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I've no doubt it's very good. But Järvi's second set is also very fine.

As far as I know there is no studio recording on the market

Not so, sir! Järvi subsequently re-recorded the Stenhammar symphonies for DGG in the 1990s:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stenhammar-Symphonies-Excelsior-Serenade-Wilhelm/dp/B000001GP5/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1418912434&sr=1-1&keywords=stenhammar+jarvi

They are superb.

That's very good of you. Thanks!

I can see why the first and fourth movements would grab the attention of anyone listening to this music. The middle movements are surely intended to offer a contrast to the titanic goings-on which open and and close the work.

Listening again, the slow movement of No.3 seems to me to alternate between sections of stunning lyrical beauty and others of immense, almost crushing power. Some sonorities hark back to Beethoven (9?), others look forward to Bruckner. This is astonishing music. The unbuttoned, rustic scherzo, by contrast, stands somewhere between Schubert (9) and Mahler. Extraordinary. Of course, I imagine neither Bruckner nor Mahler knew Rufinatscha, so there must just have been something in the (compositional) water.

By the way: this is often music of an identifiably outdoor Austrian stamp. Of Mendelssohn/Schumann there is not a trace. Still less does Rufinatscha point forward to Brahms.

Thank you, Mark, for your review. I concur with (almost) every word. My only quibble would with the notion that the two inner movements are less outstanding than those in Symphonies 4 or 5. I believe that a larger orchestra and a more generous acoustic would allow for more sheer beauty - as well as more light and shade - to come through.

Thanks, Dr Gratl. That's good to know.

I've ordered the Tschiderer CD too! The TLM will wonder what's hit them!

Details here:
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7313&cat=385

Details here:
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7315&cat=385
Didn't see this one coming!

Apologies, Mark. Wild goose chase and all that. Appears I haven't got it. Maybe I was tempted at some point in the past...

I've got it, but can't remember. I'll get back to you...

The early Symphony in F sharp minor (1894) is a more enjoyable work than the later Symphony in A minor.  However, in reality it's all pretty bland stuff, distinctly sub-Tchaikovskian in style, and at its best when the composer isn't trying too hard. No, this falls into the category of an occasional, largely undemanding listen. Worth rescuing? Just barely. But I can think of a (large) hatful of more deserving causes than this.

It's a shame, of course. However, we must remember that we're not dealing with a major recording label here, but what is essentially a cottage industry, albeit an important one, initiated by scholars at the Innsbruck museum. I assume that only small numbers of the CDs were manufactured in the first place.

Great. We'll look forward to your assessment, Dennis.