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Even more excerpts are now available at jpc:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/joachim-raff-samson/hnum/11860991

That's a very exciting prospect, if it's a possibility.

I take your point.

I just wondered whether AI-derived classical music (which is surely going to be unfamiliar) counts as 'unsung'? In the above brief article the violinist Daniel Kurganov says that he had some sort of hand in 'creating' the new music in the video...

<<Violinist and creator Daniel Kurganov has released a new video. Listen to it here and see if you start to ask yourself some questions...
https://www.thestrad.com/video/did-ai-just-kill-classical-music-a-video-from-violinist-daniel-kurganov/18010.article

Kurganov shares: 'How do we understand what is good string playing? What exactly have we learnt about the intricacies of nuance and beauty? Is it a mystery? Can it be taught or understood in explicit terms? Or can it only be emulated and passed on from one emotional being to the next? I would like to gently challenge all of our preconceptions with this sample of music.

'What you are hearing is music entirely composed by and played by Artificial Intelligence. My role was minimal, limited to guiding the AI with simple text instructions. This represents a groundbreaking moment advancement in technology—and this is the dumbest these tools will ever be. So, we must ask: are we seeing the end of classical music as we know it, or does this mark a new beginning?'>>

An excellent Chandos 2-for-1 set, including Cello Concertos by Finzi (one of his best works), Bax (hyper-late, late romantic), Moeran (beautiful, elegiac) and Stanford (Irish Rhapsody No.3) - plus the Bliss, which probably lies beyond the bounds of this forum:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8117054--british-cello-concertos

The eleven excerpts at Schweizer Fonogramm give a good idea of the general 'feel' of this large-scale opera which, had it been performed in the late 1850s, would surely have sounded very modern in the age of Meyerbeerian grand opera, rivalling even early Wagner.

I must give Cornelius' Der Cid (1865) another listen, for comparison purposes.

My order's in!

Orders can be placed here:
https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/produit/joachim-raff-1822-1882-samson-oper/

Audio samples are now available at Schweizer Fonogrammm:
https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/cd/die-schweizer-opernsensation-samson-von-joachim-raff-1822-1882/

Well done, John-Boy! A poet - and don't 'e know it...

The set's now being advertised by jpc at EUR39.99 for the three CDs:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/joachim-raff-samson/hnum/11860991

cpo would be my first choice: they mostly release German radio recordings and there are conductors who would do a good job - such as Golo Berg, who tells us that his performance of Grimm's magnificent Symphony was recorded for release sometime soon. Toccata Classics have put out two superb CDs of Thieriot's chamber music, so they too might be interested.

Well, I've been doing some comparisons (using headphones at Presto) between this new release and the two Hyperion CDs which feature the piano concertos involved - and I have to say that I really don't think the Swedish Chamber Orchestra are up to the job, especially in the slow movements where the strings in particular sound (to me) undernourished by comparison to the BBCSSO. Mind you, Paul Wee is an astonishing pianist and I can certainly see what Revilod means by his treatment of the finale of the Bronsart.

Anyway, for me this would be a pointless repeat purchase. But maybe piano-fanciers will feel differently. And to be honest, I don't think this was ever going to be a release for me as I tend to avoid HIP-influenced recordings if alternatives are available. A sign of my age and prejudices, no doubt...

To return to Thieriot: as far as I can tell no-one of his generation was writing symphonies (nine of them) over a comparable 46-year period (1872-1918). They're crying out for an enterprising label to take them up.

Becker was primarily a composer of songs and choral music. Please see this thread:
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,3817.0.html

As a symphonist he was a very late starter; his biography suggests that he carried the music for his 1st Symphony around in his head for a long time before considering himself ready to begin the composition process.

Spyres has been taking on a lot of heavy repertoire in recent times - I believe he's about to sing Lohengrin, for example. I'd be prepared to give the new set a try if I thought the rest of the cast was up to the considerable demands of L'Africaine, but the excerpts at Presto sound very 'average' to me - in an opera in which world-class vocalism is required.

I won't be abandoning my Blu-ray with Domingo and Verrett (two of the greatest singers of their era) anytime soon, but I appreciate that I'm very picky- and always have been: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCFw51kdApg