Favorite piece of classical music that you never hear performed?

You know me - I don't have single favourites. But some of the pieces I love which don't find their way into concert programmes often enough - or at all (unless I programme them!) are:

Barber - Capricorn Concerto

Bartók - Cantata profana

Bax - The Garden of Fand

Beethoven - Symphony No 4 (why this doesn't get played more, I'll never know!)

Frank Bridge - Oration (one of the best cellos concertos there is!)

George Dyson - Violin Concerto (if you like the Elgar concerto, you'd like this)

Enescu - Octet (the 17-year-old's genius pours out of every bar)

Holst - Egdon Heath (his masterpiece)

Grainger - Green Bushes (one of the cleverest, wittiest passacaglias you'll ever hear)

Griffes - The White Peacock

Handel - La Resurrezione (one of his wonderful early oratorios written in Rome in his early 20s)

Honegger - Symphony No 2 (simply wonderful)

Ibert - Escales (Ports of call)

Korngold - Sinfonietta

Kraus - Symphony in E flat

Lyadov - The Enchancted Lake

Mozart - Incidental music to 'Thamos, King of Egypt' K 345

Myaskovsky - Cello Concerto (the 'Russian Elgar' cello concerto)

Prokofiev - In Autumn Op 8 (wonderful early Rakhmaninovian tone poem)

Franz Schmidt - Symphony No 4

Stenhammar - Serenade Op 31

Stravinsky - Scherzo à la Russe (what fun!)

Takemitsu - Tree Line

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 3 (Polish)(my favourite of the 6 - never gets played)

Erkki-Sven Tüür - Show (Action; Passion; Illusion)

Vaughan Williams - 5 Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'

Vivaldi - Nisi Dominus

Sorry I've cheated so badly but there are just SO MANY neglected pieces of music.

Dang it, there's too many smartypants types in here who have already mentioned some of the same works I would have. So I'll add a few that haven't been mentioned.

Lulu, the opera by Alban Berg

Isle Of The Dead, Rachmaninoff

The Bells, also by Rachmaninoff

Suite In A Minor, Telemann

The Pearl Fishers, the opera by Georges Bizet

(There are others, of course, but many of the ones I would have suggested have already been mentioned. And I, too, love Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony.)

(As to Mahler's 9th., which I love, one of the main reasons why it isn't performed more often is it's length. At 85 minutes long it pretty much takes up the whole bill for an orchestra for the night. Most renowned orchestras try to include a mix in with a public program performance. When doing Mahler's 9th. other works are pushed off the program.)

EDIT: And here are some links for our friend Hafwen:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Variations-on-La-Folia/dp/...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ECVxelcG4

Ah, Ryan, what a great question. It is difficult to select only a few favorites that have been consistently neglected, but I nominate the following:

1) Felix Mendelssohn's "Symphony No 2 " (Choral Symphony)...a beautiful work, especially the choral part; but eclipsed by his more popular works, it is seldom performed live...sigh.

2) Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations", especially the very moving Nimrod section...just stunning! Mostly heard now only on Classical Radio call-in shows rather than on stage..what a loss.

And don't get me started on the sadly- neglected music of American composer Edward McDowel, that great music lyricist of twentieth century piano literature, (whos music is so nicely transcribable for Classic guitar, too).

It is a sign of the times, I suppose, that many music directors across the US and elsewhere have intentionally avoided the more accessible works (ie..strong melodic content) in favor of more esoteric compositions, labeling the former as somewhat unsophisticated.

Well, if the music of Tchaikovsky and Dvorak is for the unsophisticated, then I guess I will be sitting red-faced in the front row.

Cliff (classic guitarist)

Over twenty years ago, in the depths of the night, I heard a stunning piece of music on the radio. It was a performance of "La Folia" variations by Marin Marais, played exquisitely by oboist Heinz Holliger, with Christiane Joccotet (harpsichord.)

I've been haunted by this piece for TWO DECADES - and do you think I've ever heard it again??? I can't even track down a CD recording of it! Seriously, it's driving me mad. You know, I'd give anything to hear that music again - either performed live, or on the radio - or on a CD...*sigh*

Whew - that's out of my system. Anyway - great question, Ryan!

Cheers,

Hafwen.

(PS. If anyone can help me track this recording down, I'll love you forever!!!)

Kallinikov Symphonies

Everyone's grammar should be so bad as yours: don't worry about it - my major concern is the so many typos I make(results just from aging and bad eye-sight I guess).

Not to compete with "del_icio"(who can?) ------------

As to be expected from any familiar with most of my postings, I'm going to begin by listing those of my musical idol, Richard Wagner:

"Album Lauf"(not sure about spelling: couldn't even find a listing for it on Wikipedia). It was a piece he wrote on commission I think, during his earlier days when close to starving: for clarinet and piano best I can recall - beautiful melody.

"Eine Faust Overture": originally 1st movement of an intended symphony, which never got written.

"The Love Meal of the Apostles", for male chorus and orchestra - a piece I've never even heard of; came across it in the Wikipedia article about him

---------------------------

Other composer's music:

Two pieces by Cesar Franck: "Symphonic Variations" - use to be fairly popular, but one never hears it nowadays. And what I consider to be his orchestral master-piece - a "tone" poem - "Les Chasseur Maudit"(The Accursed Huntsman); why this is so neglected is beyond my comprehension.

"Phaeton", a symphonic poem, by Camillie Saint-Saens, one never hears nowadays on a concert program; only available on rare recordings. For me, the most exciting, dramatic of all his compositions.

P.I. Tchaikovsky: his symphonic poem "Francesca da Rimini" and "Manfred" symphony; again, why these are so neglected is beyond my comprehension.

Alexander Scriabin's "Mysterium": the part(s)that were completed; am not even sure that it's ever been given a public performance - anyone who knows, please enlighten me.

Alberich

One of the many pieces that I love and that has not been played in a performance is Borodin's Symphony No.1 in Eb major. I love this piece because it's so well orchestrated and not once in my whole life have I ever heard this piece in concert!

But like del_icious_manager said, there are a lot of my favorite pieces and I can't simply choose one.

Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony. It's not in itunes or on youtube...but I think it's great! It's my favorite symphony of his but it just never seems to be played.

I find it interesting that one of the neglected pieces del_icio mentioned, Stravinsky's Scherzo à la Russe, is going to be performed by the local orchestra in my town...cool!

I'll bet you have never even heard of Franz Berwald. His third and forth symphonies are on par or better than anything by Schumann or Mendelssohn. They are certainly better orchestrated. I have multiple versions but the Sixten Erhling is best.

Alexander Scriabin's - Piano Concerto in F sharp minor,

seems somewhat neglected.

I think the third movement alone stands as one of the best in the concerto repertoire.