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Although neither Rott or Kalinnikov appear in concert programs that much, they are hardly "truly" unsung. Both symphonies have been recorded many times, though invariably by second-tier orchestras. I wish Berlin, Vienna, London, New York et al would take up either, I won't hold my breath.

I wish there was some national data base of who's playing what and when. There are so many orchestras and so many concerts that no one has time to look at all events. I didn't even know Napa Valley had a concert series. A state the size of California must have several hundred orchestras (from the sublime to the dismal) and just keeping track of their concerts would be a daunting task. The Tucson orchestra did some Rubinstein several years back and it was quite a nice change. Yes, chamber music seems to be a bit more open to lesser-known composers. The Raff Sinfonietta appears from time to time.

And then there's that wild and wooly Elgar 2nd from Svetlanov and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

I similarly go through programming for the major and some minor US orchestras. As to who is on the outs, César Franck is sadly missing - and there are some even on this board who couldn't be happier!

US orchestras have if anything gone even further into the safe and secure repertoire: more Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart. Mahler is still quite present, but not anywhere nearly as strong as 20 years ago. Salt Lake is certainly doing their part as they continue with a multi-year complete cycle. It's especially annoying to see some of the legendary orchestras like Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Boston continually replay the standard repertoire with only occasional nods to something different.

But to hear anything like Raff, Glazunov, Rubinstein, Schmidt, Kalinnikov, Bax or Balakirev, you'll have to settle for a cd recording.

Why not another reading of the Draeseke in the piano/violin reduction? Since the orchestration is speculative at best, it might be enlightening to hear it plain.

I concur. Even in the US, it's the Enigma over and over. Once in a while the cello concerto. and less often the violin concerto. Of course P&C #1 is everywhere, but hardly anyone other than musicians know what it is. The First Symphony was given here a year ago - and it was a thrilling performance. The audience, most of whom I safely assume had never heard it, reacted like it was the Tchaikovsky 5th - explosive applause. The 2nd I still have never heard live! A year from now Ashkenazy is doing it in San Francisco. Have already made travel plans. He may not be Barbirolli, Boult, or Handley, but heck it's Elgar!

I was fortunate to play with a conductor and his amateur (but accomplished) orchestra for several years and he was a devout Elgar fan. Over those years I got to play Froissart, Cockaigne, In the South, the P&C marches, Crown of India, Enigma. But never touched a symphony. But I did get to play contrabassoon in the Arizona (and US) premiere of the Elgar/Payne 3rd symphony. That was a memorable experience.

I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that the VPO has never played the Elgar 2nd, haven't played any Bax in 80 years, and then they've only played Tintagel once.

There's a search function on the Vienna Philharmonic's website that was news to me:
http://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/converts/archive

You can search their entire concert listings from the beginning. Very interesting. Schmidt's 2nd has been a favorite, conducted by several giants. They even did Raff - the only symphony was the 3rd and the last time that happened was in 1924 with Weingartner. But they did do concertos for violin, cello, and the piano. I wonder what, if any, archive recordings exist. There are some really interesting concerts from the 1950's and 60's.

Very pleased to see that Jaromir Weinberger's Wallenstein is coming out. There are few composers whose entire body of work is ignored, save one piece, the Polka and Fugue.

Ernest Bloch's Symphony in C# minor. An incredibly powerful, beautiful work. Very melodic - unlike most of his later music. The 2nd movement is so uplifting and majestic. The orchestration is large, but any real orchestra should be able to handle it without problems. Score and parts from Kalmus. Yes, it's been recorded (three times now), but has anyone ever heard of it being programmed live. In a world which can't seem to get enough of the Mahler symphonies, the Bloch should be far better known.

The IMSLP score is actually the full orchestral score - the title page says it's for four hands, but it's wrong.

Sounds like you could write an interesting behind-the-scenes tell-all book!

I have the Opera d'Oro (crude sound) not the Bongiovanni - but you can hear samples of many tracks of it on Arkivmusic site. Sounds like the microphones were set up in the pit! It's a lovely opera.

One that I've always enjoyed is La Wally by Catalani. There's only one aria "Ebben..." that is known well at all, but I find the rest of the opera chock full of good tunes, swaggering orchestration, and plenty of drama and characters to identify with. The story makes staging practically impossible. The only recording I know is on Decca with Tebaldi and it still sounds great after 45 or so years.

There's been a solo-piano arrangement of these sketches on IMSLP for some time. If you have serious piano skills it might be worth checking out, except it's non-PD in the US and EU so be sure you don't download it!