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Obviously Giovanni Bottesini was a noted 19th C. double bass virtuoso. Unlike most such  instrument virtuosos, he wrote quite a lot of music in genres and for ensembles outside of his specialty. I have CDs of his string quartets and quintets along with a couple of his more well known double bass pieces. I started this thread because I was a bit puzzled by the relative lack of mentions here except en passant. As far as I can tell this is the first thread dedicated to his music. Is he considered not an Unsung or is there some other reason for the lack of discussion? To me while his double bass music is obviously a mainstay for that instrument, his other music seems to be invisible.I know he wrote operas as well but have not been able to find any recording of them except for the Ali Baba overture. If I have somehow strayed off the reservation with this thread feel free to delete.

One unexpected result in my joining here has been strange new respect for unsung Swiss composers. Robert Hermann is certainly not the technically most assured unsung but there is something unpredictable about the way his music moves.   The only thing that bothers me is his use of cymbals which I would gladly ban from the orchestra if I could. Lauber I am a bit more uncertain about because the few things I was able to find fluctuated between the routine and the fresh.  Also in his long life he seems to have moved into neo-classicism which is outside the forum realm.

On a side note I would mention Othmar Schoeck who I only knew previously as the composer of Penthesilea, a very Stravinskian work to my ears and rather harsh in the recording I heard. But based on adriano's mention of his opera Venus I listened to that as well as a later opera Massamilla Doni which I found quite lovely. Massamilla Doni is not conventionally Romantic but neither is it neo-classical. It's style is rather hard to place but there is definitely a Romantic flavor to it. It was based on the Balzac novella.

Anyway back to Hermann and Lauber, I am having extreme difficulty finding recordings for either. I did see the two Hartmann symphonies CD which I recently ordered but not much else. Lauber seems quite sparsely recorded as well. Any leads and recommendations for these two unsungs?

Do members feel that the unsung composer listings on discogs represent a relatively complete discography for these composers? As a new member I am researching composers mentioned here and trying to find recordings of those that interest me. I am uncertain as to what recordings are actually out there, apart from   discogs and the listings du jour on ebay and amazon however. Thanks for any info.