The musical journey continues. I had a sheltered and rather narrow upbringing (Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, ... Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev)


The last year has been one exciting find after another. "Discoveries" incude the keyboard works of - amongst others: Byrd, Gibbons, Scarlatti, Rossini, Faure, Poulenc, Granados, Scriabin, Grieg, Moussorgsky, Balakirev (the playable stuff - not Islamei!), Bartok, Medtner, Alkan, and Sorabji

My latest find is Glinka. His "Prayer" and "Barcarolle" are lovely pieces, and much easier to play than I had been expecting.

Anyway, here are some questions.

A. What do you play of Glinka's? Which others of his pieces do you recommend? Are there any that are poor and not up to scratch?

B. What other lesser known composers of piano music am I missing out on?

Tom, I dont know of any piano music by Glinka, so thats one for me to explore.

You havent mentioned Ravel, but I assume you are familiar with the well known Pavane pour une Infanta Defunte. Other stuff 'Le Tombeau de Couperin' 'Minuet Antique' etc. I'd stay clear of 'Gaspard de la Nuit' unless you are virtuosic !

For a lesser known piano composer , please have a look at the Catalan composer Federico Mompou. The 'Cancion Y Danzas' are very playable (12 of them) as are 'Fetes Lointains' and some of the Preludes. Theres lots more. Recommended recordings by Stephen Hough (born here in this very village), but the ones on the budget Naxos label are also very acceptable.

Tchaikowsky was not known for his piano muisc, but you may enjoy 'The Seasons', 12 pieces, one for each month.

I also play Edward MacDowell (Not just 'To a Wild Rose'!)

You havent mentioned Shostakovich. If youre not ready for the Preludes and Fugues, try the 'Five Early Preludes' the '24 Preludes Op34' and 'Three Fantastic Dances'. Theres some easier stuff too like 'Dances of the Dolls'

Bartok wrote some playable stuff. Besides the graded pieces in Mikrocosmos (6 volumes) there are works like 'Six Roumanian Dances' 'Sonatina' 'Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs' and 'Three Rondos on Folk Tunes'

Many years ago, in my teenage days, I played some fugues by Glinka. He was the first of the Russian nationalist composers, and very influential. There don't seem to be many recordings of his piano music, at least not in the shops...but i am very keen to get some. Some of the other composers you mentioned, like Medtner and Alkan, have been getting more attention recently because of the recordings of Marc Andre Hamelin on Hyperion, which have recieved rave reviews. Hamelin is known for exploring repertoire ''off the beaten track'' and another composer he has recorded is Catoire. Since i bought the CD I've learned several of his pieces. And some of Medtners ''Forgotten Melodies'' which are fabulous. As F sharp minor has recommended, Mompou is another unsung composer, championed by Stephen Hough, and his disc also on Hyperion is a beauty. Henselt and Moscheles are other worth looking out for. Obviously Grieg is a well known composer, but mainly for his very popular works, there are fourteen volumes of his piano music on Naxos...4 of which include very short folk collections which he did'nt actually put his name to in his lifetime, but the other ten include many wonderful pieces seldom heard, which are some of my favourites. His song transcriptions, including the famous I love thee and the Poets Heart, are brilliant. The poetic tone pictures, The album leaves, and Sonata in E minor...You are right though, there is so much music that does'nt get heard nearly as much as it should.

Indeed Chopinzee, I also play a lot of the Grieg Lyric Pieces, and the Sonata in E Minor, what a nice slow movement.
Just remembered John Field, the Irish contemporary of Beethoven , and 'inventor' of the Nocturne.

Oh yes - John Field is well worth playing

Especially the Nocturne no.5 in B flat maj

I'm learning the andante Molto from the sonata. Lovely but quite hard ! Bought a CD of Glen Gould playing this last week, his constant humming and the slowness of his playing throughout the entire sonata take some believing. As for Glinka, there seems to be little of his piano music available on CD , apart from in collections, but have just been listening to a pianist called Victor Ryabchikov who has recorded Glinkas complete works on BIS which you can hear clips from Volume 3 on CD universe. Sounds nice, but i really wish Naxos would do a series on some of the less well known Russians like Medtner,Glinka, Glazunov, Balakirev and Cui ...Many other CDs of these composers are £ 15 + ...

The main road (Bach, Beethoven, Chopin etc.) can be rewarding but the road less travelled can often take you to some wonderful places too!

Thanks guys. That is a few interesting new names to explore:

Mompou, Catoire, Henselt, Moschelles, MacDowell ...

[I've already looked up some Mompou - the local music shop has a lot of his works - so much that I could not decide what to buy (and it is all in edition Salabert which is not cheap)]

as well as reminders of some bigger names that I already knew about: Ravel, Grieg, Field, Tchaikovsky, Bartok, Shostakovich

... and I have been meaning for ages to get to know more works by Clementi, and some by Busoni

... and there is a great list of "minor" Russian composers on Victor Ryabchiko's web site - quite a pianist! Interesting man.


Life's too short.

(70 - current age) x 365 = not enough days.

I bought an edition Salabert of Mompou, it was a collection of various pieces, and yeah it was dear...around £25. i I lent it to somebody, who lost it on their holiday abroad. Luckily I had photo-copied the one piece that i had to buy the entire book to get, El Lago from Paisages. Though the book turned out to be full of gems. And at some stage i'm going to have to buy it again. I paid about £7..50 for the three variations which is a mere 5 pages ! I don't think that was Salabert either. I'd recommend the Naxos Vol 3 of Mompou which includes Paisages and the Three Variations, I'm not mad on everything he wrote-but then i could say that for most of my favourite composers-but that CD was great for just a fiver. Hough, who says Mompou is his hero, cites his main influences as Chopin, Scriabin and Satie. I often look for recordings before i decide to play anything, and have amassed quite a collection, however sometimes i've forked out money and regretted doing so, when there are no sound samples available online, it's something of a gamble. And i think i'm a little hooked.

Moszkowski!!

However did I miss such a musical giant.

Did you get the BBC3 podcast of Music Matters broadcast on 2nd Feb? There was an interesting discussion regarding Glinka and other Russian composers. Only available in the UK tho Tom. I wonder can I upload it for you if you're interested.

I downloaded a bunch of his stuff from emusic.com the other week, yet with the hectic social whirl of my life I haven't really had a chance to listen...

The other composers that I thought of have already been mentioned, Field (for his links with Glinka, well, he gave him three lessons or summat) (Oh and he was Irish... and an alcoholic.. Ah the stereotype!) and Shostakovich, for being Russian, and a bloomin genius

I have just been given the complete works of Glinka, an Urtext edition in 2 parts . . . by Mad Tom: Thank you Tom & I look forward to playing some of them.

I have 3 CD's of Seta Tanyel playing Moszkowski. Not sure about most of his stuff though, it is very much of a salonesque style, but in my view -apart from a few attractive pieces, it's not the best that could fall into the category of salon music. I have listened to them time and again, to try and derive something more from these discs, and Sur L'eau Op 83 is really nice. But apart from that and a few others, the music was well played, and often sounds quite difficult, but did'nt leave much impression. He is not the only prolific composer for piano of that time which i feel this about either. A piece that did leave an impression on me only yesterday was Glinkas song ''The Lark'' arranged for piano by Balakirev... which is a real beauty.

You could also consider piano music by John Ireland (Island Spell is very atmospheric) and Frank Bridge (wonderful rich harmonies).

How about Schoenberg and Messiaen ? :-)

I particularly like exploring the latter.

Yes I enjoy Mesaiens organ music, and his Turangalila Symphony (sometimes known as the strinalongtoolonger symphony), but I have never tried his piano music. I have heard bits of his mammoth work 'Catalogue d'Oiseaux, and also 'Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus' but have been reluctant to try same.
Anyone have experience of playing these ?

I'm having a go at No 4 (it's on the diploma list) of Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus and finding it really interesting :-)

Well the names are flooding in now.

I have learned my first Mompou piece - Jeunne filles au jardin. Not terribly difficult.

Field? Of course he was already a known quantity. Ireland? Already at work on two of the London pieces. Moszkowski - I picked up an album of selected works, and I actually like almost everything in it - I must have fairly shallow tastes. They are just so showy and pianistic.

Schoenberg - I don't understand. Messaien - I've listened to lots of his work but I don't know what most of it is about. A few of the 'vingt regardes' I like very much, so they are on the list of things to look up in the future. My list of 'would like to play' pieces is already long enough to keep my busy for about 100 years.

Mozskowski does write very pianistic and showy pieces, and some of them are nice. I was'nt having a dig at the chap. But here's another name, Janecek, and in particular From an Overgrown Path and In the Mists as well as his Sonata. This is music of griefs remembered, in particular the loss of his daughter. But this music is pictorial, has poignancy, and a real sense of yearning and nostalgia. I 'd strongly recommend Radoslav Kvapils recording on Regis, widely available at a mere five pounds.

that should be spelt Janacek