A Conundrum.

I find the Symphonic Studies fascinating for a different reason. It's a struggle to think of another composer who showed so much promise so early, and totally failed to live up to it. His first piano concerto has its moments but, in general, whatever Rawsthorne had seems to have been spent in the Studies.

Shostakovich and Stravinsky peaked early too but managed to produce interesting, sometimes great, works thereafter. Poor old Rawsthorne found himself wedged into that dreaded category, a "composer's composer", code for dry as dust.

There is some truth to what Sid says - and you could add that often what marks out the best from the rest is that they do develop their skills over time. If you look at somebody like Verdi his earliest operas are touched with hints of the later marvels but are very much weaker works. He learned on the job, as most people do. Had he not had the talent and graft to do that I doubt we would still listen to his music as frequently.

For me the problem is not that Hummel is not as good as Beethoven. It is that in the concert hall Hummel hardly gets a look in. To be honest I would be much happier these days to see a piano concerto by Hummel or a Spohr symphony on a concert program than another performance of the Beethoevn second piano concerto. If you want a fool's errand then of course you go on some mythical quest to find an 'undiscovered masterpiece' but there is a great deal of pleasure to be spent listening to some of the non-household name composers. And I have to say, for me at least, every time I return to somebody like Beethoven after spending a little time with Ries, Spohr, Hummel or someone else I fnd my appreciation of all more heightened.

Well if we follow HM who decides who is first rate or second rate; obviously some are first rate without question but is Saint Saens second rate? Are the 2nd & 4th piano concertos & the third symphony second rate? I would suggest not.

Parla says we listen more to lesser works by great composers but how much of that is due to concert programmers? I tend to agree with Nauplus - a Beethoven concerto again on tonight's Radio 3 concert - when was a Hummel concerto last performed at a live concert in Britain (or anywhere else)?

Because of this my record & CD listening tends perhaps to be of the lesser known because I can hear so many live broadcast performances of the core repertoire. The Vox-Turnabout Hummel concerti, particularly the double concerto, are amongst my most played recordings which I still prefer to more recent versions, no doubt because I heard the old ones first & know them so well. 

A fan of Saint-Saens AND the Hammers. And I thought I was the only one!

:oD