What are your favorite obscure works? [View All]

One of the great pleasures of classical music is stumbling across a little-known gem, often by a famous composer, and realizing that you like it as much or more than most of his well-known stuff. Here's a list of some of these pieces that I have found -- perhaps not always technically the composer's best - some of these are indeed guilty pleasures -- but infectious nonetheless:

1. Dvorak Symphony No. 6. Plenty of zip, distinctively Dvorak.
2. Bruch Concerto for Two Pianos (the Vox Berkofsky/Hagan version -- the Lebeque sisters suck). Bruch is usually pretty boring, but I like this piece.
3. Mendelssohn Symphony No. 2 "Lobgesang" (choral). The main theme will lodge itself in your brain. Dum-dum-dee-dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dee-dum . . .
4. Raff (usually long-winded and dull) Symphony No. 3 "Im Walde" You might be tempted to laugh once in a while, but that's part of the Raff experience.

I'm sure I'll come up with a few more later, but this is a start.