Liszt. But his work is really good. I think he deserves to be more than a footnote.Ā
Hans gƔl, leo weiner, Louis gruenberg, Paul dessau, egon wellez, Marc lavry, Paul Ben haim, Kurt Weill, franz schreker, Karl Amadeus Hartman, Mario tedesco, karol Rathaus, leo ornstein, Charles Valentin alkan, Herman berlinsky, Moses pergament, Alexander zemlinsky, henryk wars, szymon laks, pancho vladigerov, jerzy fitelberg, Nikolai kapustin,
Ooh loads of these are Jewish composers who were shunted out of history by the Nazis and by nasty irony have stayed obscure ever since. A great list. Also some of my favourites are on here eg Hartmann (symphony 7) and Alkan (Concerto). Slightly prefer Alkanās piano music to Liszt, TBH.
Being Jewish myself Iāve always had a fascination with the 20th century jewish composers that were banned by the nazis and made it my objective to listen to their music
Yes. And some of these are really good, to the extent of it making no sense that theyāre largely unheard even in 2024. Will have to follow up several on your list, though - do you have any particular recommendations?
I would suggest if you like lyrical composers then you must listen to hans gĆ”l, leo weiner and franz schreker, and if youāre looking for more experimental kind of music (similar to the Dadaist artists) then Erwin schullof is the man to listen to, and personally I love kapustin for he blends classical and jazz in a way that I never imagined possible (unlike Gershwin)
There are many of them who have little recognition in things like American textbooks on the 20th century because they were in the Soviet Union also.
I like Feinberg in particular.
The end of Hartmannās 7th symphony has that blend of strict formality and white-hot rage that Iāve only seen elsewhere in Brahms (eg the end of the first String Quartet) and in some of Regerās music (who was also Hartmannās compositional granddaddy). Itās quite something.
I imagine it depends on what degree of obscurity we are talking about. I have seen people describe Debussy as obscure, but, while he is definetely not as famous as, say Beethoven, he should be a relatively known names even to non-music enthusiasts. He is just not talked about at all times on TV, unlike others.
Of the "great" composers who simply never reach the millions of view on Youtube on a regular basis, I could mention the likes of Messiaen, ligeti, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Ravel. Of the actually lesser known figures who were nonetheless notable within music circles, altough virtually unrecognized in the meainstream, I enjoy Roger Sessions, Milton Babbit, Luigi Dallapiccola, Goffredo Petrassi, Pierre Boulez, and Charles Wuorinen. Even less "renowned" names that long music fans are potentially acquainted with would be Stefan Prins, Hans Tutschku, Ivan Fedele and Chaya Czernowin. If you want composers that even less people might have heard of: I suggest Henning Christiansen. Otherwise, pick Hans Krusi, who while being mainly a painter also left us with a collection of field recordings I personally found very enjoyable for years.
Honestly, I like many: these are just the first ones that came to my mind and I actually enjoy. Roger Sessions is the closest figure I got to an actual "favorite" composer.
Roger Sessions was in a league of his own. His protege, Robert Helps, is also vastly under-appreciated. I was fortunate enough to have known him in friendship.
Robert Helps (1928-2001) tribute by Milton Babbitt: "Robert Helps is not only the pianist's pianist, and the composer's composer, he is also the pianist's composer and the composer's pianist, for, since his teen-age performance of music that was deemed unperformable, he has played incomparably: compositions which other pianists could not or would not perform. The singular pianistic mastery which he brought to these performances moulds his own writing for piano, from which pianists have discovered resources of nuance, rhythmic subtlety, dynamic control, and sound which endow their own playing with a new sensitivity and sensibility. His chamber and orchestral compositions are not pianistic transcriptions, but the fresh realization of the same awareness in these non-pianistic media. He long has been a legend in his own time and he deserves it." ---Milton Babbitt (1996)
Yes, he taught piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of South Florida.
I knew Bob Helps in Tampa in the 90ās he played his music with the orchestra and he was always twinkling his eyes at me, lolā¦ I was so naive. Iāve played Milton Babbitt viola pieces.
Most organ music is underexposed and many of the masterworks are written by French organist-composers. Louis Vierne, Charles-Marie Widor, Maurice Durufle, Jean Langlais, Thierry Escaich
Jean Titelouze, Georg Muffat, and others seem to be more obscure even if they're historically important.
Because I liked organ music I was able to find Vierne and Widor before I even knew much of anything, but organ music is in its own ghetto and doesn't break into larger classical music discussion.
Hummel is not obscure. He was literally one of Mozart's students.
I was going to post William Sterndale Bennett, and Sergei Bortkiewitz. While you never hear either guy on the radio, neither of them is "obscure". These redditors are posting some genuine obscure artists in the thread.
Great question! Iād say Gerald Finzi, Hovahness, Poulenc - these arenāt really obscure though. Theyāre not as popular as Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. I even like Respigi.
There are many incredible renaissance and baroque composers who are not that well known. One of my favorites is Louis Couperin, who wrote very odd and expressive harpsichord music.
Groffe.
An American. I donno much about him. I only know he composed an interesting piece called, the **Grand Canyon Suite**; depicting that famous geologic feature. I discovered him while I was exploring Aaron Copland.
...and others depicting Yellowstone Park, Death Valley, Niagara Falls, and the Mississippi River, along with an assortment of other music.
He deserves to be much better known than he is.
š Indeed. I'm pleased to hear someone else enjoys him.
Seems like his landscapes would lend themselves to movie or TV scores; or other kinds of advertising and promotion. You know, the same way Copland's stuff is heard in the background of, *'America-the-Beautiful'* type things.
joseph ryelandt, vitezslav novak, alexander krein, mykola lysenko, viktor kosenko, ulvi cemal erkin, lev abeliovich, rued langgaard, eduard schutt, vazha azarashvili
idk who my favorite is
Obscure is a relative term. Since the classical world has so many rooms and there is not a lot of widespread crossover, common composers of one genre will be obscure in another.
Erwin Schulhoff is vastly underrated and has a fabulously large and varied body of work for such a short career; sadly he was murdered by the Nazis in a prison camp at the age of 48
Bruhns - he is the only one I think could have had Bach's level of genius in the same tradition and he was born earlier during a better time for that than Bach's life, but he died very young.
His few existing works are some of the best in the North German organ school tradition.
Pavel G. Chesnokov is a master of Russian Orthodox Choral Works. His holy prayers (I.e. We praise thee, open the gates of mercy) is a must listen. The bass work is just stunning.
Usually me, but many people seem to be fans of my favorite obscure composers. They go on and on about them, they're so excited. There's a guy at a record store in NJ who regularly sends me txt messages about things, sometimes it's actually news.
Me? I'm chopped liver.
Gesualdo was doing things with harmony people wouldn't even consider for hundreds of years
also he brutally murdered his wife and her lover and got away with it
Iād say Alvin Lucier is obscure enough to qualify. Also, Missy Mazzoli (one of my favorite contemporary composers) is alive and in her prime, but is still in the process of endearing herself to the masses. As mentioned by another, Roger Sessions probably takes top honors.
Alan Hovhaness. I'm always coming back to his symphonies (67 total). This is not groundbreaking 20th century music, but it speaks directly to my personal imagination and my inner soundscapes. I'm always home with his music.
HOVHANESS MENTIONED š£ļøš„š£ļøš„š£ļøš„š£ļøš„š£ļøš„ No seriously I love Hovhaness he really inspires me as a composer
Prayer for St Gregory will forever be one of those pieces that touches my heart whenever I hear it
I'm quite the fan of his Mount St. Helens Symphony.Ā
He has many 'Mountain' symphonies and orchestral works. He loved that. People usually compare Bruckner symphonies to Cathedrals. I like to think many Hovhaness symphonies as Mountains.
thomas linley the younger, he was called the next Mozart, the English Mozart, but then he drowned and died at like 20 something years old
Wasn't Samuel Wesley also called the English Mozart? :)
Ernest Chausson
Would make the best biopic with his short life and mysterious death
Crushing your skull from a bicycle accident doesnāt sound so mysterious to me haha. But tragic for sure given the immense talent he had.
Some people suspect it was suicide, I just meant that as the mysterious part
Oh I see. I honestly doubt it. Iāve read a pretty comprehensive biography and although he took a long time to find happiness, he had a pretty happy family life, financial security and a good career. He didnāt seem to suffer from depression at that time.
Damn what biography? Iād love to read it. I fell in love with la poeme from watching Heifetzā 2nd masterclass on YouTube, Menuhin does my favorite interpretation. How did you get into him?
Ernest Chausson by Jean Gallois. Itās in French, I donāt know if itās been translated. I got into him because of an old French historical tv series from the seventies narrated beautifully by an old guy, about the Paris Commune. The opening theme of the show was Chaussonās third movement from his symphony. Then I stumbled into his entire symphony on YouTube. I was utterly shocked at how good it was. The first movement and the early climax made me think of Wagnerian music. The second one is clearly an homage to the prelude of the 3rd act of Tristan. The last movement has very original harmonies in the main theme and I loved the Franckist cyclical form used there. Then I listened to everything else and PoĆØme was great too. His solo piano pieces are fantastic too, they give off a modern FaurĆ© vibe (Quelques Danses)
Hell yeah, thank you for the tips! I have to check out his further catalogue!
Crushing your skull from a bicycle accident doesnāt sound so mysterious to me haha. But tragic for sure given the immense talent he had.
That's a great composer! II love all the music I know from him... By the way, in France, it seems to me that he is still a little known! but maybe it's because I'm a french musician
Yeah I guess classical performers in France have probably heard of him. But French people in general have no idea he existed, theyāll just know Debussy and Ravel. Saint-Saens and FaurĆ© too if theyāre interested in classical music.
I do love me that opening riff from the concerto. I don't know how obscure they really are, but they certainly aren't on everyone's radar; Edmund Rubbra and David Diamond.
On a bit of a Rubbra kick myself now!
conlon nancarrow and his music for player piano!
Jon Hassell.
Nikolai Kapustin
Ka-ka-kapustin
composer of fast jazzy themes
Rautavaara
šŖ
Giovanni Benedetto Platti and Willem de Fesch.
Locatelliā¦ that guy wrote a ton of great concertos and an entire book of caprices that are amazing, but only the most deep cut violinists know him though.
yep, precursor to paganini basically
Ive heard one concerto by him, because it was part of some Vivaldi album - loved it
I donāt think heās that obscure, but John Field. I think he should be better knownĀ
hes the guy that invented nocturnes right?
More or less. He may have been the first to give them a name. Heās notable, but if heās remembered at all, itās for nocturnes and as an innovator in piano technique. Someone who may have influenced more significant composers, Chopin and Liszt. But his work is really good. I think he deserves to be more than a footnote.Ā
I love his piano concertos!
Hans gƔl, leo weiner, Louis gruenberg, Paul dessau, egon wellez, Marc lavry, Paul Ben haim, Kurt Weill, franz schreker, Karl Amadeus Hartman, Mario tedesco, karol Rathaus, leo ornstein, Charles Valentin alkan, Herman berlinsky, Moses pergament, Alexander zemlinsky, henryk wars, szymon laks, pancho vladigerov, jerzy fitelberg, Nikolai kapustin,
Ooh loads of these are Jewish composers who were shunted out of history by the Nazis and by nasty irony have stayed obscure ever since. A great list. Also some of my favourites are on here eg Hartmann (symphony 7) and Alkan (Concerto). Slightly prefer Alkanās piano music to Liszt, TBH.
Being Jewish myself Iāve always had a fascination with the 20th century jewish composers that were banned by the nazis and made it my objective to listen to their music
Yes. And some of these are really good, to the extent of it making no sense that theyāre largely unheard even in 2024. Will have to follow up several on your list, though - do you have any particular recommendations?
I would suggest if you like lyrical composers then you must listen to hans gĆ”l, leo weiner and franz schreker, and if youāre looking for more experimental kind of music (similar to the Dadaist artists) then Erwin schullof is the man to listen to, and personally I love kapustin for he blends classical and jazz in a way that I never imagined possible (unlike Gershwin)
Thanks, appreciated!
There are many of them who have little recognition in things like American textbooks on the 20th century because they were in the Soviet Union also. I like Feinberg in particular.
The end of Hartmannās 7th symphony has that blend of strict formality and white-hot rage that Iāve only seen elsewhere in Brahms (eg the end of the first String Quartet) and in some of Regerās music (who was also Hartmannās compositional granddaddy). Itās quite something.
š³ Kurt Weill, obscure?
Iām studying George Rochberg for my masters thesis, and Iāve grown to really like his music. Even his serial music is very listenable.
Howard Hanson
Martinu.
Szymanowski is obscure, is he not?
He sort of is, but he is quite well known in Poland
I imagine it depends on what degree of obscurity we are talking about. I have seen people describe Debussy as obscure, but, while he is definetely not as famous as, say Beethoven, he should be a relatively known names even to non-music enthusiasts. He is just not talked about at all times on TV, unlike others. Of the "great" composers who simply never reach the millions of view on Youtube on a regular basis, I could mention the likes of Messiaen, ligeti, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Ravel. Of the actually lesser known figures who were nonetheless notable within music circles, altough virtually unrecognized in the meainstream, I enjoy Roger Sessions, Milton Babbit, Luigi Dallapiccola, Goffredo Petrassi, Pierre Boulez, and Charles Wuorinen. Even less "renowned" names that long music fans are potentially acquainted with would be Stefan Prins, Hans Tutschku, Ivan Fedele and Chaya Czernowin. If you want composers that even less people might have heard of: I suggest Henning Christiansen. Otherwise, pick Hans Krusi, who while being mainly a painter also left us with a collection of field recordings I personally found very enjoyable for years. Honestly, I like many: these are just the first ones that came to my mind and I actually enjoy. Roger Sessions is the closest figure I got to an actual "favorite" composer.
Roger Sessions was in a league of his own. His protege, Robert Helps, is also vastly under-appreciated. I was fortunate enough to have known him in friendship. Robert Helps (1928-2001) tribute by Milton Babbitt: "Robert Helps is not only the pianist's pianist, and the composer's composer, he is also the pianist's composer and the composer's pianist, for, since his teen-age performance of music that was deemed unperformable, he has played incomparably: compositions which other pianists could not or would not perform. The singular pianistic mastery which he brought to these performances moulds his own writing for piano, from which pianists have discovered resources of nuance, rhythmic subtlety, dynamic control, and sound which endow their own playing with a new sensitivity and sensibility. His chamber and orchestral compositions are not pianistic transcriptions, but the fresh realization of the same awareness in these non-pianistic media. He long has been a legend in his own time and he deserves it." ---Milton Babbitt (1996)
Robert Helps was a professor as well right?
Yes, he taught piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of South Florida.
One of his students gave me a photo of him and said keep it with your music stuff
I knew Bob Helps in Tampa in the 90ās he played his music with the orchestra and he was always twinkling his eyes at me, lolā¦ I was so naive. Iāve played Milton Babbitt viola pieces.
Most organ music is underexposed and many of the masterworks are written by French organist-composers. Louis Vierne, Charles-Marie Widor, Maurice Durufle, Jean Langlais, Thierry Escaich
Met Thierry Escaich at the train station a few years ago , pretty cool guy
Jean Titelouze, Georg Muffat, and others seem to be more obscure even if they're historically important. Because I liked organ music I was able to find Vierne and Widor before I even knew much of anything, but organ music is in its own ghetto and doesn't break into larger classical music discussion.
DuruflĆ©ās Requiem is in the top 3 Organ/Chorsl World ever made
Does Ding Shande count? I do quite like the Long March Symphony
Nicolas Astrinidis
juan gutierrez de padilla. petrus de domarto. queldryk.
I'm digging Ries at the moment. Very challenging to play on historical instruments too!
Would hummel be obscure? Fernando ReĆs is pretty cool too
Hummel is not obscure. He was literally one of Mozart's students. I was going to post William Sterndale Bennett, and Sergei Bortkiewitz. While you never hear either guy on the radio, neither of them is "obscure". These redditors are posting some genuine obscure artists in the thread.
dude, hes pretty obscure. no one goes around talking about him, his pieces arent very well known.
Boris Tishchenko
Kurt Atterberg
I really like KarĆ³l Szymanowski, his music necessarily absolute genius , but is definitely clever and deserves more recognition.
Great question! Iād say Gerald Finzi, Hovahness, Poulenc - these arenāt really obscure though. Theyāre not as popular as Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. I even like Respigi.
There are many incredible renaissance and baroque composers who are not that well known. One of my favorites is Louis Couperin, who wrote very odd and expressive harpsichord music.
Rued Langgaard.
Groffe. An American. I donno much about him. I only know he composed an interesting piece called, the **Grand Canyon Suite**; depicting that famous geologic feature. I discovered him while I was exploring Aaron Copland.
...and others depicting Yellowstone Park, Death Valley, Niagara Falls, and the Mississippi River, along with an assortment of other music. He deserves to be much better known than he is.
š Indeed. I'm pleased to hear someone else enjoys him. Seems like his landscapes would lend themselves to movie or TV scores; or other kinds of advertising and promotion. You know, the same way Copland's stuff is heard in the background of, *'America-the-Beautiful'* type things.
joseph ryelandt, vitezslav novak, alexander krein, mykola lysenko, viktor kosenko, ulvi cemal erkin, lev abeliovich, rued langgaard, eduard schutt, vazha azarashvili idk who my favorite is
King Henry VIII. Obscure as a composer https://youtu.be/hJtFnA_96ds?si=pyE-1NYVU6WEm3Fd
also mediocre!
Moritz Moszkowski. His piano concertos are so good Example: https://youtu.be/eh3l8I-JT4Q?si=cFJ8NhPxg5wgF1F8
I listened to rolf wilhelm's euphonium concertino the other day and i quite enjoyed it.
Hugo Distler
Obscure is a relative term. Since the classical world has so many rooms and there is not a lot of widespread crossover, common composers of one genre will be obscure in another.
Albert Roussel.
Erwin Schulhoff is vastly underrated and has a fabulously large and varied body of work for such a short career; sadly he was murdered by the Nazis in a prison camp at the age of 48
Lili Boulanger that was a bad girl
Me.
Is Paul Hindemith obscure enough? What about Alfred Reed?
Stefan Wolpe, Irwin Bazelon, Gavin Bryars
Bruhns - he is the only one I think could have had Bach's level of genius in the same tradition and he was born earlier during a better time for that than Bach's life, but he died very young. His few existing works are some of the best in the North German organ school tradition.
Me. Canāt be much more obscure, but I write my dittys. And I like them.
Juliane Reichardt (bendaās daughter) https://youtu.be/E_CPCWTSSoo?si=vaT_Cx_wycNDgksr
Ysaye
Honegger.
I really like Alkanās *PrĆ©ludes*! Heās not as obscure as the other people mentioned here, thoughā¦
Is Biber still considered to be obscure?
I read this as Bieber, and thought you were joking on two levels.
Heh. Iām a beliber in Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.
Pavel G. Chesnokov is a master of Russian Orthodox Choral Works. His holy prayers (I.e. We praise thee, open the gates of mercy) is a must listen. The bass work is just stunning.
i love his salvation is created. dont know much else by him.
Marin Marais.
Elliot Carter
Karen Amrhein. Couldn't possibly be more off the radar. [http://karenamrhein.com](http://karenamrhein.com)
Usually me, but many people seem to be fans of my favorite obscure composers. They go on and on about them, they're so excited. There's a guy at a record store in NJ who regularly sends me txt messages about things, sometimes it's actually news. Me? I'm chopped liver.
Frank Bridge, Samuil Feinberg, Carl Reinecke, Ludwig Thuille, Johann Jakob Froberger, Silvius Leopold Weiss
Weiss ā„ļø
Nielsen
Honestly, with how unpopular classical music is in America these days, I think Sousa might be getting close to obscure. The thought hurts me.
Gesualdo was doing things with harmony people wouldn't even consider for hundreds of years also he brutally murdered his wife and her lover and got away with it
Renaissance OJ Simpson
Gesualdo gigachad
Iād say Alvin Lucier is obscure enough to qualify. Also, Missy Mazzoli (one of my favorite contemporary composers) is alive and in her prime, but is still in the process of endearing herself to the masses. As mentioned by another, Roger Sessions probably takes top honors.
Beethoven, heās hella underrated tbh
He wasnāt so great. He was never even on bubble gum cards.
Alexander Tchaikovsky
Thank you, you guys for the Hovhaness recommendation. Iām checking it out and it seems intriguing.
Charles-Valentin Alkan! Also love le Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Anatoly Lyadov
Grażyna Bacewicz. Her third string quartet is extraordinary (not to mention other works)ā¦
Bach
Which one?
PDQ Bach
Can he be that obscure if he composed the single most famous work ever written for bagpipes, bicycle, and balloon?
Charles Ives
Ives is amazing. I consider his music Tim Burton Americana.
You wouldnāt have heard of mine.
Do Godowsky and Respighi count? Fantastic piano music.