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The Woyrsch symphony sounds very interesting, and more of a a early Brahms/Beethoven mix than I would have expected. To be honest, apart from its energy it didn't sound like the typical "student" work at all, and I hope Mr. Zielke will give us the final two movements (if they exist). I assumed that the work had been lost, but now that it apparently isn't I was wondering whether the cpo disc with "Symphonies 1 & 6" that the Pfohl-Woyrsch-Stiftung announced was of this work and not the C minor (op. 52) that has already been recorded by Miguel Gomez. Although that would've turned Symphony No. 6 into No. 7. I guess we can only wait.

Number 2 is quite clearly from Bizet's Carmen. I forget which bit, but it was later popularized in the adaptation by Oscar Hammerstein II's Carmen Jones, "Beat out Dat Rhythm on a Drum". My guess is that's the version here, too.

Yummy indeed. 

I think this says more about Krommer's ability to explore new paths and Ries' relative failure (or unwillingness) to do so. If you go from the latter's 1st to 8th symphony there's not a whole lot of progression, while Krommer's 9th arguably sounds more modern than either of Ries' symphonies. In fact, it already comes quite close to what his (near-)compatriot Kalliwoda, despite being more than forty years his junior, was up to at the time. Quite a remarkable degree of artistic progression.

Krommer is of a an earlier generation, though, born in 1759, just three years after Mozart. Ries (b. 1784) immediately follows Beethoven, and I think should be compared more to Czerny (b. 1791), and perhaps also Loewe (b. 1796), both of whom sound far more adventurous to me.

I have to agree with "insipid". Despite being a violinist, I don't think the concerto shows Van Bree at his best as a composer. There are, however, various other orchestral works that are far more appealing, most of all his mostly Weberian concert overtures. In my youth, his Allegro moderato for four String Quartets was something of a regular presence in Dutch music venues, also because of its novelty factor with a string quartet in each corner of the room.

Dacapo has a reputation for following such symphonic recording projects through, so I'm really hopeful we'll have a full set soon.

Remember our despondency some years ago at the thought that labels would consider the Bendix symphonies "done" after the sub-par (IMO) Omsk set? We have arrived at a point where a fair bunch of previously very obscure works exist in more than one recording. Of course, there's still oodles of stuff that need to receive their premiere, but I consider this encouraging.

That Brahms guy seems interesing. I've heard of him, I think.

I assume this is the recording you meant? I think the "Ersteinspielung" merely refers to the original version of the slow movement, but the packaging of the CD could be seen as deceptive were it not for the other nine thousand recordings of Brahms' first.

Oh, and finally a decent recording (very decent by the sound of things) of the Bendix symphonies? That would be great. Although here the packaging is also slightly puzzling, of a style normally associated with modernist 20th century fare.

Yup.

Yes it did to some extent; I didn't have the advantage of a separate track. However, as the orchestra was typically further in the background, it mostly boosted the softer, orchestral parts.

As an experiment, I subjected the Cooper recording to a treatment that I believe is similar to what the sound engineers did to have the orchestra sound fuller in the Henselt-Bronsart Paul Wee recording we discussed recently. If you're interested, the result is here.

I always thought that the opening of Saint-Saëns 2nd PC must've been inspired by Beethoven's 4th, even if it is G minor instead of major and then veers off into a totally different direction.

I perhaps need to point out that entering scores into Sibelius can be rage-inducing. The issue with much of these software products is that they continue to use interface elements from decades past because it is what the user base is accustomed to, even if they don't make much sense on their own. The sheer terror of working myself into a heart attack is what is keeping me from continuing to work on this sort of thing. I know that Tuomas is using Dorico. That may be better, but it's also more expensive.

A sincere effort, but not particularly inspired, and further hampered by dull sonics. A sort-of anti-Ponti: where Ponti is perhaps too idiosyncratic, Aronsky remains rather too staid. Tra and Antonioli are in a different league.

For me, it's still a toss-up between Tra and Antonioli. The interpretations are basically identical, and although the Lausanne Orchestra is the more lyrical of the two, the Prague one is slightly better recorded. Not much in it.