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I had no idea!  Thank you very much for this.

You're very welcome.  And for those into whose hearts the very name of Birtwistle strikes fear and loathing, I must say that I found this piece very beautiful and very moving.

Not exactly the first.  In 1997 they released a CD of works by John Joubert with William Boughton conducting the English String Orchestra.  This is BMS's first recording of an orchestra with winds and percussion . . .

What do you think makes this worth hearing?  It reminds me of bad film music.

If you didn't like watermelon and someone else did, would you criticize them for it? And what music credentials do you have to call this third rate composing? Are you also an expert on religion and politics?

Apart from the fact that I like blue, Alan . . . 

What rubbed me the wrong way was the pugnacious defensiveness (or would that be the defensive pugnacity?) of the second writer.  A disagreement is not an attack.  And sometimes we just can't really explain exactly why we like or dislike (or feel indifferent to) something. 

Back in the 1980's or 90's, Hyperion released an LP containing three of Lipkin's chamber works - a string trio, a Pastorale and a chamber work entitled Clifford's Tower - all played by the Nash Ensemble.  It's been long out of print and I don't think (or at least know) that it was ever released on CD, or that there are any plans on Hyperion's part to do so.  Would they be eligible for uploading to this site?

I take your point, Alan.  My point (a little too bluntly expressed, perhaps) is that if someone says, "I think the color blue is awfully overrated", I wouldn't take it as an attack on my taste in colors, nor would I respond with, "What makes you an expert in hue-ology?"

Or perhaps we could simply agree to disagree.  If we can't express an offhand opinion about some composer/piece without displaying our credentials and/or offering a cogently reasoned defense of that opinion, this website is going to become terribly anodyne terribly quickly.

Many thanks for all the Frickeriana - it's wonderful stuff!  Having listened now to the Cantata, I'm quite certain that the tenor soloist is Peter Pears.  Nobody else's voice ever sounded like his.

The pickings are pretty slim - most of his compositions, I think, are light music, and a few can be found on these compilations:

British Film Composers in Concert

http://www.amazon.com/British-Film-Composers-Concert-Sutherland/dp/B00008ZZ44/ref=sr_1_9?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1330006239&sr=1-9

and

British Light Music Overtures 3

http://www.amazon.com/British-Light-Music-Overtures-3/dp/B00009NJ26/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1330006239&sr=1-10

Thanks for the Wordsworth string quartets!  (By the way, the first string quartet is played - if the announcer at the end of the recording is correct - by the Aeolian String Quartet, NOT the Alberni String Quartet.)

Have you ever heard Rott's symphony?  At least half of it could have been written by Mahler - in fact much of it, in one form or another, turns up in Mahler's early symphonies.

For what it's worth, the Yevlakhov piece didn't do much for me.  The Polovinkin symphonies have a much stronger profile, I think - very Russian, if that means anything to you, with hints of Prokofiev and Myaskovsky, and plenty of allusions to, or reminiscences of, Russian folksongs.  Nothing life-changing, probably, and not really worth 38 euros, but certainly worth listening to.

Hi Latvian,

I'm a Bostonian, and it looks like my alma mater's orchestra is performing the Korngold Symphony on February 9, at the end of a concert that otherwise comprises film music:  Korngold's overture to The Sea Hawk, Three Scenes from Vertigo by Bernard Herrmann, and Bernstein's On the Waterfront suite.  It's conducted by David Hoose, who is extremely good.  Thanks for the heads up on this - I'll plan to attend!

Actually, I would think the most famous of the Vatican composers is Dom Lorenzo Perosi, who directed (and composed much of) the Sistine Chapel's music for over 50 years.  No symphonies or operas from him, obviously, but plenty of fairly beautiful choral music.

Martin, thanks for the tip!  I've downloaded and listened to the Czerny symphony, and it's extremely good (the second movement is particularly lovely).