Perhaps no 20th century composer for the piano was as technically demanding or as prolific as Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988), who became internationally famous for his extremely dense and fiendishly difficult keyboard works. Yet despite his global fame, due largely to the strenuous promotional efforts of such energetic pianists as Marc-André Hamelin, John Ogdon, and Jonathan Powell, his vast oeuvre is still largely unknown, because of the difficulty and expense of publishing his intricate and immense manuscripts. Furthermore, this music is so virtuosic, only the most skilled, muscular, and artistically committed musicians can approach such monuments of complexity as Le jardin parfumé, the Concerto per suonare da me solo, and perhaps the most mind-boggling of all Sorabji’s works, the four-hour long Opus Clavicembalisticum.

On the surface, Sorabji’s fantastically dense music resembles the apocalyptic works of Alexander Scriabin, though it is important to point out that Sorabji’s harmonies and textures are far more daunting to performers and listeners alike. Yet this challenging music is intensely rewarding, as these electrifying samples may convey.
 
Fantaisie Espagnole
Un nido de scatole
Djâmî
St. Bertrand de Comminges
Rosario d’arabeschi
Gulistan
Piano Sonata No. 4
Le jardin parfumé
Concerto per suonare da me solo e senza orchestra, per divertisi
Opus Clavicembalisticum

Well-known to fans of classical guitar music, but seriously overlooked for his chamber, orchestral, operatic, and vocal works, Fernando Sor (1778-1839) was one of the leading musical figures in Spain and France at the transition between the Classical and the Romantic periods. He was admired in his time as a virtuoso guitarist and as the composer of the once popular but now long forgotten ballets, Cendrillon (1822) and Hassan et la calife (1828), which took him on travels from London to Moscow. His Méthode pour la guitare (1830) was widely praised, and his career as a teacher won him lasting respect. But of his surviving works, many of which languish unperformed and unrecorded, more than a hundred guitar pieces have become an important part of the repertoire and continue to appear on recitals and albums today.

Try the samples below to hear some of Sor’s best guitar music, as well as a few other rarities that deserve some attention.
 
Andante maestoso for guitar
Thème varié in C major, Op. 15c
Divertimento, Op. 23
Fantaisie for guitar, Op. 58
Etude for guitar in B minor, Op. 35/22
Sonata for guitar No. 1 in D major, Op. 14, “Grand Solo”
L’encouragement, for two guitars in G major, Op. 34/4
Duet, for two guitars, Op. 62
Mazurka, for piano
O Crux, for chorus
Ti ricordi che giurasti, ariette
Lagrime mie d’affano, ariette
Il Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso, Preludio
Il Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso, “Care Selve”
Il Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso, “Mia dolce speranza”

When you’re admired by someone as savvy as Ludwig van Beethoven and emulated by Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn, no slouches in the genius department, you’d think your name might be remembered along with theirs, right? And if your music was still being played fifty years after your demise, you’d think your reputation might last into the next century, at least. Alas, like many other celebrated figures who are now unjustly neglected, George Onslow (1784-1853) fell into total obscurity for most of the 20th century, only to be reassessed and revived in recent years through recordings on European labels.
 
A nobleman who enjoyed country life, Onslow established himself as one of the leading producers of chamber music in France, and his elegant works served as models for many of the early Romantics. Yet while other French composers treated their instrumental pieces as calling cards for advancement in the world of opera, Onslow largely avoided the musical theater and devoted himself almost entirely to the production of keyboard sonatas, string quartets, string quintets, and other works for small instrumental groups.

Try some of the samples below to find out if Onslow really was as good as his shrewd contemporaries thought he was.
 
Sonata (Grand Duo) for piano, 4 hands in E minor, Op. 7
Sonata for piano, 4 hands in F minor, Op. 22
Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 16/1
Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 16/2
Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 16/3
String Quartet in G minor, Op. 9/1, (”Variations on ‘God Save the King’”)
String Quartet in F minor, Op. 9/3
String Quartet in C major, Op. 47
String Quintet No. 15 in C minor, Op. 38, (”The Bullet”)
String Quintet No. 26 in C minor, Op. 67
Grand Sextet, Op. 77bis
Nonet in A minor, Op. 77
Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 42
Symphony No. 4 in G major, Op. 71

An American original who lived just long enough to leave an impression with the public, yet not long enough to establish himself as a master, Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) wrote almost everything we have of his music in less than fifteen years. In that extremely short time, he experimented with both German post-Romanticism and French impressionism, yet quickly discovered a rich style wholly his own. His “late” music, such as the Piano Sonata, The White Peacock, and The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, shimmer with richly inventive colors and harmonies, and suggest the fantastic heights Griffes could have reached, had he not died prematurely of pneumonia at the Mozartian age of 35.

Play some of the samples below to hear Griffes at his best.
 
The Lake at Evening, for piano
Piano Sonata
A Winter Landscape, for piano
De Profundis, for piano
The Fountain of the Acqua Paola, for piano
The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, for piano
The White Peacock, for orchestra
Poem, for flute and orchestra
Bacchanale, for orchestra
Clouds, for orchestra
The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, for orchestra

The post-Romantic (and sometimes mildly modernist) music of French composer, teacher, and theoretician Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) is pleasantly melodious, harmonically rich, atmospheric in mood, and impressionistic in style, but it has not yet found the wide audience it deserves. Listeners who love the evocative fin de siècle music of Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Fauré, and Claude Debussy (who, incidentally, all worked at different times with Koechlin and sought his assistance in orchestrating some of their compositions) will regard these samples of his long neglected oeuvre with delight. Though Koechlin’s music has largely been forgotten for over a half century since his death, enough of it has been recorded in recent years to demonstrate his staying power and potential for a full-fledged revival. Vive Koechlin!

String Quartet No. 1
String Quartet No. 2
Au loin
Sonata for flute and piano
Sonata for viola and piano
Sonatine No. 1
Sonatine No. 2
Hommage a Gabriel Fauré
La Méditation de Purun Bagat
La Course de printemps
Les Bandar-log

Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739 - 1799) is not exactly a household name, but his musical achievements won him many honors and he became as celebrated across 18th-century Europe as his friends and colleagues, Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (Interestingly, Dittersdorf and Haydn, both violinists, and Mozart, a violist, all played together in a string quartet, along with Bohemian composer and cellist, Johann Baptist Vanhal). Dittersdorf’s operas and oratorios brought him enormous success in his time, though he is mostly remembered today for his concert works, including numerous concertos, symphonies, and chamber pieces, some of which are sampled below. So even though he is not quite as famous as his contemporaries, and despite his curious sounding name, don’t just treat Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf as an item of musical trivia — get to know his delightful music, too!

Concerto for harp & orchestra in A major
Concerto for oboe & orchestra in G major
Sinfonia Concertante for viola, double bass & orchestra in D major
Divertimento for violin, viola & cello in D major
Symphonies (6) after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, No. 1 in C major
Symphonies (6) after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, No. 2 in D major
Symphonies (6) after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, No. 3 in G major
Symphonies (6) after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, No. 4 in F major
Symphonies (6) after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, No. 5 in A major
Symphonies (6) after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, No. 6 in D major
String Quartet No. 1 in D major
String Quartet No. 2 in B flat major
String Quartet No. 3 in G major
String Quartet No. 4 in C major
String Quartet No. 5 in E flat major
String Quartet No. 6 in A major

“I’m sure you recognize this lovely melody as ‘Stranger in Paradise.’ But did you know that the original theme was from the Polovtsian Dance No. 2 by Borodin?”

For anyone watching American television in the 1970s and 1980s, if they heard that phrase one time, they heard it a thousand times. There was no escaping this ad: a distinguished looking English gentleman, talking about how many popular melodies originated with “the great mawhstuhs” and how, through buying the LP collections 120 Music Masterpieces and 30 Piano Masterpieces, one could readily and cheaply obtain them all. We are informed that tunes such as “Full Moon and Empty Arms” originated with Rachmaninoff and “Tonight We Love” with Tchaikovsky. No matter that these pop adaptations of classics appeared on the pop charts of the 1930s and 1940s and were already in the 1970s well on their way to being forgotten; audiences in 2008 don’t even recognize these tunes by their popular aliases -– they are more likely to know the originals from which they come.

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There’s no requirement to be a Medieval Festival re-enactor or a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism to appreciate this generous double-disc from Virgin of music from the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. Some of the original recordings from the 1970s and 80s are scarce collectors’ items now, but it’s good to find them gathered together on this lively compilation. The variety of authentic recreations by such eminent early music pioneers as Jordi Savall, Thomas Binkley, David Munrow, and Paul Hillier, among many others, is quite refreshing, and the mix of vocal and instrumental selections will appeal to listeners who like early music but don’t want to hear too much of the same style in one sitting. Put on thy best raiment, fill thy tankard to the brim, and prithee, rouse thyself to hear some of the greatest hits of the Middle Ages!

Danse Royale
La Spagna
Istanpitta Gaetta
Trotto
A vous, douce debonaire
Amours me fait desirer
Quarte estampie royale
Quan lo rossinhols
Le roi a fait battre tambour
Douce Amour, confortez moi