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A bit of a footnote, but it appears that Lange studied with Kiel and Rudorff in Berlin together with Fritz Kauffmann, of Franke fame. Kauffmann was a few years older but first trained as a pharmacist.

I don't want this to escalate into another pointless discussion of economics, but it's good to realize that in commercial terms, classical music is minute at around one percent share of the music market. Of that, the independents are again only a small part.

One element to keep in mind also (and which I forgot in my earlier post), and which might explain Amazon's policy of pushing downloads over physical product is that the margin on downloads is generally higher. Not only because of inventory, but also because the costs of creating physical product are, by and large, higher than the price difference between CDs and downloads.

To be honest, I'm not sure that Mahler would count as a "leading composer" in the Austro-German realm at the time, though. Strauss, definitely, but Mahler?

I wouldn't say that Zemlinsky and Strauss "never bothered much with symphonic writing" after their student days. There's Zemlinsky's Lyrische Symphonie (1924) and "symphony-ish" Die Seejungfrau (1903), Strauss' Sinfonia Domestica (1903) and Eine Alpensinfonie (1915), and quite a few by others in the Austro-German realm, such as Schmidt, Hausegger, Graener and Marx. Of course, the concept of "symphonic writing", or what could be called a symphony at all had become more fluid by this time, but if anything, Mahler further expanded that definition. Meanwhile, adherents of more traditional symphony-writing pushed away from Mahler rather than towards him; the increasingly modest (in terms of length and forces involved) symphonies of Felix Woyrsch are a good illustration.

Not all that odd from a retailer's perspective. Keeping inventory is expensive, so the more customers you can serve with the digital product, the less physical items you need to stock. Of course, one box of Raff CDs won't make a huge difference but across their entire catalogue...

Eric, thanks for the sorting correction. I had used the Fesca entry as a template since he shared quite a few categories with Kauffmann and thought I'd removed all the residue, but apparently not.

Of a slightly different character, but definitely post-Brahmsian: Felix Woyrsch (1860-1944) wrote his last three symphonies after the age of 69.

I don't recall anyone here ever reviewing that Gernsheim CD. I listened to the first movement of that E-flat quintet (so far) and was very impressed (though its close connection to late Brahms could be what you're referring to, for all I know...) That said, looking forward to giving the Thieriot work a try.

Being impressed by Gernsheim (the four symphonies under Köhler to be precise) is what got me into the Unsung to begin with, and I've come across anything by him that I considered below-par. What I've heard from Thieriot elicits similar sentiments. It's be so great to have the symphonies in decent recordings.

Gareth, the library catalog seems to contain only Symphony No. 5; can you tell me where you found references to the other ones?

On Thursday 7 (Badajoz) and Friday 8 March (Plasencia), the Orquesta de Extremadura is playing Alexander von Zemlinsky's Symphony in D minor in Badajoz, Spain (along with Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto), conducted by Jaume Santonjo. They seem to engage in such relatively adventurous repertoire often; two years ago the orchestra performed Felix Woyrsch' 1st Symphony.

Ehm, there IS still Dvořák's concerto, of course... 

Great observation: if someone includes both "fantastic" and "symphony" in the title, it's inevitable to draw comparisons with Berlioz, leaving poor Franz with little opportunity to shine.

The only Schreck I know is his really rather excellent oratorio Christus, der Auferstandene (Christ, the Resurrected) from 1896*. And I have to say that I like this nonet. It's a pleasantly lightweight piece - in a good way - and exquisitely crafted.

* I am a sucker for large-scale oratorios, so your mileage may vary.

I think it is partly entertaining trash, but trash nonetheless. It just baffles me that someone who is such a master in one musical genre can show such an utter lack of understanding of another. Set that against people like Bretón and Chapí, Zarzuela (similar to Operetta) composers who composed really worthwhile orchestral music.

The scrappy strings are a bigger problem than the repertory as far as Mr. Rudner's reputation is concerned, I think.

I've finally been able to digest Suppé's Fantasia Symphonica and while it may be fantastic, it certainly doesn't appear to be particularly symphonic. "Awkward symphonies by representatives of other genres" is something of a subgenre in itself, it seems - one characterized by the composers' steadfast refusal to conjure up anything approaching a "symphonic argument". There's Bellini's symphony and Verdi's three Sinfonias", all of which wouldn't sound out of place as orchestral sinfonias in the middle of one of their operas (and in Verdi's case, were in at least one case). A particularly interesting parallel case is the Maltese Paolino Vassallo, a composer of predominantly sacral works whose single symphony always sounds as though the choir may come in any moment - but never like a symphony. But even set against all of those, Suppé's work mostly feels like a waste of three overtures.