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Mayer's symphony no.2 is also available from Ries & Erler as of this year. Still, at least in some countries, the manuscript and work are public domain because of its premiere way back in 1847 March. (The relevant body of law is sometimes referred to, I believe, as editio princeps.)

Thank you very much for mentioning my work in connection with Emilie Mayer. However, The symphony that I have published and which was performed in Neubrandenburg in 2012 to celebrate Mayer's bicentenary, is not the symphony referred to above. I have, in fact, published the later symphony in E Major composed in 1853 and referred to as no.6.
A virtual extract is here https://soundcloud.com/rosflute/emilie-mayer-sinfonie-in-e-dur?in=rosflute/sets/virtually-unknown

I happened upon Dupont's music, last year, and was immediately struck by its quality. At the time, I was looking for a work to adapt for flutes with piano and enthusiastically chose the last movement of Poeme 'Joyeux et Ensoleille'. The original movement is very long, some 12 minutes and I decided to make cuts, especially where the original writing for strings would not happily adapt to flutes, bringing it down to a more manageable 9 or 6 minutes [according to the players' choice] and arguably creating a more satisfactory structure. You may be interested in the demo track that I added to YouTube with images and information about Dupont.
https://youtu.be/Iof9CWbN_R8

No problem, Hyperdanny, and no need for you to apologise. But thanks, anyway.

I would like to correct Hyperdanny's comment, based on Attardi's misinformation, that Attardi's performance was an absolute novelty-rediscovery at the time. This is not true. As Attardi knew very well, the second symphony had previously received two performances more than a year before his. Those first performances were in Rome in February 2014 performed by the Rome orchestra conducted by La Vecchia. I was present at those 2 performances, for which I also supplied the orchestral parts and score. [That orchestral set and score mysteriously went missing shortly after the Rome orchestra's collapse at the end of 2014]. Attardi's score and performance didn't appear until September 2015. Furthermore since 2006, I had been selling a virtual performance of the second symphony on CD, which had received a review in Classical Music magazine.
At my own expense, in the three years from 2003 - 2006, I made several trips to Rome where I spent a total of more than six weeks of long days in the Casanatense library, labouriously copying out the notes of the symphony from the hand written orchestral parts. I published the First Edition of the second symphony in 2006, supplying copies to the British Library and Biblioteca Casanatense. Then, in 2011, I published a second revised edition. So it hurts when someone else tries to take credit for my work. 

I think you have chosen an interesting subject for debate. I entered the world of forgotten composer research and editing/publishing nearly 20 years ago. Back in those days, I was endlessly enthusiastic for every fresh discovery. However, as the years have rolled by, I have become ever more selective - I see a lot of work, and now only chooset to publish those pieces that have something special to offer.
I do not, as Hadrianus suggests, measure the works against those of 'great composers', but by their ability to sustain my interest as a listener, player and musicologist. As well as subjective issues, the objective five elements of music all play a part in this:
e.g.
structure: a song that has the same music for every stanza, cannot be said to be a great work [compare Johanna Kinkel's songs with Gretchen am Spinnrade by Schubert].
Melody & Harmony: A symphony that sounds like Beethoven but written in 1880, however good to hear, can only ever arouse slight interest and be regarded as pastiche, given the exciting innovations at that time by Wagner and Brahms. [compare Emilie Mayer symphonic works]
Colour: Some forgotten works suffer by being written unsuitably for the instrument - if it doesn't work for the player or draw out the best features of timbre, it is unlikely to get performed a great deal.
However, the music of Halfdan Kjerulf which first brought me into this field, continues to delight me every time I look at the scores, the originality and skill is first class. I look forward to completing a project later this year for the bicentenary.

Hi Mike, the CD looks great - congratulations. I hadn't got around to opening my copy of the BFS journal, until your post sent me scurrying to see it. The composers on the CD all deserve a greater reputation, however in my opinion, there is still one that remains to be performed and recorded - Sir George Alexander Macfarren. Perhaps a future project for you? I am an admirer of his works, of which I have made new editions. Also there is an article I researched and wrote [first published in the BFS journal] which has a link to the compositions for flute and further links to audio examples hosted on Soundcloud. http://www.trubcher.com/George_Alexander_Macfarren_s/133.htm

I have a copy of the score of the Epitalamio and started making a new edition several years ago. However, I put it to one side, partly on account of other works occupying my time, and partly due to, what I felt at the time, weaknesses in the manner of the orchestration. I'll get around to doing more to it one day, however!

Thank you Alan! Rather a lot of sleeve notes - I managed to 'reduce' to about 5000 words, so I'm not sure if they'll print all !

Interesting, jdperdrix that you prefer what you call the ' Italian' quality. Attardi's version very closely resembled both La Vecchia's interpretation [in February 2014] and my own original 'recording' created by my computer in 2006 and issued as a virtual CD.
Sgambati was a great fan of Wagner's music, as well as other German composers including Schumann, Beethoven and Brahms [as well as Liszt, of course] and is strongly influenced by them. So what is required by Sgambati's music is a perfect blend of German Late Romanticism [what I suspect you call 'massive'] together with the lyricism of Italian melody, and so, in this respect, Rudner comes much closer to finding the correct balance [I would quibble over his interpretation of the semi staccato in the introduction of the first movement, but his audacious speeds for the faster movements would, I think,  be appreciated by Sgambati, the virtuoso pianist!]. Perhaps you will enjoy Rudner's interpretation better on another meeting.
Incidentally, I have written the sleeve notes for the CD.

The Prison was performed in Berlin a few years ago, and I was fortunate enough to be there. I also received a copy of the [private] recording made at that occasion. It is indeed a great work, although the sounding of the Last Post at the end does indeed weaken the effect of the whole.

I'm able to get wifi only occasionally at the moment, so apologies for any slowness of reply. To answer a few points raised:-
The Rudner Wurttembergische recording was made last September. It is intended to be released as a CD in 2017.
I attended the Orchestra of Roma First performance of the work, conducted by La Vecchia, which was not recorded [although the orchestra management told me that it had previously been recorded, I was never convinced that this was the case]. Attardi's subsequent performance was issued as a live recording. Both of these Italian performances drew heavily upon the interpretation that I created for the virtual performance issued as a CD with my edition. So I was delighted that Ola Rudner's interpretation shed new light on the symphony. It is interesting that his slower interpretation increased the length of the work by almost 10 minutes! I agree with Alan that the symphony is still awaiting a definitive performance.
Regarding the influence of Brahms and Liszt, you many be interested to read my long article on this matter which will be published in the Liszt Society journal shortly. I'll put a copy of the article on my website sometime in the future.
Anyway, thank you to everyone for your interest.

 

Might this be a future cpo release?

Regarding a cpo release - yes, I am told it will be released next year.
I've heard the recording now, and it is very good. The conductor, Ola Rudner, clearly has taken care to study the score and has produced an interpretation that is very different from the previous performances [which both sounded uncannily like my original virtual performance!]. The orchestra, especially the horns and trumpets, is in fine form and the SWR2 tonmeisters have done a great job in creating a warm, balanced sound. Recommended.

September 13th on German radio - broadcast of the Symphony no. 2 by Giovanni Sgambati. Played by the Württembergische Philharmonie, Reutlingen, conducted by Ola Rudner. Performed using the edition which I reconstructed [from the original hand written orchestral parts], edited, published and printed. This link will take you to the page announcing the broadcast:
http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/musik-aus-unseren-archiven/swr2-musik-aus-unseren-archiven/-/id=1857752/did=17901210/nid=1857752/sdpgid=1304725/1ggll8i/index.html

  Congratulations!

I spend my time researching and then publishing forgotten works, and I can assure you that it is possible to assess whether a work is good or not. You see touches of genius that are missing from other works. Songs are an extremely good way to illustrate the point and Schubert's 'Gretchen am Spinnrade' is an excellent example of a composer using the simplest ingredients in a highly skilled an inventive manner throughout. Compare Schubert's work with that of Johanna Kinkel, who wrote some very good songs, and you will observe the difference. Kinkel's songs are enjoyable with good ideas but they lack any real signs of genius and every stanza is set to the same notes. Schubert makes small changes to illustrate particular words or feelings, Kinkel does not.
At the end of the day what matters is whether any individual enjoys some music and it should not matter what someone else says about it. However, yes, it is possible to see why some pieces are more successful than others.