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Hi everyone! I have a project in mind that I would really like to realise... this is to record a CD and to propose it to some recording companies. I have been strongly advised to record some pieces that haven't been recorded yet, this is to make the cd more interesting for recording companies but I haven't got strong ideas so far. What would you recommend, I am looking for an unknown Piano composer and my idea would be to record all his or her piano pieces.
Thank you, any tip would be very much appreciated.

Unknown piano composer?

Apart from some living composers, practically everyone has been recorded, including the most obscure, from Maria Szymanowska to Dorothy Howell.

I suggest making a CD of piano music by well-known opera composers, like Cimarosa, Rossini, Massenet, Bizet, Donizetti, Gounod, Weber, Smetana, Wagner, Korngold (of whom quite a few were also piano virtuosi - Liszt famously put Bizet on the same level as himself ).

Of course, some of their piano music has been recorded too, but not many people know about it (except maybe Weber and Smetana), so your CD could be unique.......

Actually, Andrew Wright has one CD released of opera compositions and is the process of releasing a second CD

http://www.andrewwrightpianist.com/

Thank you for your suggestion! I was actually looking for some pieces/composers that haven't been recorded yet by any other pianist.

Actually, that wasn't what I meant. There are lots of CDs around (many by famous pianists, like Katsaris, Bolet, Horowitz) of piano transcriptions of tunes from operas - including whole CD sets of Wagner's Ring, Parsifal etc in piano transcriptions.

What I meant was original piano music composed by opera composers. Like these:

https://www.amazon.com/Rossini-Pian...;sr=8-2&keywords=rossini+piano+music
https://www.amazon.com/Massenet-Pia...sr=8-1&keywords=massenet+piano+music

If you need a completely unknown composer who wrote decent piano music, I can't help you. There were lots of salon composers in the mid-late 19th century who churned out lots of stuff, but I don't think their music is of high quality.

But if you're looking for previously unrecorded piano music by known composers who are no longer in copyright, look up Anton Rubinstein, Paderewski, Moszkowski, Selim Palmgren, Oskar Merikanto, Ilmari Hannikainen, maybe even Reger, some members of The Mighty Handful and Les Six....

Also, many pianist-composers like Schnabel and Lipatti and Raoul Koczalski wrote piano music which hasn't been recorded.

Thank you very much, I'll also have a look to those composers! 😊

Fede:

What credentials and what incentives can you present to record companies that would make them feel that releasing a recording of such material would be commercially viable?

Regards,

if the recording is unique, they should be interested in promoting something that they only have, shouldn't they? Do you have any other idea of what kind of musical material could be more commercially viable? If so, please kindly advice.

You might be interested in this CD company, which has been releasing obscure piano music for the past few years, most of them in excellent performances by unknown pianists:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/l/Grand%2BPiano
http://www.grandpianorecords.com

Best get your CD out before they get there first.......

Thank you so much for your help, Bennevis! Your help is very much appreciated! 😀 so, if you had to choose just one composer (among those ones less known...) to record, which one would you choose and why? First copy of my CD (when it will be ready..) I promise is yours! 🤞

I'd take Hannikainen's piano music.

I first heard his piano concerto on BBC's classical radio station (originating from a Finnish radio recording) and was quite taken by it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HOwvjU6Xw

.....then discovered that he composed quite a lot of solo piano music too, like the lovely Suihkulähteellä (At a fountain) which was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3. It's not on YT, but here's another piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RImMyvIc-kA

His music is in late-Romantic style, with some similarities to Sibelius but more obviously tuneful, and his piano music is certainly more pianistic than Sibelius's in its writing.

Fede - Yes, the uniqueness of the material might be appealing. However, Bruce was also asking about your credentials as a performing artist - which would impact the overall quality of the recording and its marketability.

There's no reason why the OP should feel compelled to answer to anybody on this forum about his credentials.

I'll second Palmgren. There is a lot of his material that's not recorded. However, after playing through some of it, there's a good reason why a lot of it remains unknown. Perhaps there are some undiscovered gems. There are lots of modern composers out there too..

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help. I will look into Palmgren's music as well!

I am not saying that the OP has to "feel compelled to answer to anybody on this forum about his credentials." What I am simply saying is that he must be a pianist of professional caliber when he presents his material to any recording company if he wishes to market both unknown music and himself as a performer. If he is, then more power to him and good luck with the project.

Regards,

Something else to consider...

Recording a mix of works both known and unknown. I really like the idea, personally, of recording something known(a famous warhorse), something new, and something unexpected. It tends to cover a lot of ground as well as introduce people to different music.

Have you considered doing your music through something like CD baby, digital album release are cheap, and can always work on having a physical project. It is a bit DIY, but can give you freedom as well. Maybe cost as well?

Unless getting with a label, is the goal, personal or professional.

That might be a personal preference, but if one were to try to look at it from the marketing strategy of a commercial label, do we really need recording number 127 of (fill in the work here) by an unknown artist? How would a collection of such disparate works be marketed?

Regards,

My experience with recording the "Beauty & Hope in the 21st Century" CD is that eventually I gave up trying to get reviews (didn't try amazingly hard, but I did try). The point that everyone made is that "their readers do not care about contemporary music, nor about unknown composers, and unknown works". Period!

Fede, let me ask you this: How many CDs (or mp3s, or playlists) of your own choosing is filled with unknown works? What % of your collected music is of unknown composers? Cause mine (and I'm a composer and a publisher) is a rather small %. I am looking around, but it's a little hard to find, to locate, and unfortunately to appreciate...

Sad to hear a composer say that. I don’t understand it really because access to new music has never been easier, and there is tons of great music being produced at a faster rate than ever before.