jmc's classics
There are many good obscure composers. One of my favorites is Norwegian Johan Svendsen (1940-1911). He was friends with Edward Greig (1843-1907) who is the one who is mainly thought of when it comes to Norwegian music. Grieg is sometimes called the "Chopin of the north" because he wrote a lo of piano music.
Svendsen was the son of a military band leader. At that time Norway was part of Sweden. He originally studied Violin. An injury to his left hand caused him to turn more to conducting. He studied at the Leipzig conservatory from 1863-7. a conservatory can be a music school or a sun room. He lived and worked in Paris where he met his first wife Sarah who wan an American. There is legend that she destroyed his Third Symphony in a fit of rage. They eventually divorced. His son from his second marriage is Danish actor Eyvind Svendsen. His career is not as known as Grieg's. I have listened to Exploring the Music which is a syndicated radio program which discussed Svendsen in recent issues where they were discussing Scandinavian composers. I do listen to Exploring the Music it has some good insights on Classical Music. His most famous work is his Romance for Violin and Orchestra (Opus #26) it lasts around seven minutes. I have a copy of it coupled with the Sibelius Violin concerto and woks by other Scandinavian composers. It features Dong-Suk Kang on the violin with the Czechoslavak Radio Orchestra and Adrian Leapar conducting on the Naxos Label. He wrote two surviving symphonies(Opuses 4 7 15
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