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The one big plus today in comparison to the 'old days' is the near-certainty that CDs will play properly. In the days of vinyl, there was always the fear that purchases made away from home would turn out to feature poor pressings or - horror of horrors - SCRATCHES! DG releases were usually OK, but EMI were often terrible. I never did find a pristine set of Karajan's Tristan und Isolde.

I have most if not all of the old Penguin guides. I still flick through them and find recordings I'd missed or forgotten about. Happy days. Much more fun than scanning websites...

I'm listening to CD1 as I type and I confess I'm vaguely disappointed. I had been expecting something along the lines of Samson et Dalila - but no, this is spare, almost severe; quite unlike anything else I've heard by the composer. Of course, this is late Saint-Saëns, having been composed in 1909-10 when he was in his mid-seventies. I suppose it'd be like expecting Verdi's Falstaff to be like Aida.

It's decently sung here - not spectacularly, but more than well enough, given that we just don't have many great voices in the romantic repertoire these days.

Déjanire will probably never catch on, but it may fascinate...

4,000 copies have been produced. Mine is no. 3597 (whatever that means).

Yes: we live in an age of extraordinary plenty. I suppose if you think about it, it would be like comparing 1983 with 1942! However bitterly we might complain about the non-availability of so much music in recordings, we have a great deal to be grateful for. As I type this I'm listening to Saint-Saëns' Déjanire. Who'd've thought it...? (Mind you, we had better singers 41 years ago, especially in the romantic repertoire.)

I used to enjoy my trips to the record shops in London. They always had something I hadn't heard of: I was like a kid in some huge sweet shop (sorry, John: candy store!)

Thanks for the reminder, Eric. Here's the thread on Rietz's Symphony No.3:
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,8845.0.html

Yes - a libretto with English translation.

This is dangerously (but enjoyably) close to Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, but who cares?

How wonderful, Martin!

I've long been intrigued by Reinthaler's Symphony in D, so thanks!

Some intriguing 'works in progress' from Reverie's magic computer workshop:

1. 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫:  Symphony (1864) - 1st mov (from opening)
2. 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐳 𝐊𝐚𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧: Cello Concerto (1899) - 1st mov (from opening)
3. 𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐟 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐠:  Drei Episoden (1907) - 3rd mov "Liebesgluck" (from opening)
4. 𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩:  5th Symphony (1937) - 1st mov (final section)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKuZzIM3BS0

...and now I can't get the main theme of the first movement out of my head! It's certainly catchy.

Thanks very much, Tuomas, for locating these articles and musical examples. If only the score/parts could be found...

[Symphony in A minor]

Regarding Franck's 'lost' symphonies, I have consulted the biography by Paul and Andreas Feuchte who give the following details:
Symphony in A minor (1846): performed in Berlin on 30th November 1846 and discussed in various music journals. Apparently Mendelssohn wrote Franck a letter in which he rejected the possibility of a performance in Leipzig. There is no mention of the score's current whereabouts.
Symphony in G minor (1852/56): unpublished and 'nicht mehr auffindbar'. i.e. untraceable. Franck himself conducted the first performance on 12th February 1856 in Cologne and a further performance was given on 18th February 1860 in Bern. Interestingly, it is apparently discussed at length, including musical examples, in the Niederrheinische Musik-Zeitung of 8th and 15th March 1856.
Symphony in B flat (1858): also unpublished and 'nicht mehr auffindbar', i.e. untraceable. A Symphony in B flat was evidently given its first performance on 26th January 1858 in Cologne. There is a discussion in the Rheinische Musikzeitung für Kunstfreunde und Künstler of 30th January 1858.
Whether this is the same work as the Symphony in B flat, Op.52 is an unresolved question.

The issue with this symphony is not so much the material itself, but that it all seems to pass the listener by in a flash, undeveloped. After all, 28 minutes is extremely short for a late-romantic work that's just begging for a level of expansion commensurate with the generosity of the orchestration. The finale, at 5:40, is more or less a complete let-down after the first three movements which I greatly enjoyed. A failure, then, overall, but a very attractive one for 22+ minutes. The use of the orchestra is sophisticated and colourful - and the performance here by the Poznan Philharmonic could hardly be bettered.

Having ordered the CD from jpc, I find I rather enjoyed the piece. Strange to have a 28-minute late-romantic symphony, though. More when I've absorbed it properly...

We trust your winks, Martin...

I really like the finale of No.1, by the way. Somewhere between the finales of Raff 2 and Brahms 2, I'd say.