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The Honeck Third is my favourite recording of that symphony, the Conlon my favourite of the second. I have yet to find a favourite of the first.

Hoorah! I have very much enjoyed this little series. Only quibble is that Griffiths takes andantes and adagios too quickly and thus loses some cantabile poetry IMHO. He is very good on getting across Krommer's overall musical architecture and motivic development - as he is with Ries.

Chailly is an excellent advocate of Cherubini but that's an awful lot of marching on one Cd. I have an old BBC recording of the symphony so may never the less be tempted.

Kreutzer Violin Concetos on Naxos and Talent. That early 1800s shift from Classicism to Romanticism always interests me, and Kreutzer's concertos are strongly dramatic and melodic. Sadly that looks like it is about it for Kreutzer Cds without doubling up on his works.

Otherwise, the Moor symphony that was put up on here is rather good.

It is a bit disappointing if it is the same D major concerto that has already been recorded. I would be much more likely to buy it if it were two I had not heard before, do recording companies not do an internet search before embarking on recording projects?

The Clement Concerto Barton Pine recorded is delightful although inevitably suffers from being so directly compared with Beethoven's Concerto in the sleeve notes and by being in the same Cd package. However the similarities between the two do rather demonstrate how the "greats" often took ideas and inspiration from the "not so greats".

The recording of the Clement in D minor on You Tube sounds to me as if the finale has been cut.

I have the Marco Polo recording of the Sextet and Sonata Duo which gives a performance of the Sextet that I prefer. I purchased the Naxos recording for the Quartet and Trio. Having heard them a few times I would be happy to pass on the Cd, I'm not someone who keeps every Cd I hear. I suppose the performers and Naxos would rather another Cd be purchased than one passed on. Anyway, tongue in cheek or no I am happy to post on to a fellow WSB fan.

Well would you believe it?!

I just put the Sterndale Bennett Cd on again to check I wasn't mistaken and noticed the bass and treble nobs had been twiddled - we had a toddler here at the weekend, it must of been him!

Bass and treble back to normal the Cd sounds fine, even if the recording space is a little unforgiving.

I will still send it on as I said I would. I'm delighted to find it is Ok.

I would be glad to post it on.

I really do find the string sound lacks any resonance - it sounds like they are using really cheap strings, and the piano sound is harsh. The recording is a disservice to the performers and composer IMHO. I can usually tolerate poor recordings and concentrate on the music but this is too distracting. I got a friend to have a listen and she agreed.

Anyway - happy to post on so long as you don't live in outer Mongolia or some such remoteness...

Has anyone heard this Sterndale Bennet recording? I have and I think it sounds like it was recorded with tin cans on strings. I'm surprised Naxos released it. The Sextet is worst effected.

A performance of Poseidon and Amphitrite by John Knowles Paine has appeared on IMSLP. It is by the Marine Chamber Orchestra.

Performance and Composition of curiosity value even if not revelatory of great things.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Poseidon_and_Amphitrite,_Op.44_(Paine,_John_Knowles)#IMSLP590523

Thanks Gerd. Good stuff.

Sometimes you can hear there is an exciting piece of music fighting to get out of an inadequate performance...and then comes along the performers to set the music free.

But I was actually referring to one performance illuminating another to the extent that the first then actually makes better sense  than the subsequent. Maybe that's a bit obscure.

Totally agree about predictable concert programming, but what can be done to attract people to unfamiliar repertoire?

I recently listened to a recording of Balakirev's Symphony No 1 by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra & Igor Golovschin on Naxos. I listened to it because I was not happy with my USSR Symphony Orchestra & Evgeni Svetlanov recording on Regis.

I then listened to my Svetlanov version again and found it made much more sense. I think what has happened is that the Golovschin version is played slower and performed with less pronounced accents so it was like having the symphony explained to me slowly and simply, so when I went back to the faster and more dramatic account by Svetlanov it made far more sense. The effect was most noticeable in the first movement which has an unusual quasi sonata structure. I actually prefer the Svetlanov now.

I am writing this not because I think Balakirev is Unsung, he is perhaps under-sung, but because I am wondering if anyone else has come across this effect? The effect being that of a very different performance enlightening a performance that at first had seemed unsatisfactory? (hope that's within the remit of the site!)

To go back to an earlier conversation. ...Vol 2 has something of the usual Naxos stretching of the point but looks acceptable enough.

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573851

Totally agree. Our understanding and discography of religious music from that period is dominated by the first Viennese school, but they weren't the only ones writing significant church music.