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Thanks. I seem to have problems with the search function. I will work on it .

Toccata announces for September 1 a new recording of all pieces for Cello and Piano by Joachim Raff. Joseph Mendoes, Cello and
Taeyeon Lim, Piano will be the soloists.

https://toccataclassics.com/product/joachim-raff-cello-piano/

Oops, for seven years no one wrote something here. Today, I listened again to the "In Summer" symphony of Joachim Raff and its seems to become my favourite symphony of his along the "Lenore". It is such a wonderful symphony and the main theme of the 1st movement is one of those melodies that will stay in my mind for days. I listened to the Stadlmair recording today and I have to check soon whether I prefer this one or the Albert on cpo.

If you are into piano quintets and looking for some unusual fare, the new CD by the Spanish Cuarteto Quiroga and pianist Javier Perianes might be a good place to look.
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/piano-quintets/hnum/8299737
The Cuarteto Quiroga is on its way to become the second Spanish quartet of international fame after the Cuarteto Casals on the current market. Their first two CDs were focused on music not of relevance here and the third on Brahms, not really underrecorded. But their new Harmonia Mundi CD really has two gems in the two piano quintets by Enrique Granados and Joaquin Turina. Granados - mostly known for his piano music - wrote his quintet op. 49 at the end of the 19th century. The 3-movement piece shows some relation to the french music of that time and has an unusually attractive spanish-coloured middle movement. Turinas quintet - his op. 1 composed ten years later - is more on the Brahms side, starting unusually with a fugue. Both pieces on two hearings seem very attractive and suitable to become repertoire pieces. Standards of interpretation and recording are as high as they get today. Only complaint: there would have been enough space on this 51-minute CD to include some additional music, e.g. music for string quartet written by Turina.

Thanks for pointing this out, I must have missed that one.

Until recently I thought that Niels Gade had written 3 string quartets, they were recorded a while ago by the danish Kontra Quartet for BIS: http://www.bis.se/index.php?op=album&aID=BIS-CD-516. Recently however an early quartet showed up on a MDG recording with the Leipziger Streichquartett: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/willkommen-und-abschied-streichquartett-op-27/hnum/6217082. (If you are a fan of Kafkaesque stories you should read how their 1st violinist Stefan Arzberger got trapped in a New York court case since one year: http://www.support-for-arzberger.com/en/the-arzberger-case/).

This quartet was written in 1840 and is in so far unusual for its time, since it is carrying a lyric program in form of a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Willkommen und Abschied". Unfortunately Gade did not finish this work, so the final movement is missing and the end of the serenata scherzando had to be completed, but what is there (about 25 min) is really worth listening to. I see these three movements on the same level than the quartets of Mendelssohn and Schumann and as far as I remember they are also better then what Gade wrote later in this genre. The playing of the LSQ is as usual excellent. The second dish on this CD is Edvard Grieg's popular op. 27.

I listened to the string quartet op. 23 twice over this weekend, and indeed it is a lovely piece. It has a certain kind of melancholy which I find very attractive, like a swan song to a disappearing epoch.
The playing of the Tippett Quartet is wonderful.

This recording can be strongly recommended. I just listened again to the Piano Quintet. What a fabulous piece. This brooding and passionate Allegro patetico that already takes almost half of the 44 min. A highly original Scherzo and a Largo with a simple but very effective melodic line. The first half of the last movement maybe a small let-down (too Brahmsian) but then things develop into a hymn-like finale that is really wallowing you up in great sound.
The Martinu Quartet and Olga Vinokur give this piece the full romantic treatment and Supraphon provides the appropriate sound. A wonderful chamber music disc. There is an alternative recording on cpo with Anna Zassimova as pianist and two other chamber pieces that is just as good and sold for almost nothing now.

Hi
I just registered and thought it might by useful for you to know who did.
I am 62 and work in the academic world as a professor. From early on, music played an important part in my life, first it was rock music, later I developed a taste for classical music after discovering Mahlers Resurrection symphony. My taste is broad from Bach to Haydn to contemporary music. I understand that only my special  interest in music of the romantic era is of interest here in this forum. About 35 years ago I came across the Lenore symphony of Joachim Raff on the famous vinyl LP conducted by Bernard Hermann and was wondering why that piece was less popular than many other symphonies that I thought were not half as good. That started my interest in unsung composers. My favourite genres are symphonies, violin concertos and especially string quartets. By browsing through your site I got the impression that string quartets are underrepresented here. So I might be able to add something to this topic if there is interest.
I am living in Stuttgart/Germany, I am not able to read music but besides collecting records and CDs I regularly visit classical music performances, e.g. a concert of Argerich/Maisky tonight.