- Charles Alkan (1813-1888) was a composer-pianist whose often idiosyncratic, often exploratory, music has gotten some of the resuscitation it deserves in the last few decades, but not enough. I began a midi of the first movement of his concerto for solo piano before finding out that someone else had done the whole lock stock & barrel... still, I might finish the thing sometime. The work's been recorded (unlike some of the other works) and several times too, but do try the first fourth of the first movement (or so!)
- Woldemar Bargiel (1828-1897), teacher, relative of Clara Schumann, hasn't been ignored by the record industry either in modern times- the Hyperion recording of his Octet (op. 15) is particularly worth checking out (now on their Helios budget label.) His piano sonata, on the other hand, is as yet terra incognita, though Bargiel's own orchestration of its lovely slow movement as an intermezzo for orchestra has made the rounds as a radio tape!
- Felix Draeseke (1835-1913) though an accomplished composer of four (surviving) symphonies (and one in addition no score of which can be found) I, for one, find most successful in his chamber music. Of those symphonies the first and third have been recorded, and a recording of the fourth is forthcoming soonest; apparently cpo and perhaps MDG are committed to cycles. The International Draeseke Society's North America branch puts out excellent CDs of chamber music (so far including the viola alta sonatas, the cello sonata, and the clarinet sonata, the latter two with other music) that can be had through Records International and should be considered by anyone who enjoys Schubert-influenced and excellently crafted Romanticism; this member of Liszt's circle produced very memorable music for the chamber repertoire. The string quartets- he wrote three- have not been recorded as yet; try the scherzo from the 5-movement third quartet, op. 66.
- Robert Fuchs (1847-1927), friend of Johannes Brahms, teacher of Mahler, Korngold, Schreker, Sibelius, Wolf and many others, wrote a substantial body of music (see a partial worklist.) His four string quartets were not recorded until fairly recently, and considering their then-absence from the discography regrettable, I set to preparing midis of the 3rd in C major, a work with a warm slow movement. Of his three piano trios, only the third, for the not-unknown but unusual combination of piano, violin and viola, can be heard on CD; the first two, for the more usual instrumentation, have been played in modern times (the first in a BBC concert a few years back, the second by the Clara Wieck-trio reasonably recently,) but have yet to be recorded to my knowledge. The first movement of the second trio is its own advocate...
- Hans Huber (1835-1921) is said to be a somewhat inconsistent composer, given to occasional squareness. All I've heard so far on recording is a fine piano quartet from LP; on CD there's now some chamber music, piano music and four symphonies to be heard, with more, I suspect, to follow- it appears that the Swedish label Sterling intends (edit: has now completed. The organ work itself can be heard on a CD on another label, recorded by Bernhard Leonardy.) a complete cycle of the symphonies of this Swiss composer. The four movements of the organ work "Phantasie nach Worten der heiligen Schrift" are each preceded by Biblical quotations (unless I am very much mistaken... but then, I do think that's what the German title means...) but the movements themselves are a somewhat free-form first, a slow second, a scherzando third, and somewhat rondo-like finale which quotes the opening movement to close.
- Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1902) was, I think, much better known as a pedagogue than as a composer. He wrote a good deal of music, however, very little of which- primarily some flute works- has been recorded. His second symphony in A looks enjoyable in score. He wrote his three (iirc!) piano trios; the first movement of his first trio gives an indication of his early style.
- Antonio Scontrino (1850-1922). Well you might ask "Who?" - sorry... First encountered the name in Cobbett's Cyclopedia of Chamber Music, where 4 string quartets were mentioned. Later become even more curious, and interloaned the score to his g minor string quartet, which I managed to sequence one movement of. Then Robert Lim informed me that he had midis of all four movements, and would I like to hear them, and yes, I would. Having heard them, I very much wanted to put them up on my site; this is a good quartet- it makes me want to hear all four, and any other works by the composer besides (like his double-bass concerto, mentioned in Grove 5, and his prelude & fugue for string quartet. I've seen all four in score - or parts, in the case of the g minor - at least once, but I'd like to hear them. Ah well.) Do at least hear Mr. Lim's rendition of the slow movement, you won't regret it.
- Nicolas Sokolow (1859-1922), born in St. Petersburg, wrote three string quartets, a string trio, and several other works. I know of only one or two works of his recorded: his contribution to a multi-composer project, "Les Vendredis", which also featured contributions by Glazunov, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Kopylov, and others. The second of the string quartets suggests stylistic similarities to his contemporaries. I like it. Start with the bouncy scherzo.
- Charles Stanford (1859-1924) is already a fixture of the choral repertoire in the UK, has had his 7 symphonies recorded once and a new cycle has been announced, the first two of his piano trios have been recorded as have his violin sonatas and one of his cello sonatas and all his organ sonatas as well- for a lesser-known composer he could be doing better (there aren't 10 cycles to choose from as with some ;) ) but he could be doing worse! None of his string quartets, however, despite some BBC broadcasts, have been recorded. I admit to being the sort of person whose curiosity is piqued by this sort of thing, so I interloaned his 3rd string quartet, twice in about 10 years, and made midis of it the second time. There's something special about its finale, do try!
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