# Your favorite not-super-famous pieces of classical music... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922 "2012-07-21T03:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Parthol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Parthol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parthol)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/1 "2012-07-21T03:39:22Z")
Greetings! Some months ago I discovered that Spotify is a wonderful resource for the classical music fan. I’m always looking for new pieces to enjoy, and figured the Dope has a good number of classical buffs. I’m specifically looking for pieces that aren’t in the “top tier” of fame – stuff that you’d typically find on those ubiquitous Top 100 Classical Pieces of All Time lists that float around the Internet. (I like Beethoven’s 5th and 9th symphonies as much as anyone, but I don’t need recommendations pointing them out to me. :)) Obviously, fame is subjective here, so feel free to include something that might be on the borderline. I suppose I should list some of my own not-super-famous favorites, to start things out: - _[Irish Rhapsody No. 5](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKhNNULIaI)_ by Charles Villiers Stanford. This is my favorite piece of classical music, and the piece that, when I heard it on the radio a couple of years ago, re-ignited my love for the genre. - Vasily Kalinnikov’s _[Symphony No. 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a49CAMQUfw&feature=related)_. My favorite symphony of all time. Kalinnikov is one of those great composers who died too soon to compile a large body of works. The second movement of his first symphony is the most beautiful few minutes of music that I’ve ever heard. - Josef Suk’s _[Fantastic Scherzo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj1Kh2NxGas)_. Marvelous piece, reminiscent (to my ears) of Dvorak, which is unsurprising given that Suk was Dvorak’s son-in-law! - _[Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ4bx4r1VeQ)_ by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It seems like his _Lark Ascending_ is usually named as his best work, or sometimes _Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis_, but _Dives and Lazarus_ is my favorite work by my favorite composer. - _[Symphony in C Major](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCBbVM9Vn_k)_ by Paul Dukas. (More famous for his _Sorcerer’s Apprentice_.) - Carl Nielsen’s _[Aladdin Suite](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJOEdlTYJQ8)_ - _[Dance of the Tumblers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVIB3T2Q-sY)_ by Rimsky-Korsakov - _[L’isle joyeuse](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeBZT5_iEeA)_ by Debussy. - Holst’s _Mars_. I know the Planets are plenty famous, but it’s Jupiter than usually gets all the limelight. _Mars_ is a piece where, if I hear it while driving, causes me to speed up by about 20 mph! So, what pieces do you love that casual classical listeners might not have heard? Help enrich my Spotify experience! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/2 "2012-07-21T14:37:57Z")
I LOVE Suk’s Fantastic Scherzo!! I’ve loved it for years. I love Gerald Finzi’s music. All of it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/3 "2012-07-21T15:13:19Z")
Bach’s Suite in B minor (for small baroque orchestra). The last piece, “Badinerie”, is famous, but the whole thing is fantastic. And, Borodin’s delightful Piano Quintet in C minor. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/4 "2012-07-21T15:28:28Z")
Charpentier’s _Te Deum_. All of it; there’s a lot more to it than the Prelude. Campra’s Te Deum Lully’s Marche Royale. Lully’s [Fanfare pour le Carrousel Royale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAOpFAGU3aA&feature=fvwrel). ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/5 "2012-07-21T16:02:15Z")
Peter Schickele’s “Monochrome III” for 9 clarinets. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Tm7cD2tH93k/hqdefault.jpg "Monochrome III for Nine Clarinets") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm7cD2tH93k) (No, it’s not a PDQ Bach piece.) I played it in university. I didn’t like it at first, but the more I got to know it, the more I got to like it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/6 "2012-07-21T16:08:11Z")
[Dvorak - New World Symphony](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yctfXIqugXc). That’s the most famous bit, Part One: 4th Movement. Rivals anything more famous. First record I ever bought. Saved my pennies. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/7 "2012-07-21T16:08:12Z")
Mahler’s Symphony #1 (The Titan). I doubt this qualifies as “super famous.” ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/8 "2012-07-21T16:23:52Z")
I’d say all of Mahler’s symphonies are famous in the classical music community. ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/9 "2012-07-21T16:51:32Z")
This piece is one of my favorites- [Gabriel FAURE’: Pavane, Op. 50](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8PurepHxk&feature=related) ---
**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:** [July 21, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/10 "2012-07-21T16:57:11Z")
[Khrennikov’s Symphony #2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjtFLQ2IQwg) Perhaps some of the works of [Malcolm Arnold](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeL_vhMpIgA) And while it’s hardly obscure, Prokofiev in general, and the 3rd Piano Concerto in particular, deserve to be better known than they are. ([Here’s a link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKJm3Wre1iU) to one performance, chosen more or less at random.) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/11 "2012-07-21T18:24:16Z")
> [@CWN](#): > > This piece is one of my favorites- [Gabriel FAURE’: Pavane, Op. 50](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8PurepHxk&feature=related) That’s not obscure at all, but is a very lovely piece of music. ) ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/12 "2012-07-21T22:37:44Z")
I’d have to go with the works of John Taverner (with an “r”), 16th-century composer and owner of a massive organ. His radical reworking of Them’s “Gloria” is [particularly lovely](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chnha7Y2GLc). Nowadays it sounds like the kind of music they play in films when the bomb’s about to go off, and we have a montage of people who are going to die unless Batman (for example) can save the day. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I find that his music is _just_ [edgy enough](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHJvn6iV2uU) to avoid the inevitable _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ comparisons. The obvious problem is that to my modern ears it all sounds like a wash. And of course there’s John Tavener (without an “r”) who was big in the 1960s but has been dogged with ill-health, although that hasn’t stopped him for writing some awesome music, including [this piece](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcL4J0pzlAg) which is reminiscent of John Taverner in parts. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/13 "2012-07-21T23:07:03Z")
I’ve always been fond of: [ul] [li]_[The Russian Easter Overture](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lAV4I5-Fpc)_ by Rimsky Korsakov[/li][li]_[The Four Seasons](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA)_ by Vivaldi (the whole thing)[/li][li]_[Emperor Waltz](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TLK5H6G1ck)_ by Strauss (much less well known than _Blue Danube_ or _Vienna Woods_)[/li][/ul] I’d also say that _[Valse Triste](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7919jk9wFU)_ by Jean Sibelius is one of the most beautiful pieces ever, if it weren’t for \*Allegro Non Troppo \*making it impossible for me to listen to without blubbering like a child… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/14 "2012-07-21T23:11:58Z")
[Dvorak’s Piano Quintet #2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npYih1VfWLk&feature=related). Been a fan ever since I heard a performance at the Perlman Music Program (with Itzak Perlman taking part). Benjamin Britten’s “[The Trees They Grow So High](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4NKtEZHGCY),” primarily because it was dedicated to my father. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/15 "2012-07-22T02:19:42Z")
Ginastera’s _Variacones Concertantes_ Mussorgsky’s _Turkish March_ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/16 "2012-07-22T05:04:22Z")
Debussy _Pour le Piano_ _Introduction and Allegro For Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet_ _Nocturnes_ for orchestra _Danses Sacrée et Profane_ _Suite Bergamesque_ (_Clair de Lune_ is its 3rd movement) Ravel _Sheherezade_ _Daphnis and Chloe_ [Miroirs No. 5, “La Vallée des Cloches”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnTmtjO6IKI) Holst _Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda_, group 3 _Hymn of Jesus_ Vaughan Williams [Five Mystical Songs](http://youtu.be/mNMnGNL0-uw) for baritone, chorus and orchestra (the last one, _Antiphon_, is fairly well-known) _The Wasps_ incidental music. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/17 "2012-07-22T06:54:17Z")
Rachmaninoff’s [The Bells](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMfuMuVvyyw), in four movements, for orchestra, chorus and soloists, based on the poem by Poe. This is just the beginning of the first movement. Chopin’s [Etude, opus 25, #11, “Winter Wind.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJMIIxm1bGo) It’s amazing that all those notes can be played with only 10 fingers. Lehar’s [Dein is mein ganzes herz](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gSqZRC2dTE), from “The Land of Smiles.” One of the most gorgeous melodies I’ve ever heard. Saint-Saëns’ [Violin Concerto #3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-u4rm_LVPc). 1st movement heard here. Kabalevsky’s [The Comedians](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx0dwf97c6c). ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/18 "2012-07-22T07:28:19Z")
Charles Ives, [Putnam’s Camp](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNlL27HvLOo), from [_Three Places in New England_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Places_in_New_England) ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/19 "2012-07-22T14:25:56Z")
Jon Leifs organ concerto, and pastoral variations. Eldon Rathburn’s Ottawa Suite, a local favorite! Franz Lehar’s non-waltz piano music. Two beautiful sonatas and a fantasia. The complete works of Cecile Chaminade, though I’m at a loss to give a specific opus for this one! ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922/20 "2012-07-22T20:33:41Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > The complete works of Cecile Chaminade, though I’m at a loss to give a specific opus for this one! I love Chaminade’s Flute Concertino ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RzLB7GfVGQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RzLB7GfVGQ)) and “Autumn” for piano ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seBk5c9hMuI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seBk5c9hMuI)) (orchestra version: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m\_cEECjqGrw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_cEECjqGrw) ) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-not-super-famous-pieces-of-classical-music/628922.md?page=2)