Somehow my shopping list missed Edvard Grieg and Jan Sibelius, of Norway and Finland respectively, whose popularity transcends national boundaries. Grieg’s First Piano Concerto and portions of his Peer Gynt Suite will be immediately recognizable to almost anyone, as will the principal theme from Sibelius’s Finlandia.
My areas of interest are pre-Baroque and 20th Century- so here we go.
Michael Praetorius- his Terpsichore suite (instrumental dances) is fairly well known among Renaissance music fans, but his motets are excellent as well.
Guillaume Du Fay- wonderful 15th century composer. Music of this time period contains quite a few harmonic and rhythmic “quirks” that you really don’t hear in much later musics-as a result much of this music manages to sound very fresh and new to modern listeners.
Carlo Gesualdo- Renaissance composer who, aside from just being a fantastic writer of madrigals, did some rather odd things harmonically. Seriously, some of Gesualdo’s work could probably pass as 20th century music. Inventive (and downright twisted- check his bio sometime) composer- highly recommended.
Harry Partch- 20th century composer. Created his own instruments and microtonal scales for his pieces- but he hardly suffered from sterile sound that some other modernists had.
George Crumb- one could argue that he was the first postmodern composer. Would often alternate between tonal and atonal textures in order to vividly capture a wide range of emotions. A good entry point into “avant garde” music of the mid to late 20th century
Muzio Clementi
Along with Clementi, Jan Ladislav Dussek composed some excellent but oft-neglected keyboard music.
I’ll recommend Gluck epecially if you enjoy opera, and even if you don’t I’m sure you will enjoy it. Try to find his rendition of Orpheo and Euridice, it’s great. He was the leader of the opera reform in the early Classical period.
I’ll also throw in Sibelius, Saint-Saens, Britten, Dvorak, Pergolesi, Palestrina, Hindemith, Adams, J.C. Bach & C.P.E. Bach, and finally Telemann (who wrote more music than any other composer).
These composers may not be what you want to call “obsure”, but certainly a bit less well known with the non-music “snobs”. The best thing to do is just listen to your local classical radio station (if you have one), you can learn a lot just from a few hours a day of this. Or, just go to a small classical music store, and ask the person at the counter for some good, yet less popular music which you would enjoy, I’m sure almost anyone can help you if they have the right knowledge of music. Glad to see more and more people getting into this kind of music. Enjoy!
I love Schubert - Erlking . I know he isn’t rare but man o man, that leid gets my hair on end!
Meredith Monk (I know her mom!), 20th and 21st century.
Ligeti, 20th century
Penderecki, 20th century
I’m just guessing you’re looking for those without a “Greatest Hits” CD.
Webern - Serialist
Satie - inspired a lot of people but apart from his Gymnopidie’s isn’t heard much
Zelinka - Someone mentioned Trio’s, look at the Mass in C as well
Eliot Carter - 20th Century (Wind Quintet and String Quartets are good
Another vote for Josquin
Kablevski – Various work tonal, melody and motif driven work.
That’s a quick off the top of my head list – I’ve left out many