still don't manage to detract from the wonders of The Midsummer Marriage - at least for me...
Or from
King Priam - whose libretto is one of Tippett's more successful attempts, with a score that does the topic justice.
It does indeed; I'm not especially fond of much of it, I have to admit, but it certainly works well. From that point onwards, it seems to have been downhill all the way in terms of his stage works, in terms both of libretti and music, yet certain other works still show that the sparks of magic had by no means eluded him altogether (fourth piano sonata, fourth symphony, last two quartets, triple concerto et al).
Anyway - Lekeu: Sonata for violin and piano - one of his last works. It's hard not to try to imagine how the composer might have developed had he survived beyond the age of 23. I'm not sure that he quite qualifies as an "obscure" composer but I do believe that his work, even today, remains less well known than it deserves to be...