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A large number of Russian composers were inspired by British themes (particularly Shakespeare, of course): Tchaikovsky wrote Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet; Balakirev wrote King Lear; Prokofiev wrote Romeo and Juliet;

To these should be added Boris Godunov, which was inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Does anyone know of any other pieces? Whether about Russia, Ukraine, Slavs, Russian literature, history, etc...

John Field set up shop in Russia, and so was obviously influenced, as is shown by his Air Russe and Variations on a Russian Folksong. His Piano Concerto No. 3 consists of just two movements, of which the second is polonaise (Rondo: Tempo di polacca). In addition, the Piano Concerto No. 5 (subtitled Storm and Fire) may have been inspired by the destruction of Moscow during the Napoleonic invasion.

I'm less impressed by the second and third programs. Berlioz and Liszt each got more attention than Bruckner and Mahler.

Our modern day Bulow, if there is indeed such a character, is aided by fast, comfortable transport (usually!), decent hotels (Bulow loved hot water and clean towels), insurance arrangements, supportive agents and concert managers, pills and potions to hold bugs at bay, carefully planned diets, health plans, orchestras of high professional standards, reliable instruments and piano tuners, techology galore etc etc.

Modern pianists and conductors probably do not need to travel so much, as they seem to be wedded to one city, but opera singers still flit from house to house, giving maybe two or three performances before moving on. Their lives are truly bizarre. Last night I saw Siegfried. The star was a last minute substitute, the previous tenor having been withdrawn from circulation. His soprano was a slimmed down version of the fat lady famously sacked by Covent Garden. She has lost three fifths of her body bulk, following some drastic rearrangement of her inner parts.

I was very impressed with this first installment, even though it was predictably mainstream.

We got Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (plus a snippet of Stamitz). It was tailored for a television audience. So the program kicked off with Haydn's visit to London, late in his life, before going backwards to Mozart, and then back even earlier to Haydn early life. (This may have confused the casual viewer, because although dates were given, they are hardly likely to be remembered.) Not only were other composers, such as Boccherini, unmentioned, but so too were Haydn's brother, and Mozart's father. As for Beethoven, we just got as far as Symphony No. 3, so I rather fear that there is a lot more Beethoven to come.

Given the limitations of the series, just 4 programs, I thought that the first episode was as good as could be expected. Furthermore, the BBC has produced a wealth of linked material:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/symphony/

Heinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg

Was he actually called Picot de Peccaduc? My understanding is that his ancestors moved from France to Germany in 1811 and simply translated their surname from French into German. I get this information from a CD booklet, and they are not always accurate, so I would appreciate some clarification.

The same booklet has a conversation between Brahms and Hanslick;

Hanslick: "He will be forgotten before the next generation has grey hairs."

Brahms: "That is for the future to decide. Perhaps a renaissance will come?"

Hanslick: "Those who are supposed to have been forgotten unjustly? Ridiculous. They have been forgotten because they deserve it. Only bright stars shine eternally in the heavens. Those in the background do better to remain in the darkness."

(The CD is string trios by Herzogenberg and Reger, from Querstand.)

The rarely recorded Brahms 8th Symphony:



The back side of a 1958 recording of Bruckner's 9th Symphony:



(It's a shame they don't provide timings. I would be fascinated to learn how long that fourth movement lasts.)

The Linko, also previously broadcast by BBC Radio 3, is a very engaging three-movement Rachmaninovian work

It is indeed. So why isn't it better known?

So far as I am aware, it is not available on CD.

Mostly in the remote days of LP (or- better-...... short playing vinyl) obviously the Addinsell, but also the Rosza (Spellbound Concerto), the Bath (Cornish Rhapsody) and the Williams (The dream of Olwen) were fairly often recorded.

Another concerto worth searching for is the Mansell Concerto by Kenneth Leslie Smith, from a film called The Woman's Angle. If my memory is correct, it is rather short, and so could easily be used to help fill up a disc. The film itself seems to have been a failure. One critic described it as "a grim little sample of bad writing, bad acting and bad directing all around" (no mention of the music).

Dutton recorded a "realisation" of the Elgar PC by Robert Walker. I won't miss the 1st subject (1st movement) orchestrated by Elgar himself for its dark, haunting mystery but the rest is.... well, forget it. I suppose there is just not enough material to reconstruct a convincing Elgar. I guess even Anthony Payne would fail.

I have to agree that Walker's version is a failure. Perhaps someone else will take a look at the fragments one day. I seem to remember watching a television program about this a few years back, and there is apparently no shortage of genuine bits, but Elgar hadn't strung them together, possibly not even in his own mind.

Payne's version of Elgar's 3rd Symphony is utterly brilliant.

When David gets mentioned in books and on this forum, he is usually referred to as Bruckerian. So a few days ago I did a web search and I found a video clip (sound only) described as "4ter Satz aus der 5ten Sinfonie von Johann Nepomuk David. Es spielt das Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks unter Hans Stadlmair". To me, it sounds like a chamber symphony, so whereas Bruckner built cathedrals in sound, on the basis of this clip, David seems to have erected village churches. All that I can really say, is that his music is of interest, and resembles early Prokofiev, or maybe Zemlinsky.

I've never heard a symphony by Diamond. Can you please suggest where best to start?

The first one that I heard was No. 4, and that made a big impression on me.

More recently I acquired a disc that included "The Enormous Room", which the composer called "a free-form fantasia". It lasts about 15 minutes, so it could be a good starting point.  The seemingly banal title comes from a book of the same name, and refers to a wartime prison: "all the male prisoners lived in one vast hall". The music evokes a passage in the book that describes a snowstorm: "The Enormous Room is filled with a new and beautiful darkness, the darkness of the snow outside".

Myaskovsky and Pettersson have already been mentioned. They are both very significant composers. Myaskovsky wrote 27 numbered symphonies, plus a small number of related works. The best place to start is the single movement symphony No. 21, of about 20 minutes. Pettersson's symphonies are massive and depressing. Number 7 seems to be regarded as the best. It is one movement, 45 minutes long.

Some more names:

Kurt Atterberg
Michael Daugherty
Jacobo Ficher
Howard Hanson
Alfred Hill
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Ervin Schulhoff
Harold Shapero
Ernst Toch

How many did you buy, Hovite?

Just twenty. At three euros each. Postage was ten euros. Meanwhile, a trip to a local Tesco netted three packs of ten jewel cases at £3.85 per pack.

I also thank you. My parcel arrived today. It was well packed. The shop suggested sending discs without cases, and I agreed, mostly out of curiosity. In the past I have often received smashed cases through the post, so it was pleasant to receive a package that didn't rattle. I can now spend some happy hours putting the discs and inlays into perfect cd cases. It's a bit like a jigsaw, but progress is slow, because I keep stopping to read the booklets.