# Suggest some lesser known works by famous composers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951 "2017-08-28T18:55:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/21 "2017-09-01T05:25:27Z")
A wonderful documentary about Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline Du Pre, Pinchas Zuckerman and Zubin Mehta getting together to play Schubert’s Trout Quintet in 1969 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/b8-H0r0iL6Q/maxresdefault.jpg "The Trout, Music Film of 1969 with Du Pré, Perlman, Barenboim, Mehta & Zukerman") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8-H0r0iL6Q) Are you not looking to go deeper into Mozart? I just wonder at seeing Haydn and then Beethoven listed without Mozart in between. And how about Mendelssohn? I grew up hearing his violin concerto played on our family’s stereo and was delighted as an adult to discover the Italian Symphony and Midsummer Night’s Dream. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/22 "2017-09-01T11:34:21Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > **Handel** : Great suggestions so far, so I’ll only add the logical follow-up i.e. … > > **Bach**. Try the _sacred vocal works_, the dramatic and gorgeous St Matthew Passion first and foremost. I’d advise against listening to the whole 3-hour piece initailly. Find some exerpts which must however include the opening and closing choruses (Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen + Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder, respectively) as well as the aria Erbarme dich. Want more ? Go for the extatic Magnificat or some of the cantatas (Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben, BWV 109 + Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 are personal favourites but there are almost 200 to choose from…). I actually prefer his St John Passion to the St Matthew Passion; apart from the dramatic opening number there are a lot of small and emotionally-fraught arias scattered throughout. Try the Gabrieli Consort version. I’ll also recommend the sacred cantata “Ich habe genug” (BWV 82) - I prefer the version for bass singer and obbligato oboe rather than the soprano/flute version. Absolutely sublime. > [@](#): > > If you prefer _instrumental works_, you could check out some of the solo harpsichord/piano pieces in the Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1, preludes and fugues 1, 2, 4, 16 for a start), the flute sonatas (BWV 1030 first), the cello suites (1 is the most famous one), the orchestral suites (2 and 3) or the violin concertos. Speaking as an amateur cellist the Bach cello suites are among the best works ever written for the instrument (or for any other, for that matter). They are simple to play but incredibly hard to play well, and the interpretation is a virtual Rorschach test for the cellist, reflecting so much of the performer’s state of mind. I’ve listened to dozens of recordings including the well-known ones by Casals and Ma before settling on Phoebe Carrai’s version; this is not to say that Carrai’s version is best but rather that it’s the closest I’ve found to how I’d play the suites if I were remotely competent on the instrument. It’s worth exploring a few different renditions to see what trips your trigger. If you want Elgar, let me recommend _The Dream of Gerontius_ (particularly the recent Sir Andrew Davis recording) which is Elgar’s best choral writing by far. If that really appeals to you you can move on to _The Apostles_ and (meh) _The Kingdom_ but definitely check out _Gerontius_. In a similar vein you might like William Walton’s _Belshazzar’s Feast_ (which is only half an hour long but always worth hearing) and/or Herbert Howell’s _Hymnus Paradisi_ which is lush and sweeping to the extreme. Since I’m on choral music, at the weirder (but still quite listenable) end of the scale is the wild and wonderful Alfred Schnittke’s _Faust Cantata_ (also called “Seid Nuchtern und Wachet”). Spoiler alert: it does not end well for Faust. As in “brains splattered on the walls” not well. But it’s all done to a catchy tango (“Es geschah”), so that’s alright. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/23 "2017-09-01T17:27:46Z")
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. We’ve all heard the Second Concerto umpteen times, but I actually prefer the Third… especially the last movement. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/24 "2017-09-02T16:10:41Z")
Beethoven wrote a [few](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ZUFqb5iL0) [pieces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GcNdSd_880) for [mandolin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJXXS9ZawgA). [So did Vivaldi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Hvdrf--V0). ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/25 "2017-09-02T17:02:24Z")
I would listen to the [Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle, and Balloons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervertimento_for_Bagpipes,_Bicycle_and_Balloons), S. 66, by Bach. Also recommended is the [Concerto for Horn and Hardart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto_for_Horn_and_Hardart), S. 27 by Bach, as well as his less well-known oratorio, “The Seasonings”, S. 1½ tsp. (though I must admit I prefer the better-known “Iphegenia in Brooklyn”, S. 53,162). No, not THAT Bach. His well-known son: P. D. Q. Bach. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/26 "2017-09-02T17:24:46Z")
Haydn’s cello concerto. And I assume that you know the Creation… And the Seven Last Words ([here with Jordi Savall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBsZKF3mcv8)) If you enjoy chamber music, I would suggest Schubert’s two piano trios. And Brahm’s piano quartets. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/27 "2017-09-03T00:14:57Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > . . . No, not THAT Bach. His well-known son: P. D. Q. Bach. 😉 Grin! Wonderful, wonderful stuff! I’ve watched the opera, “The Abduction of Figaro” with several different groups of friends, and it’s great! It always happens that, at some point, one guy laughs, without anyone else knowing why. So we pause, and he’ll explain. “That’s a parody of an aria from The Flying Dutchman,” or “That’s a parody of a Harry Bellafonte song.” The “inside jokes” are there in great plenitude! ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/28 "2017-09-10T18:35:43Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > Vaughn-Williams “The Lark Ascending” is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music, it’s beautiful. Not to mention (but I will): _In the Fen Country_ _Norfolk Rhapsody_ \*Serenade to Music \* All four together will lower your blood pressure in a wonderful way. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/29 "2017-09-11T13:42:38Z")
The last song on the B-side of Elton John’s first LP is [First Episode at Hienton](http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858719402/). It remains my favorite John/Taupin song. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/30 "2017-09-11T15:29:22Z")
Debussy’s Quartet (he only wrote the one). Not his usual gossamer. My copy is a 1929 78 album on beautiful Columbia [Royal Blue](http://historysdumpster.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-columbia-royal-blue-record.html) records. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/31 "2017-09-12T10:37:39Z")
While we’re on **Debussy** , how could I forget [_Syrinx_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw53VrbI4l0)for solo flute ? It’s one of my favourite piece of his : very short, “exotic” and evocative. I remember hearing it for the first time in the mid-90s. At the time, almost all of the classical music I knew was Classico-Romantic, with just a touch of Baroque. I sat in stunned silence listening to this beautiful, weird work. It took me almost ten years to track it down as I had forgotten to write down what it was when I heard it. It’s been a favourite of mine ever since. A few years later, I had a similar experience when I discovered his _Préludes_ for solo piano, especially the second one, [_Voiles_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVyQhUM5C4). ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/32 "2017-09-12T11:16:02Z")
My favorite Ravel work is his\* Pavane For a Dead Princess. \* Bizet is best known for Carmen, but his symphony in C and his music for _L’Arlésienne_ are also excellent. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/33 "2017-09-12T12:20:58Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > I remember hearing it for the first time in the mid-90s. At the time, almost all of the classical music I knew was Classico-Romantic, with just a touch of Baroque. I sat in stunned silence listening to this beautiful, weird work. It took me almost ten years to track it down as I had forgotten to write down what it was when I heard it. It’s been a favourite of mine ever since. Thank you for posting it! I heard it years ago and never knew who it was until now. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/34 "2017-09-15T19:39:10Z")
“In the Steppes of Central Asia” Borodin “The Gadfly Suite” Shostakovich ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/35 "2017-09-16T02:05:33Z")
Does Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang’s papa) count as famous? He wrote the piece that was for yours known as “Haydn’s Toy Symphony.” He wrote a lovely “Peasant Wedding” piece, and a really joyous “Musical Sleigh-Ride.” And to get really, really weird, [he wrote a sinfonia for Alpenhorn!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4hQaBdVITI) ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/36 "2017-09-16T05:00:36Z")
Verdi’s string quartet! It's basically his only non-vocal work, and it's a masterpiece. Schoenberg is famous for his atonal pieces, but he wrote while young a tonal string quartet that is quite memorable and charming. And it’s even happy instead of dark! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tHcx8a9-V0Y/maxresdefault.jpg "Arnold Schönberg - String Quartet No. "0" in D major (1897)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHcx8a9-V0Y) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/37 "2017-09-16T22:45:52Z")
Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. I’ll be listening to many of these works over the next few months. My next question concerns Anton Bruckner. I decided on an impulse to go to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in a couple of weeks. I know almost nothing about Bruckner except that he’s not as good as Mahler and there are several versions of most of his symphonies, extensively revised. I plan on spending the next couple of weeks exploring his music and see if he’s more than a second rate Mahler. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/38 "2017-09-16T23:23:43Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. I’ll be listening to many of these works over the next few months. My next question concerns Anton Bruckner. I decided on an impulse to go to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in a couple of weeks. I know almost nothing about Bruckner except that he’s not as good as Mahler and there are several versions of most of his symphonies, extensively revised. I plan on spending the next couple of weeks exploring his music and see if he’s more than a second rate Mahler. Any suggestions? A lot of people, like myself, find most of Mahler’s symphonies impressive but also weird and strained with disturbing psychological overtones. If you buy that, then Bruckner is definitely not a second rate Mahler. You will enjoy his Symphony No. 4 (“The Romantic”). Keep in mind that this is a BIG work - about an hour and 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/39 "2017-09-17T00:45:29Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. I’ll be listening to many of these works over the next few months. My next question concerns Anton Bruckner. I decided on an impulse to go to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in a couple of weeks. I know almost nothing about Bruckner except that he’s not as good as Mahler and there are several versions of most of his symphonies, extensively revised. I plan on spending the next couple of weeks exploring his music and see if he’s more than a second rate Mahler. Any suggestions? Bruckner was the subject of a recent [blog post by Robert Greenberg](https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/music-history-monday-a-rather-strange-fellow/). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951/40 "2017-09-17T22:28:31Z")
Confession: I find Bruckner symphonies dull, dull, dull, but this appears to be a minority opinion amongst my classical-music-loving friends so take that for what it’s worth. Symphony-wise I tend to jump from Beethoven to Shostakovich. But man, do I love Shostakovich symphonies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-lesser-known-works-by-famous-composers/794951.md?page=3)