There's a question lower down about overrated Classical pieces... BUT... what are the most underrated pieces?

Hmm. I would hardly say that Saint-Saëns' 'Carnival of the Animals' is underrated. It seems to get plenty of performances as far as I'm aware. Of course, the need for TWO pianos might hinder its 'top 10' journey.

I am going to restrict myself to underrated pieces by well-known (or relatively well-known) composers. Being an advocate of underappreciated composers and their music, I could probably use-up the letter limit for Y!A in no time otherwise.

JS Bach - 4 Missae breve

JS Bach - Violin Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 (not the Double Concerto)

Bartók - Cantata profana

Beethoven - String Quintet in C Op 29 (why this isn't played more often defeats me!)

Berg - Piano Sonata

Bridge - Oration for Cello and Orchestra (the best cello concerto that never gets played)

Britten - Passacaglia from 'Peter Grimes'

Dvořák - String Quintet Op 77

Dvořák - Symphony No 7

Elgar - In the South (Alassio)

Enescu - Nearly everything, but especially the wondrous String Octet Op 7

Fauré - String Quartet in E minor

Glazunov - The King of the Jews

Grainger - Green Bushes

Handel - 3 concerti a due cori

Handel - La resurrezzione

Holst - Egdon Heath

Mendelssohn - Sextet Op 110

Mozart - Incidental music: Thamos, King of Egypt

Nielsen - Symphony No 6 (Sinfonia semplice)

Prokofiev - Symphony No 6 (one of the finest of all 20th-century symphonies)

Ravel - L'enfant et les sortilèges

Ravel - L'heure espagnole

Ravel - Valses nobles et sentimentales

Rimsky-Korsakov - Russian Easter Festival Overture

Schoenberg - Pelleas and Melisande

Shostakovich - The Execution of Stepan Razin

Shostakovich - String Quartet No 5 Op 92

Sibelius - String Quartet in D minor (Voces intimae)

Stravinsky - The Song of the Nightingale

Sullivan - Macbeth Overture

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 3

Tchaikovsky - Incidental music: The Snow Maiden

Vaughan Williams - Job - A Masque for Dancing

Vivaldi - Nisi Dominus

Nielsen's Symphony No. 2 "The Four Temperaments," as well as the Helios Overture. He's a very underrated composer overall. Also, Dvorak's tone poems (The Noon Witch, The Golden Spinning Wheel, The Wood Dove, and the Water Goblin) and Symphony No. 6, and Stravinsky's Symphony in E-Flat Major, Op.1 Scherzo fantastique, Op. 3 and Les Noces.

This! Rautavaara - Cantus Arcticus - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auW10aD0kYo&playnex...

It's like spooky boo scooby doo music for grown ups. PLUS it has honking Geese, which as everyone knows are the most evil, malign, beady eyed feckers ever, so it all makes satisfying sense. I dunno, it just makes me tense in a good way, and I can't understand why it's not used on DFS adverts to scare people into buying a pony skin corner combo.

Your one is one of those that I'd heard for a long time, but never knew who composed it or what it was called until fairly recently.

I went to some victorian working farm in Shropshire, and the Geese took such an instant hatred towards me the staff asked me to 'wait outside' till they calmed down. When I eventually went back in they spotted me from across a big field and charged at me - I ended up trying to hide by crawling combat style through this scrub. Pure unadulterated terror. I should have sued. Swans have got the same nasty little faces. Why they think they make nice Pedlos I do not know.

I too think that piece is underrated. I think there are many underrated pieces, like the ones mentioned above me. I'll mention this one, since it hasn't been mentioned here yet, is from baroque period, so it's not from classical period, but still, very beautiful and the composer could be more recognized too. Is "Diverse Bizzarie Sopra la Vecchia Sarabanda o piu Ciaccona" and is from Nicola Matteis. That piece reaches deep into my heart.

Honegger's symphonies

Yorke Bowen's Piano works

Glazunov Violin Concerto

I'd say that two of the most underrated pieces are Scrabin's Fantasy in B minor and Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain.

Tchaikovsky's first 3 symphonies. 4, 5, and 6 get all the attention, but 1, 2, and 3 are much more enjoyable, IMO.

Many of Alkan's pieces are underrated. The average listener does not know much of Alkan, only more serious music listeners and practitioners know Alkan.

Some of Alkan's etudes are wonderful and highly technically complex. Hamelin has played many of Alkan's pieces uploaded on Youtube.

Overshadowed by the next in numeric sequence, I believe Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.1 in F sharp minor deserves far more attention than it gets.

It is rarely performed and hardly ever played on the radio, so is sadly little known by the average listener. This concerto has everything you'd expect from Rachmaninov, including his trademark broad sweeping melodies; it has vigor, it has romanticism to spare and it has serene tranquility.

Why should it be as neglected as it is? I fail to understand the reason.

In MY opinion:

Camille Saint-Saens: tone poem "Phaeton"

Cesar Franck: (1) tone poem "Le Chausseur Maudit" (The Accursed Huntsman) /// (2) "Symphonic Variations"

Richard Wagner: "Parsifal"

P.I. Tchaikovsky: "Francesca di Rimini"

Ottorino Resphigi: (1) two of his Roman Trilogy (three symphonic poems) - "Lefontane di Roma" (Roman Fountains) and "Feste Romane" (Roman Festivals); all one usually ever hears is the "I pini Roma" (Pines of Rome).

(2) And his "La Boutique fantasque" (The Fantastic Toy Shop) based on the piano works of Giochino Rossini; love this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktZvs-q10I&playnex...

Alberich