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Start with Puccini: Boheme, Tosca.
Then Verdi: Traviata, Trovatore, Rigoletto, Don Carlos, Aida, Otello.
Or Massenet: Manon, Werther, Esclarmonde.
Or Wagner: Walküre Act 1 (Karajan).
Unsung: Goldmark Queen of Sheba (Hungaroton).

Draeseke excelled in almost every genre too. A shame very few people seem to know his music.

No.1 is surely the weakest of Raff's symphonies - but it's hard not to be won over by its sheer invention and patent sincerity. I love it too!

Martucci was one of my first unsung discoveries. I have always esteemed the symphonies very highly - in particular no.2. And yes, that first movement does sound very Sibelian in parts. It is interesting to play 'spot the influence', but it seems to me that Martucci makes his own unique synthesis of the various musical styles which interested him. I am not surprised at all that the great Toscanini thought him worthy of his attention.

Has anyone tried Julius Röntgen's PC2 on Donemus? A stunningly beautiful opening to a truly marvellous work.

I think that Beethoven's symphonies cast a shadow over the entire symphonism of the nineteenth century - including Schubert, Lachner and everyone else. What I find interesting - and significant - is that Schubert and Lachner did not follow Beethoven in the expansion of the symphony to include voices along the lines of B9. There is also something quite extraordinary in the composition of such an epic-scale (hour-long), purely orchestral symphony as L5 in the mid-1830s. This scale is not approached by anyone else, with the exception of Rufinatscha in his own 6th Symphony from the mid-1860s, until the emergence of Bruckner (and Rubinstein - although the latter does not operate in his longer symphonies at anything like the level of inspiration). Raff 1 is, of course, a very lengthy symphony too, but, with its 5-movement structure, proved to be - at least as far as length was concerned - an early symphonic one-off in a cycle in which a classicising concision would become more typical than Romantic expansion.

True, although the recording quality of that (valuable) set is very variable, as is the quality of the music which it contains. The Gade VC, however, is a major neglected Romantic-era work and, with the excellent couplings on the new Dacapo CD, contributes to a thoroughly recommendable programme captured in superb modern sound and in top-flight performances.

Friends may wish to know that Sony are to bring out the complete Haydn symphonies with Denis Russell Davies conducting the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/SESSIONID/fb2168f227aec203db41480801eeeed3/classic/detail/-/art/Joseph-Haydn-Symphonien-Nr-1-104/hnum/3866386

I am personally waiting for this set to be reviewed before deciding on which one to buy.

I would say that Schubert was clearly only just beginning to find his 'symphonic feet' when he died. Lachner was a close friend of Schubert and must have sensed where the latter was going with the symphony. There is absolutely no doubt that Lachner was following along Schubert's path in attempting to develop an epic-scale symphonic form - one which was later taken up by Rufinatscha and, eventually, Bruckner. It was definitely not a symphonic dead-end...

The answer for me is probably the symphony, which I do regard as the ultimate form of musical expression.

However, Verdi's Otello is great music, as are Raff's Piano Quartets. And now I have discovered Klughardt's wonderful Violin Concerto, so, much as I think the symphony is the ultimate, I could not possibly limit myself to a particular form as the one I like best. Great music is great music, whatever form it takes, and in the end that is what I like best.

I'm very glad to hear about the excellent progress being made with the recording. And thanks for the updates!

I am sure that we are all pleased to have you on board, as it were. And don't worry at all about mis-labelling composers: we are used to to pooling our collective ignorance on this forum!!

So, welcome!

Sounds like a project for Bo Hyttner and Sterling (he often records with the Gävle orchestra)...

Mahler on steroids is pretty wide of the mark, I think. However, Langgaard was definitely on something...

Sorry, I'm against - and I did see the poll. But only just!