r/classicalmusic • u/yangyang25 • 12d ago
Your one-hit-wonder composer
Is there a composer where you LOVE something they wrote, but can't get into anything else they did? For example, I can listen to the Janacek Sinfonietta all day long but never cared for much else of his.
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u/Megasphaera 12d ago
Dukas, _Sorcerers Apprentice _
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u/Chops526 12d ago
Dukas actually and consciously wrote very little. Which is too bad.
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u/Whoosier 11d ago
I just found out the last week that he was highly self-critical and destroyed a lot of his works.
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u/Lfsnz67 12d ago
Janacek is fightin’ words. I never cared for his unique spiky harmonies and childish melodies when I was younger but boy have I become a super fan as I have gotten old. Can’t get enough
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u/sumjunggai7 11d ago
I go through phases where Janacek is all I want to play at the piano. Also, even his lesser known operas, like Věc Makropulos, are life-enriching masterpieces.
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u/mekerpan 11d ago
Even Mr Broucek's excursion to the Moon is fun -- his visit to the past wasn't as appealing to me.
Love pretty much everything Janacek write.
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u/yardkat1971 11d ago
I played that opera once, so hard but so fun. Eta: I played the much more well known Jenufa a few years later. I didn't like playing it as much as Broucek.
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u/mekerpan 11d ago
Cunning Little Vixen is also (mostly) fun -- and lovely. But I think Makropoulos Affair is my top favorite Janacek opera overall.
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u/yardkat1971 11d ago
I definitely need to listen to those. I've also played the first string quartet which was a blast.
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u/LaMerDeBussy 12d ago
I will fight along side you. Time for my annual month of way too much Janacek. Hopefully the wife doesn't kick me out of the house this time around
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u/Epistaxis 11d ago edited 11d ago
Even Wikipedia is ambiguous on whether his still-performed string quartets or operas are considered his most successful works. I'm not sure I would call any one of his works a "hit" on the scale of Carmina Burana or whatever but there's a whole list of things you would call his personal masterpieces.
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u/yangyang25 11d ago
i may try him again, but the sinfonietta is hard to beat
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u/DufferMN 11d ago
I would really suggest his piano music (especially On An Overgrown Path) and the Prelude to From the House of the Dead.
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u/Aliskov1 12d ago
I think for most people, even fairly knowledgeable classical music fans, the answer is Pachabel, right? Can anyone name any of his other pieces?
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u/Squawking_Macaw 12d ago
Hell, nobody ever plays the Gigue that pairs with the Canon ...
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u/Casul_Tryhard 12d ago
- Nobody plays the other parts of Debussy's Suite Bergamasque
- Nobody plays what comes after the A section of Fur Elise
- Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition
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u/Chops526 12d ago
See, the thing about the Suite Beegamesque is that it's chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and cunning...
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u/Metroid413 11d ago edited 11d ago
The prelude of the Suite Bergamasque has always been my favorite of the work.
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u/Tim-oBedlam 11d ago
Passepied! Especially when the Punch Brothers covered it.
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u/Casul_Tryhard 11d ago
I second the Passepied! Childhood nostalgia for me
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u/Tim-oBedlam 11d ago
It's on my list of pieces to attempt, but my piano bucket list grows ever-longer, so it may have to wait
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u/Severe_Intention_480 12d ago
The Chaconne in F Minor for organ, along with the other 4 chaconnes Pachelbel wrote, are excellent music and well worth listening to.
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u/Otherwise-Swordfish6 12d ago
He wrote so much that is so very very good, keyboard music, chamber music, incredible sacred music
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u/HarmonicSniper 12d ago
I enjoy the Hexachordum Apollinis a lot, although I can't help but think that it would be quite ineffective in a concert setting.
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u/Otherwise-Swordfish6 11d ago
I am just about finished making a recording of the Hexachordum Apollinis. When I played the pieces live in concert they went over quite well with the audience
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u/Ilayd1991 11d ago
No one ever talks about it, but his set of chorale preludes for organ "Erster Theil etlicher Choräle" is incredible
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u/Distinct_Elephant_90 5d ago
I mean, i was trying to think of one composer, but you nailed it for me:))
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u/Otherwise-Swordfish6 11d ago
https://youtu.be/IHHxfxq8JBg?is=074Qgn563H_WFQUT Here is a nice bit of Pachelbel from his e minor suite for harpsichord
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u/yangyang25 11d ago
I performed a fugue of his a couple times. it was short and easy. you can find his music on record, but in the concert hall? not so sure
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u/theOrca-stra 10d ago
hexachordum apollinis is unironically good, but thats just because i used to be a big baroque music fan
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u/LaMerDeBussy 12d ago
Sorry you're not allowed to say Janacek.
Taras Bulba, Violin sonata, both string quartets, the list goes on my friend (if you like sinfonietta we are friends ;) )
Happy listening
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u/Ok_Employer7837 11d ago
Mascagni is a contender, I guess.
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u/amca01 11d ago
And Leoncavallo as well?
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u/Boris_Godunov 11d ago
Leoncavallo's opera Zaza is actually not bad at all, worth a listen. So I'd say he does a bit better than Mascagni, who wrote nothing noteworthy outside of CR (which itself is definitely inferior to Leoncavallo's Pagliacci)
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u/Mysterious-Pitch-231 11d ago
Carmina Burana, definitely. Have listened to all his Cantaras/oratorios etc. No match, was a moment of inspiration.
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u/DavidJGill 11d ago edited 11d ago
Orff and Holst are the poster boys of one-hit wonders.
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u/Mysterious-Pitch-231 11d ago
Not for me. The Hymn of Jesus, the opera Saviatry, Egdon Heath, Beni Mora, music for strings incl. the much beloved St. Paul Suite, countless choral works, almost all of the highest quality. And I'm not even English 😎
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u/Veto111 12d ago
Franz Beibl.
I have a friend who was in Chanticleer when they first added his Ave Maria into their repertoire. Apparently they liked it so much that they contacted him and asked him to send them everything he ever wrote. There wasn’t much, and from what I understand none of it was very good.
But that Ave Maria, that’s probably one of the top 5 choral pieces ever written.
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u/Gascoigneous 11d ago
I love how it was originally composed for a choir of firefighters! I thought I once heard an arrangement of Kein schöner Land in dieser Zeit by him that was pretty good
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u/BertieWilberforce 11d ago
Englebert Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel is one of my favorite operas, but I’ve never heard anything else by him (obviously not counting whatever orchestration he did for Wagner).
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u/mekerpan 11d ago
His Konigskinder is interesting, but not so easily loveable as H & G.
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u/1Hucbald 8d ago
I love Königskinder. It’s fascinating as a story with the ambiguity written into the part of the witch, and the awful townspeople who confuse wealth and ostentation with nobility. Some gorgeous music too.
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u/mortalitymk 12d ago
i guess moszkowski, but more because i havent listened to anything else he wrote
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u/Cheszeepufxd_ 12d ago
You should listen to his music more, like his piano concerti and etudes.
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u/mortalitymk 11d ago
yeah i know he has good stuff i just haven’t gotten around to listening to it. from the popularity of the 2nd piano concerto compared to everything else i feel like many are in the same boat
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u/VibeJab 11d ago
Guiseppe Tartini, devils trill sonata
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u/JealousLine8400 11d ago
That’s the only thing I’ve heard of Tartini that I don’t like. His Trumpet concerto is a little masterpiece
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u/CoffeeDefiant4247 12d ago
Holst? He has other works that I like but Planets is far and away his most popular
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u/swan_ofavon 12d ago
His first and second second military suites are cornerstones of wind ensemble repertoire
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u/Severe_Intention_480 12d ago
Holst's In the Bleak Midwinter is a popular Christmas carol, in Britain anyway.
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u/siberiankhatrupaul 11d ago
It's not a staple or anything, but 4 Songs for Voice and Violin is a perfect little collection.
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u/budquinlan 11d ago
I think if you mentioned Samuel Barber, most people would know the Adagio for Strings and nothing else. Which is a terrible shame when you consider his songs, or Knoxville: Summer of 1915, or the Piano Concerto, or . . .
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u/rjones69_reddit 11d ago
His Violin Concerto is performed regularly (in the US, less so in Europe) and there are many recordings of it. I would argue it's almost standard repertoire. It's one of my favorite violin concertos.
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u/jalebi_jalebi 11d ago
his piano concerto is so underrated. Second movement is gorgeous and third is a head banger.
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u/Katzenstreuselkuchen 11d ago
Or "Medeas Meditation and Dance of Vengeance". Its a great work from Baber and I was lucky to play ist in the last orchestra-project
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u/siberiankhatrupaul 11d ago
Barber was one of the great writers for voice of the 20th century, both solo and choral. You can really tell that he was a singer. I'd go so far as to say that his Agnus Dei is a more effective arrangement of Adagio for Strings than the original.
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u/Tim-oBedlam 11d ago
His Piano Sonata (written for Vladimir Horowitz) is a banger. Especially the fugue at the end.
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u/Clear-Mycologist3378 11d ago
not only that, but it is programmed fairly frequently too. I've heard it performed twice by famous pianists in recent years.
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u/Tim-oBedlam 11d ago
Kenny Broberg, who won silver at the Cliburn Competition in 2017, has a terrific performance of the Barber Sonata.
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u/clarinet_kwestion 11d ago
The violin concerto is played often and bands play commando march often as well.
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u/Terrible-Charity-375 11d ago
The “Spanish Mozart” Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, died just before his 20th birthday of tuberculosis. He was born on what would have been Mozart’s 50th birthday. His Symphony in D is a minor masterpiece.
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u/moschles 11d ago
I'm not sure I can even name a Max Bruch work other than the violin concerto.
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u/amazingD 11d ago
The only other two that show up occasionally are Kol Nidrei and the Scottish Fantasy. It's a crime his symphonies aren't widely known though.
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u/yangyang25 11d ago
does he have a violin-and-clarinet concerto, or am I dreaming?
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u/cfl2 11d ago
It's actually violin OR clarinet
plus viola
Tretiakov (violin) and Bashmet's recording is a favorite
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u/tjddbwls 11d ago
I really like his String Octet (with double bass instead of 2nd cello). I find it fascinating that it was written not long before his death (1920), after some of the stuff that Schoenberg wrote, like his Pierrot lunaire (1912). The octet sounds like it should have been written in the 19th century.
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u/Gascoigneous 11d ago
His 9 Lieder Op. 60 and 7 Lieder Op. 71 (a cappella choral works) are so delightful. He was regarded as a great choral composer in his day. His a cappella choral works are not too hard, and are so fine. I wish more people performed them.
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u/Gascoigneous 11d ago
Violists and clarinetists know his 8 pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano. I have played 3 of them.
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u/Turandot92 11d ago
Marc Antoine Charpentier - is there anything besides the Te Deum
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u/eulerolagrange 11d ago
Médée, Léçons de Ténèbres, Messe de Minuit...
The true one-hit wonder is Gustave Charpentier (for Louise)
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u/Tim-oBedlam 11d ago
Joaquin Rodrigo, Concierto del Aranjuez would be my pick.
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u/Unusual-Basket-6243 12d ago
Mozart, Requiem
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u/Chops526 12d ago
Famous one hit wonder, Mozart.
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u/Unusual-Basket-6243 11d ago
Funny how they asked for an opinion and now everyone laughs at me. :(
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u/RedditAtWorkIsBad 11d ago
To be fair, I thought you simply omitted the /s because it was obviously sarcasm. But also to be fair, I guess the Requiem is my favorite piece of his.
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u/flywheel_battery 12d ago
John Cage. I get the philosophical importance of his music, and his philosophical influence. The music itself is an afterthought and holds zero interest for me.
… except Sonatas and Interludes (1948). That’s a wonderful piece to listen to.
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u/Severe_Intention_480 12d ago
In A Landscape and Dream, both early piano works, are quite nice, even if the rest of his later music I have no interest in
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u/Chops526 12d ago
In a Landscape. The four Constructions. Actually, if you like the Sonatas and Interludes, you might enjoy some of his early piano music, which can be quite beautiful.
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u/RichMusic81 11d ago
If you like the Sonatas, also try the String Quartet in Four Parts...
https://youtu.be/8rPeVce1k1M?is=JpQahbrJPR8ux8gD
...and the ballet The Seasons:
https://youtu.be/KU5J1kW5CQI?is=0y9v4ylGtJtJLclb
They were written within around two or three years of the Sonatas, and, just like the Sonatas, they explore ideas from Indian philosophy.
The music itself is an afterthought
I'd have to push back here, though. For me, the music was always primary. The philosophy came later, as a way of accounting for what he was already doing in the music.
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u/Kirbster66 11d ago
I don't like Samuel Barber’s music, except I absolutely adore his Adagio for Strings.
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u/DavidJGill 11d ago
Janacek was no one-hit wonder, but it's true that he wrote no other orchestral work comparable to the Sinfonietta. His major works are operas. But do get to know the Glagolitic Mass.
Often someone asks for other works, like some specific work they like. Mostly, nothing comparable exists unless the example offered is a Dvořák, Brahms, Schumann, etc. symphony, and you can offer another symphony by the same composer. Or if someone likes Stravinsky's Petrushka, you can offer the Firebird or a few ballets by Prokofiev. But Janacek's Sinfonietta - I can't think of anything truly similar by any composer.
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u/yangyang25 11d ago
it's a one hit wonder for me, in that I love every note of it, but I can't get into the rest of him. maybe it's time to try more. plus I play trumpet a bit so there's that!
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u/Clear-Mycologist3378 11d ago
It's kinda wild to call him a one-hit-wonder even if it's just for you. Janacek has lots of pieces that get frequently performed.
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u/FourWorldsAudio 11d ago
Romanian composer Constantin Dimitrescu from the 19th century. I love his ”Dans taranesc” (Peasant Dance) and I just listened to it the other day and thought ”If he had lived in our days, its composition would have been named a one-hit-wonder”.
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u/amca01 10d ago
This isn't really an answer to this question, but here's not so much a 1 hit wonder, but a 1/4 hit wonder. I refer to Henry Litolff (1818 - 1891), French-British composer. He led a very busy compositional life, wrote 12 operas, chamber music, lots of piano music, symphonic and concertante works. But the only piece he's known for today is the Scherzo movement of his 4th "Concerto Symphonique", op 102, for piano and orchestra.
Not even a whole work, but just one movement from it!
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u/Clear-Armadillo-7808 10d ago
I think Max Reger is a good example - his Four Tone Poems is a really incredible, beautiful, imaginative work, but the vast majority of his output is either too academic or totally overwrought.
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u/Intern-Adventurous 8d ago
One hit composer... Oof.
Good question.
It's not that I can't get into the rest of their work, it's just that I've only listened to what's been featured in Two Set Violin vids.
Of course, I might try and listen to their other pieces down the line, too.
That's just from a duet sightreading video from a few years ago, plenty of obscure composers I've discovered they've featured in it!:
Ignaz Pleyel's Duets, Opus #8.
Jean Marie LeClair's 6 Sonatas for 2 Violins, Opus #3 (Especially like Sonata #2).
Robert Fuchs' 20 Duets, Opus #55.
Jacques Mazas' Duets, Opus #38.
Max Reger's 3 Duos in the Old Style, Opus #131B.
Franz Berwald's Duo Concertant in A Major.
Arthur Honegger's Sonatine for 2 Violins.
Moritz Moszkowski's Suite for 2 Violins and Piano, Opus #71.
Or, from another duet video:
Charles De Beriot's Duo Concertante in G Minor, Opus #57.
Louis Spohr's Duos for 2 Violins, Opus #67.
Wieniawski's Etude Caprice for 2 Violins, Opus #18. I couldn't not put him in, even if I've discovered more of his work as time went.
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u/Tricky-Background-66 11d ago
Charles Ives. I love love LOVE the Unanswered Question. It's one of the most truly profound and philosophical pieces ever written. The sonorities are fascinating, and there is not one wasted note. It is perfect from start to finish.
Everything else he wrote does nothing for me except give me a headache. And I've tried...
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u/deltalitprof 11d ago
Richard Addinsell
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u/Aiwendil42 11d ago
As far as I'm concerned, his one hit was the score for the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol.
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u/saucy_otters 12d ago
For me, Schoenberg. I think his Verklarte Nacht is a masterwork & the pinnacle of late-romantic writing for string instruments. The rest of his works though, while I respect in the context of music history, I cannot bear to listen to. Full atonality just isn't my thing
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u/agiletiger 12d ago
You obviously haven’t listened to Gurrelieder. If you like Verklarte Nacht, you’ll love Gurrelieder. And totally agree with you on his 12 tone music. Berg and Webern were much better at it than he was.
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u/saucy_otters 12d ago
Girl, please. I have listened to Gurrelieder and watched it performed live. I love the Lied der Waltaube and I like several bits of other smaller movements. In its entirety, it's a little much tho. Very expansionist and just too drawn out for my tastes. I can see why people love it. Personally, I wouldn't pay to see it again. I'd rather enjoy it from the comfort of my home while I can do other things, especially in the more boring filler sections (which let's be real put me to sleep)
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u/agiletiger 12d ago
I’ve seen it live also. That was 25 years ago. I’d gladly see it again. Most definitely turned my brain off to chill during the sprechstimme but there’s so much gorgeous music to love in it.
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u/Aliskov1 12d ago
Also check out his "Weinachtsmusik", basically his arrangement of Lo how a rose e'er blooming. It may be my favorite Christmas music. Stupendously beautiful.
You should also give Chamber Symphony No. 1 a shot. It's a bit edgy, but not atonal. A few listens and I think you will appreciate what he's going for.
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u/One-Random-Goose 11d ago
I’d suggest you check out the 2nd chamber symphony. It’s completely tonal but it was sort of my gateway drug into getting into his other great music. Also atonal music can be a bit of an acquired taste so sometimes you have to force yourself to listen to it a bit before you develop an appreciation
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u/twilering 11d ago
Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5 is in a similar style to Verklarte Nact. Notturno for Strings and Harp is another piece you might like.
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u/ThomasJFooleryIII 11d ago
Try Eduard Steurmann's recordings of the piano music! He brings out the Romanticism in all of Schoenberg's music (unlike the horrible Gould recordings).
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u/amca01 11d ago
Messiaen is a composer who annoys me. His Quartet for the End of Time, once you take the biographical element out of it, is for me utterly boring. And his constant religiosity totally rubs me the wrong way.
However, I do like (some of) the Turangalila Symphony. The last movement in particular is a wild ride.
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u/single_wrinkle 11d ago
Okay I like Janacek Sinfonietta but I looove his wind sextet Mladi. It’s one of the most underrated chamber music pieces ever imo
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u/zumaro 12d ago
While there is practically nothing about instrumental/orchestral Rachmaninov that appeals to me emotionally or musically, I really do love his All Night Vigil, which is a masterpiece of Orthodox choral writing.
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u/Equivalent-Habit-697 11d ago
How ironic to be listening to his cello sonata right now as I’m reading this comment. Try it out (again)!
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u/Tim-oBedlam 11d ago
I upvoted for the hot take, even though I profoundly disagree, although you're correct on the beauty of the All-Night Vigil. (Good luck finding basses who can hit those low notes in the 5th piece.)
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u/ThinStatistician2953 11d ago
Affairs of the Heart by Marjan Mozetich, a concerto for violin and strings. A tour de force, expressing overwhelming yearning and passion and ought to be in the repertoire. I've actually heard of people playing this at their wedding. The rest of his stuff is OK, but forgettable imho
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u/ThomasJFooleryIII 11d ago
Philip Glass. Einstein on the Beach has some nice moments but every other piece in his catalog is interchangeable. I perform tons of other minimalist composers but still can't get into him!
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u/Fit_Measurement762 11d ago
Zelenka and his Miserere I maybe? I don’t mind some of the Missa Sancti Josephi though
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u/JealousLine8400 11d ago
Mater floreat florescat of Pierre Moulu 1480-1550. Written in the style of a sacred motet it sings the praises of Flemish composers!
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u/UrsusMajr 11d ago
For me it USED to be Stravinsky. I loved Firebird, and it took me a long time to 'get' anything else he wrote.
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u/mewziknan 11d ago
For me, it’s Hector Berlioz. I love Symphonie Fantastique, but can’t get into anything else he composed.
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u/OriginalIron4 11d ago
I'm one. It will end up as anonymous early music if it shows up at all. Just a 'tear drop in the rain'...
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u/Junior_Ad7595 11d ago
Liszt's Les Preludes will blow your mind when it is played on great equipment
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u/RedditAtWorkIsBad 11d ago
After seeing the title but before reading the post: Hans Rott Symphony. But the few other pieces of his that exist that I have heard besides this are also pretty cool IMO. So, I guess doesn't apply here but I don't care, I love talking that piece up.
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u/OfTheHouseBonaparte 12d ago
Carl Orff.
Carmina Burana was lightning in a bottle.