Most *under*-rated composer (and other serendipitous discoveries), Response to earlier thread Options

[linda.ff]

Adolf Jensen.

Known as a piano writer, less so as a composer of Lieder. Not many of them widely availablke now, though you might be able to ge them on the IMSLP site. I sang a group fo them in a concert over 30 years ago.

He composed settings from the Spanisches Liederbuch quite some time before Hugo Wolf got his hads on them, and the Jensen ones are very interesting and bear comparison. I also sang his setting of Waldesgesprach which I though different but not inferior to the famouse setting by Schumann.

[gwyntdi-enw]

I picked up a Recorder Sonatina by a P Glanville Hicks in a charity shop recently. I had never heard of her, and her wiki entry suggests I am probably not alone in that. It's not the greatest sonatina ever, but I've since listened to her Etruscan Concerto, which is really rather good.

[limh]

J.G.Walther, whose organ chorale preludes have been totally overshadowed by Bach, despite many of them being little gems.

May I also nominate a complete genre, with all its composers: Victorian organ music, the sort of voluntaries our forefathers trotted out after Evensongs, week in, week out. Every organ student learns about Bach-esque German styles, French Classical, French Romantic, Early-English single-manual etc., but no one ever seems to learn about Victorian stuff like Battison Haynes, Edward Rimbault etc., names that have sadly slipped into oblivion with all they ever did. Scorned because it's found mouldering in boxes behind any elderly Organ, and in the 2nd hand boxes in cheap music shops. Heard objectively, some of it is worth much more than that, and it's part of our musical heritage.

[kenm]

I recommend Walter Leigh (1905-1942). He was one of three English pupils of Hindemith (the others were Franz Reizenstein and Arnold Cooke). He wrote some light music, including songs for Joyce Grenfell, but the three works that show his stature are a concertino for harpsichord and strings, a sonata for treble recorder and piano and (best of all) a trio for flute, oboe and piano. These demonstrate a blending of English pastoral with Hindemith's rhythmic drive and a rich chromatic harmony.

[pitcher54]

limh: I too enjoy Walther's chorale preludes, and especially the Partita on 'Jesu meine Freude'. Every bit as satisfying as Bach's more famous 'Sei gegrusset'.

kenm: Another neglected English composer is Arthur Milner who was also pretty versatile. Having heard the first performance of a suite for recorder and string quartet written by Gordon Jacob in 1958 for Arnold Dolmetch, he set to and wrote a 'Suite for treble recorder and piano' which he dedicated to Dolmetch. He followed it up in 1961 with a piece for harpsichord or piano, 'Hobgoblin', which he dedicated to Dolmetch's accompanist, Joseph Saxby.