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The Bronsart's finale is being played on BBC Radio 3's Record Review as I type: "virtuosic & highly entertaining [...] a fine recording" was the presenter's verdict.

The themes derive from Duke Ernst's oeuvre. I think that's part of the problem.

Yes, the basic material is definitely an issue but he did choose it. I suppose he might have wanted to curry favour with the duke, or owed him one, but he certainly showed better judgment by leaving the piece in manuscript.

The recording is out today and, as is the modern way, it may be sampled in full on YouTube here.

A Fairy Lough, two Songs of Faith and Chieftain of Tyrconnell are available on a Hyperion CD, coupled with orchestral songs by Parry, Gurney and Finzi. A couple of other songs (La belle dame sans merci and The Clown's Songs) are available with piano accompaniment in Stephen Varcoe's two discs of Stanford songs, also from Hyperion.

You and the whole team should be really proud of what you've achieved, I don't think it could have been bettered. Congratulations!

Thank you Matthias, a real find. I'm especially pleased to see there's a recording of a recent performance of Stanford's oratorio, The Three Holy Children. Fascinating.

The Quintet is delicious, Colin, thanks so much for the heads up. Of course there's a part of me that thinks that, dating from 1970 not 1870, it couldn't be more of an anachronism but that's just "conditioning". The music's the thing and it's a joy. I'm looking forward to investigating more of Huffman's work.

Thank you Alan. FWIW, having had the privilege of already getting to know the recording for a month, I agree with everything Alan has written, so much so that I'm not going to post the review I'd already written as it would mostly be repetition.

This is as good a recording as we've any right to expect and it really does Raff proud. Schweizer Fonogramm deserve to have Samson sell by the shed load.

Mine too. It's on the list.

The Suppe is trash - I've just checked. IMHO, of course.

I've just re-listened too and I think that's rather harsh. Hurwitz's verdict is ridiculous, of course, but this time around I could hear more clearly Suppé's attempts at symphonic writing - the first movement in particular, and the quasi-fugal passage in the last. The second, slow, movement also develops into something a little more serious towards the end. It is clearly an attempt at a symphony but it's let down by Suppé's choice of thematic material (often trite, if melodic) which doesn't lend itself to development, just repetition. This, in conjunction with his colourful and sometimes bombastic orchestration, cheapens the whole thing. It's not trash, I did enjoy it more the third time around, but it's definitely not "one of the great, mid-century, Austro-German symphonies".

I wondered about irony, but I don't think so. He really means what he says and what he says makes sense, except that it's about such a poor piece.

"A genuine, sensational discovery", "Wonderful", "Great stuff", "One of the great, mid-century, Austro-German symphonies -  no question about it, hands down" - these are David Hurwitz's verdicts on Suppé's Fantasia Symphonica in his latest YouTube post! Was he listening to the same work as the rest of us? Oh yes, he played the end of the finale. I'm utterly gobsmacked. Maybe he owed Naxos a favour....

I completely agree and that's why it's a mandatory purchase for me too.

A must buy for me too but how will it measure up to the classic Marilyn Horne, Renata Scotto, James McCracken set on CBS?

The selections do indeed give an excellent survey of what Samson has to offer, and also a good idea of the quality of the performance and recording. Buy with confidence!