Great Question!

There has to be composers that have slipped beneath the radar for more
spurious reasons than talent. The path to fameis too slippery to be an
accurate indicator of worth.

Someone may be able to correct me here but I seem to remember Bach was
not highly regarding until a hell of a long time after his death?

Here is a great resource to look at:
http://www.kith.org/jimmosk/

I am listening to Hovhaness a lot at the moment Does he count as a
forgotten composer? He had the misfortune to out of sync with musical
fashions for much of his life although apparantly he had more success
with audiences than he did with the critics.


--- In belabartokclub@yahoogroups.com, LarryLemer <ljlwpb@y...> wrote:
> I checked out <http://www.martinu.cz/main.html>.
> Martinu was a very prolific composer and enjoyed fame
> and respect. His compositions were eagerly awaited and
> performed by the best orchestras.
>
> That reminds me of a question I've had for years:
>
> What relationship does fame have with quality?
> Are only the best composers remembered after their
> death? Can obscure composers really be great? Why then
> were they forgotten? Is classical music no different
> than pop music, where the hottest group is often the
> worst and the truly great don't sell well? Is the road
> to recognition a game of chance?
>
> I'm looking for new examples of greatness but don't
> want to plow through mediocrity to get there. It is
> amazing how many people have tried their hand at
> composing over the centuries. How can anyone find lost
> gems and why were they lost in the first place?
>
> Forgive my naivete.
>
>
> --- andybak <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> > --- In belabartokclub@yahoogroups.com, rugby52732
> > <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> > > --- In belabartokclub@yahoogroups.com, andybak
> > <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> > > > I am a bit late to this discussion but I have
> > always heard a small
> > > > touch of Bartok in Martinu. Mainly the rhythmic
> > drive and 'bite'.
> > > Try
> > > > the later symphonies...
> > > >
> > > > Oddly enough John Adam's Violin Concerto somehow
> > reminds me of
> > > > Bartok's although I doubt anyone else would
> > agree with me there...
> >
> > > I quite agree on the Adams.One is in the prescence
> > of totally
> > > original writing in both cases.The Bartok 2nd and
> > the Adams are musts
> > > in any collection,certainly a lover of violin
> > concerti,as is of
> > > course the Bartok Viola Concerto.
> > >
> > > Martinu is to my ear much more limited than
> > Bartok.Rudolf Firkusny
> > > has a single cd of Martinu piano music if one is
> > looking for an
> > > introduction.I do prefer Janacek.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > The only Janacek I know is the Glagolthic Mass which
> > sounds unlike
> > anything else I have heard. I know the Sinfonietta a
> > little. Is there
> > anything else I should hear?
> >
> > I would start with Martinu's orchestral stuff. You
> > can't knock the 6th
> > Symphony surely...?
> > I agree Martinu isn't in the same league as Bartok
> > but I am starved of
> > good stuff in that style so I take what I can get!
> > (My taste in
> > classical music is pretty narrow. I can't cope
> > anything that much more
> > modernist or less modernist than Bartok... I
> > probably stretch from
> > Sibelius on the romantic/classical side to
> > later-Stravinsky on the
> > Modernist end of the spectrum leaving me not much
> > middle ground to
> > play with...)
> >
> > I am trying to think who else would I listen to when
> > I wanted a
> > Bartokian kind of kick... Sometimes Hindemith is
> > worth a go (Concert
> > Music for Strings and Brass)... Try Vaughan Williams
> > Piano Concerto
> > (3rd Movement)... Barber's Symphony No. 1 will be
> > surprising if you
> > only know the Adagio. (Listening to Michael Tippett
> > Symphony No. 1 at
> > the moment... Sigh. I'm going off the point now
> > aren't I? ;-)
> >
> >
> >
> >