UnsungMasterworks ...

[dulcinea]

... is one of the most interesting contributors to YOUTUBE. He publishes videos of composers who are now obscure, including symphonies by none other than Furtwangler and Bruno Walter. While some pieces by such as Enescu and Raff are interesting enough, the majority I have heard so far strike me as pretty boring imitations of R Strauss and others of the Late Romantic.
I'm sure you know Herr UM; which of the many pieces he offers would you consider to be worth the admission price?

[dulcinea]

Today I listened to a symphony by Bloch, and can't say that I enjoyed it; it was technically brilliant--it even had a fugue at the end--, but it had absolutely no melodic content or interest. Yesterday I listened for the first and last time to Tournemire; his music struck me as crushingly monotonous and boring. Altogether, the offerings of the UNSUNG MASTERWORKS channel are extremely erratic, to say the least.

[piston]

You're asking for the [nearly] impossible: to rediscover your favorite 19th-century composers in the 20th century. For my part, when I get too much 19th-century romanticism in my music listening life, I go "spoon barf."

Why do you insist on finding your aesthetic taste in a century that had no place for it? Just stick with the century of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Chopin, etc., and stop trying to find them in the next, far more complicated, era.

But if you insist you will find some composers who, like you, couldn't let go of the previous century. try someone like Sergei Bortkiewicz and you might find plenty of Tchaikovsky echoes in his work.

Do you like any composer from the 20th century? Rachmaninoff perhaps? I suggest that you stop searching the 20th and dig deeper into the 18th and 19th.

[dulcinea]

You're asking for the [nearly] impossible: to rediscover your favorite 19th-century composers in the 20th century. For my part, when I get too much 19th-century romanticism in my music listening life, I go "spoon barf."

Why do you insist on finding your aesthetic taste in a century that had no place for it? Just stick with the century of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Chopin, etc., and stop trying to find them in the next, far more complicated, era.

But if you insist you will find some composers who, like you, couldn't let go of the previous century. try someone like Sergei Bortkiewicz and you might find plenty of Tchaikovsky echoes in his work.

Do you like any composer from the 20th century? Rachmaninoff perhaps? I suggest that you stop searching the 20th and dig deeper into the 18th and 19th.

Exactly what warrants this incomprehensible tirade?

[piston]

Well, my dear, I haven't seen you write positively about 20th century composers very often. Who do you like from that whole century?

[dulcinea]

Well, my dear, I haven't seen you write positively about 20th century composers very often. Who do you like from that whole century?

R Strauss lived until 1949, and wrote some of his best works in the concluding years of his life, so he counts as a 20th century composer.
Everybody of the 20th century interests me, except the twelve toners, who pretty much tried to create meals that consisted only of seasonings, but no meat, no vegetables, no pasta, and none of the ingredients that make up a real meal.

[dulcinea]

What, am I the only one here who surfs YOUTUBE?

[diegobueno]

I don't pay much attention to the name of the person or agency loading music onto Youtube, so labels like "Unsung Masterworks" mean nothing to me, and likewise I don't expect to hear a masterpiece every time I listen to an unfamiliar piece of music. The significant thing to me is that the music is there for me to listen to. I may say to myself "I know that Bloch wrote other things than Shelomo. I wonder what it sounds like?" And there are recordings of his Symphony in C# minor and his Symphony in E flat, his Israel Symphony, and Symphony for trombone and orchestra, along with many other pieces.

Likewise I only know Tournamire by the title L'orgue mystique, and I don't even know what that sounds like. But I can, when I feel like it, go to Youtube and find out because it's there, along with all of his symphonies. I didn't even know he wrote symphonies.

[jbuck919]

Likewise I only know Tournamire by the title L'orgue mystique,

Obviously, since you spelled his name wrong. It's Tournemire.

In fairness to Mark, I may know how to spell it, but I am also unfamiliar with the music, as came up in a thread by piston where he had to find another organist to explain to him why certain liturgical occasions are missing from L'orgue mystique. Then in fairness to me, I've been to a number of organ recitals, and he must be a bit out of fashion because I've never encountered a work by him in that context.

[piston]

First thing to remember about Tournemire is that he was a true artistic descendant of Cesar Franck. Also noteworthy is that he composed his eight symphonies in preparation for his master piece, l'Orgue mystique. That is certainly an intriguing creative concept. While some of his symphonic work can sound Mahlerian or Straussian, both because of the orchestration and cyclic transformation of themes, it remains, like with Magnard, d'Indy, Ropartz, Lazzari, bound by aesthetic and cultural traditions that prevented Tournemire from identifying with these two great symphonists. I suppose we could think of him as a modern Franckiste whose work was not particularly appreciated after WWI and whose reputation as an organ improviser and composer soon overshadowed all of his orchestral music.

[oisfetz]

What, am I the only one here who surfs YOUTUBE?

No, you aren't. In last 4 years I downloaded and copied to CD about 350 audio from FT. There are fantastic things for maniacs of rare composers/works/players. In particular for crazies of historical versions, it' s a mana. I found first world recordings of many string quartets I love, and recordings of ensembles long ago gone, like Amar-Hindemith, old Budapest from the 30s or Schnaiderhann SQ. It's question of to know how and when to look for. Thank you YT!!