Chicago Classical Music

Jim Hirsch's recent Top 5 list post made me think of one I've always wanted to post: a list of obscure composers who shouldn't be:

1.    Nicolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950)

The forgotten "Soviet" composer (i.e., contemporary of Shostakovich and Prokofiev), Miaskovsky was a prolific writer (27 symphonies, 13 string quartets, etc.) whose music is consistently entertaining, colorful, dramatic, and often gorgeous. He is probably best known for his lushly romantic Cello Sonata, which is often appropriately coupled on recordings with Rachmaninov's, as it is on the recommended recording below and as it will be on a disc Cedille Records will record with cellist Wendy Warner this fall for release in 2009/2010.

Representative works with recommended recordings:

Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano in A minor, Op. 81 (Yuli Turovsky, cello; Luba Edlina, piano; Chandos 8523)

Symphony No. 22 in B minor, Op. 54 (another great Russian symphony in the key of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique) (Miaskovsky Complete Symphonies; Russian State Symphony Orchestra; Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor; Warner Classics 513844)

String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, Op. 86 (only currently available recording: Taneyev String Quartet; Northern Flowers 9954)

Piano Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 19 (Sviatoslav Richter; Doremi Records 7806)

2.    Jan Vaclav Hugo Vorisek (1791-1835)

This Bohemian contemporary (and friend) of Beethoven and Schubert combines some of the best aspects of both: the former's flair for drama and the latter's gift for melody. Unfortunately, he was (like Beethoven) a bit of a late bloomer (by Classical Period standards) who (unlike Beethoven) died young. So his mature output is relatively small but consistently superb.

I owe my "discovery" of this composer to Maestro Paul Freeman. When we went to Bratislava, Slovakia to record the Piano Concerto No. 4 by John LaMontaine with pianist Ramon Salvatore and the Slovak Radio Symphony I attended Maestro Freeman's recording session the previous night, of the 3rd and 4th movements of Vorisek's Symphony in D (his best known piece) and was bowled over. I searched out recordings of the full symphony and any other Vorisek pieces I could find and discovered the works listed below, including Vorisek's last: a Mass he composed soon after winning the position of Court Organist in Vienna (beating out Schubert for the job) and, unfortunately, soon before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 34.

That recording was only available in the Czech Republic. When I discovered that the recording Maestro Freeman had started of Vorisek's Symphony never came to fruition, I immediately proposed recording the Symphony and Mass with Freeman's Czech National Symphony and Chicago vocal soloists, resulting in the CD listed below.

Representative works with recommended recordings:

Symphony in D major, Mass in B-flat major (Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Prague Chamber Chorus, Chicago soloists; Paul Freeman, conductor; Cedille Records CDR 90000 058)

Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 5 (Ivan Zenaty, violin; Josef Hala, piano; Multisonic Records, currently out of print)

Piano music including Six Impromptus, Op. 7 and Fantasia in C major, Op. 12 (Radoslav Kvapil, piano; Regis 1224)

3.    Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)

During the 1920s and early ‘30s, Leo Sowerby was the American composer whose music was most often programmed by American orchestras. Chicago Symphony conductor Frederick Stock in particular championed his music during that period. While the music of many other "American Romantics" (e.g., Samuel Barber, Howard Hanson, etc.) has enjoyed a revival in the last few decades, Sowerby's music has not been as fortunate. I find this strange because Sowerby was admired by his contemporaries and his best music demonstrates highly colorful instrumental writing, beautiful melodic development, and superb use of counterpoint. I find myself listening to Sowerby's music on my "Cedille iPod" more than anyone else's.

My knowledge of Sowerby came courtesy of the Leo Sowerby Foundation, which successfully lobbied me to record the music of this unfairly neglected Chicago composer (who served for many years as organist at St. James Cathedral). The result was the two all-Sowerby orchestral recordings with Paul Freeman listed below.

Representative works with recommended recordings:

Comes Autumn Time, Prairie, Theme in Yellow, From the Northland ("Tone Poems by Leo Sowerby"; Czech National Symphony Orchestra; Paul Freeman, conductor; Cedille Records CDR 90000 033)

Symphony No. 2; Concert Overture; All on a Summer's Day; Passacaglia, Interlude, and Fugue (Chicago Sinfonietta; Czech National Symphony Orchestra; Paul Freeman, conductor; Cedille Records CDR 90000 039)

Concertpiece for Organ and Orchestra (David Schrader, organ; Grant Park Orchestra; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Cedille Records CDR 90000 063)

Piano Trios (La Musica Gioiosa Trio; New World Records 80365)

4.    Nicolai Medtner (1880-1951)

A pianist-composer in the tradition of Rachmaninov and whose music will remind many of that near-exact contemporary, Medtner penned some of the most gorgeously nostalgic and bittersweet music ever written. I have Chicago Russian-émigré pianist Dmitry Paperno to thank for this personal discovery.

Representative works with recommended recordings:

Forgotten Melodies, Op. 38, Nos. 6, 7, and 8 (on "Dmitry Paperno plays Russian Piano Music"; Cedille Records CDR 90000 001)

Sonata Reminiscenza, Op. 38, No. 1 (on "Paperno Live"; Cedille Records CDR 90000 044)

Sonata Triad, Op. 11 and Sonata in E minor, Op. 25, No. 2 ("The Night Wind") (Hamish Milne; Crd Records 3339)

5.    Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)

I'll round out my list with another piano composer, in this case a French Jewish contemporary of Liszt who concedes nothing to his more famous colleague in the virtuosity department. From the recommended recording below, of particular interest is the "Etude" titled "The Fire in the Neighboring Village," which is really an amazingly elaborate tone-poem for piano.

Representative works with recommended recording:

12 Etudes in Major Keys, Op. 35; Le festin d'Esope, Op. 39, No. 12; Scherzo diabolico, Op. 39, No. 3 (Bernard Ringeissen; Naxos 8555495)

So, who are your 5 most underrated or overlooked composers?

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