O mio Piccolo tavolo ingombrato - Aria by Leoncavallo

Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. He was born in 1857, and his first major work, Pagliacci, was performed in 1892. It had some success, but certainly didn’t bring Leoncavallo universal recognition. However, as of today, it is the only staged work of him – even Chatterton, arguably the first record in the world to sell a million copies, is forgotten. Given that Leoncavallo is considered one of the greatest Italian librettists, ignoring his other works is somewhat disrespectful. Take, for example, Zazà – yes, certain arias from this opera can be heard time to time, but what if even they will fall into oblivion? I think all I can do is act to prevent and inform more people about Leoncavallo's music. Here's his aria O mio Piccolo tavolo ingombrato from Act III of Zazà.

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Ernst Levy

Born 1895, Ernst Levy was a Swiss pianist, composer, and pedagogue. A title of Forgotten Genius, a compilation of him playing Liszt and Beethoven, speaks volumes – as well as listeners’ comments: they concur that Levy’s interpretation of great composers’ sonatas is outstanding. For all its atypical freedom (Levy was often ignoring accents and other nuances), they sound fresh and unblemished, giving no reason to criticize performer’s approach.

Unlike many contemporaries, Levy, who paid little attention to accredited norms (including supremacy of serialism), managed to stay accessible – his works are borderline: they sound recognizably modern within the framework of their tonalities and without sliding into emotionless postmodernism cross-cutting the second half of the 20th century. Albeit Levy is virtually unknown to a wide audience, his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra had its premiere in New York, where it was warmly received. Sheet music of this notable piece is available here: Ernst Levy - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra.

Three Melodies for Piano, Op.21

Hans Huber was a Swiss Romantic composer, primarily influenced by Liszt, Brahms, and Schumann. Like his foregoers, he composed in a broad range of works – from operas and symphonies to piano concertos. And the same as Franz Liszt, who had been ignoring formal rules and composed a single-movement concerto, Huber had his own vision how many movements should they have. In his opinion, four was optimal. Also he was a chorister and a pianist. You can find a cycle of Huber's earlier works here: Three Melodies for Piano, Op.21

Sonata No. 1 by Zelenka

Jan Dismas Zelenka was a Czech composer, born in 1679. I really liked what Wikipedia writes about him: “The most appreciated Zelenka's sacred works are represented by masses” – isn't that quite fun that his masses are appreciated by masses?..

Works of Zelenka were twice rediscovered, twice in sixties: in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively. But even this belated recognition can’t anyhow affect the fact that we don’t have a decent portrait of a Baroque master of counterpoint. It seems nonsense (we know all great composers by sight!), but it’s true: we can make assumptions of what a man Zelenka was only listening to his music. It is even more interesting in this way, though.

Zelenka’s Sonata No. 1 is available for download here: Sonata No.1 for Two Oboes (or Two Violins), Bassoon and Basso Continuo, ZWV 181.

Technical Studies for Cello by Klengel

Many composers preferred piano to any other instruments. It’s understandable: keys on piano are arranged by groups, and hence it’s easier to take a chord – one doesn’t need to memorize placing of notes on fret. Piano is very handy in terms of composing: it’s easy to play some tune and after that decide is it worth to be included in the next measure of a piece.

Pianists have lots of studies, composed by likes of Chopin and Czerny. But other musicians – cellists, for example, – need to practice too, and here comes to help Julius Klengel. His invaluably helpful etudes are available for download here: Technical Studies for Cello (Volume I).