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I have just acquired a CD on the Pro Musica Camerata label containing chamber music by the short-lived Polish composer Antoni Stolpe (1851-1872):

2 extant movements of a Piano Sextet in E minor (1868)
Variations for String Quartet
Scène dramatique for Cello and String Quintet
Romance for Violin, Cello and Piano

Frankly, it's absolutely glorious stuff. Some audio samples are available at jpc...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Antoni-Stolpe-Werke-Vol-1/hnum/9666614

Has anyone else come across Stolpe?

Jpc in Germany are announcing a January (4th) release date for Ole Olsen's Symphony in G major of 1878, Op.5. The performers are the Latvian National SO under Terje Mikkelsen, as on the CD of Alnaes symphonies. As this is a wonderful orchestra, we can expect another hit from Sterling! Happy New Year, Bo!

I have recently ordered (but not yet received) a few CDs of music by Jean Cras and wondered if anyone had any opinions about him...

I have come across this news from Channel Classics:

MUSIC DIRECTOR ROBERT SPANO AND ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA has performed the WORLD PREMIERE OF  DEJAN LAZIC'S NEW TRANSCRIPTION OF BRAHMS'S CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN.  Officially called Brahms 3rd Piano Concerto.

Mr. Lazic had long felt the beloved D-Major Violin Concerto would work beautifully as a piano concerto. Following his first collaboration with the ASO a little over a year ago, Mr. Spano asked him if there was something out of the ordinary he wanted to do with this Orchestra. Mr. Lazic shared his idea, and the ASO offered to perform the world premiere performances of this great work in a new setting.

It was a great success in Atlanta. Channel was there to record the concerts and will bring this release out in the beginning of the new year.

I have news from cpo that they will be bringing out Jadassohn's Symphony No.4 in a performance by the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under Israel Yinon. No release date has been set, but the piece is so good it'll be worth the wait.

I am in seventh heaven - having just discovered Yevgeny Sudbin's two magnificent recordings of Medtner PCs on BIS - No.1 coupled with Tchaikovsky's PC1, and No.2 coupled with Rachmaninov's PC4 (in the original version).

Not only is Sudbin's pianism incredible in itself, but Medtner's PCs are given the sort of treatment that elevate them from shadowy contemporaries of Rachmaninov's PCs to a new level - passionate, wide-ranging, utterly fascinating works. The accompaniments - not by the usual suspects in terms of orchestras or conductors - are stunning, maybe because there is no element of routine about them.

I just hope that No.3 is planned to complete the cycle. All lovers of stupendous piano-playing, sell whatever shirts you have left and get these recordings...

At 9.30 am this Saturday, 28th November, BBC Radio 3 - as part of its regular CD Review programme - will be devoting a major slot of an hour or so to recent recordings of music by Spohr. The occasion is the 150th anniversary of his death.

John White: is this a triumph for your tireless advocacy or has there been a major change of policy at the BBC?

Friends will be interested to hear that Brilliant Classics have gathered together many of the classic 60s/70s recordings of unsung PCs in a 20-CD box retailing at only just over £1-50 per CD.

The PCs concerned are by:

D'Albert, Alkan, Balakirev, Barber, Beach, Berwald, Bronsart, Cramer, Czerny, Chopin, Clementi, Field, Gershwin, Glazunov, Goetz, Henselt, Hiller, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, Lalo, Liszt, Litolff, Lyapunov, MacDowell, Mayr, Medtner, Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Mosonyi, Moskowski, Pierne, Raff, Reinecke, Rheinberger, Ries, Roussel, Rubinstein, Scharwenka, Schumann, Sinding, Stavenhagen,Tchaikovsky, Thalberg, Volkmann and Weber

...and the soloists include:

Felicja Blumental; Michael Ponti; Jerome Rose; Marylène Dosse and Eugene List

Details here...
http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_December09/9021.htm

The 2010 catalogue from cpo reveals some interesting recording plans in addition to those we already know about:

Natanael Berg Symphony No.3
Carl Davidoff Cello Concertos Nos.3 & 4
August Enna Symphony No.2
F. E. Fesca String Quartets vol.1
J. B. Foerster String Quartets 1-5
Jan van Gilse Symphony No.3
Gounod La Nonne Sanglante (opera)
Théodore Gouvy Iphigénie en Tauride (oratorio)
Humperdinck Dornröschen (opera)
Edvin Kallstenius Symphonies Nos.1 & 2
Joseph Marx Lieder
Eduard Marxsen (1806-1887) piano works, incl. Piano Sonata, Op.8
Molique String Quartets (2 further CDs)
Onslow Piano Trios, vols.3 & 4
Dora Pejacevic (1885-1923) two CDs of chamber music
Pfitzner Die Rose vom Liebesgarten (opera)
Raff String Quartets Nos.2 & 3 (Mannheim Quartet)
Röntgen Piano Concertos Nos.2 & 4 in F (1906)
Heinrich Kaspar Schmidt (1874-1953) chamber music
Franz Schmidt Piano Concerto (left hand) & Beethoven Variations
Weingartner String Quartet No.5 & String Quintet

New from cpo are Kreutzer's VCs 15, 18 and 19...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Rodolphe-Kreutzer-Violinkonzerte-Nr-15-18-19/hnum/8391731

...and d'Albert's Symphony, Op.4 (a big, post-Brahmsian statement with some magnificent writing - better IMHO than the Thuille Symphony or the early pair by Richard Strauss)...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Eugene-d-Albert-Symphonie-op-4/hnum/9600247

Guild have announced the release of two VCs by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. Details and audio samples here...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Emile-Jaques-Dalcroze-Violinkonzert-op-50/hnum/8775596

Following the acquisition of a German radio performance of Gernsheim's Piano Concerto in C minor of 1868, I am going to hazard a guess that - were it ever to be commercially recorded - it will become a firm favourite. It is a most winning and tuneful work, wonderfully written for the piano, but also with real symphonic 'muscle'. Indeed, it feels like another missing link between, say, Schumann and Brahms - and it confirms the composer's growing reputation as a master. His stature overall seems to me at least comparable with someone such as Max Bruch.

But to return to the PC, this is real Hyperion territory, I would have thought. Of course, it may well be that cpo have snapped up the radio performance, but who knows...?

Available from Innsbruck is the Piano Concerto in G minor (1850) by Rufinatscha. It's a stunning work from his maturity - full of memorable material and in his usual, high-flown style. Also on the CD are the Ouverture dramatique and the Overture to Die Braut von Messina, as well as Schumann's Piano concerto.

The orchestra is chamber-sized (approx.40) and the piano used is a period instrument from 1838 - slightly clattery, but nothing to worry about. Which means that the door is open for a bigger-scale performance...

I see from Hyperion's website that Spohr's Symphonies 3 and 6 are scheduled for release in February...

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/ym.asp?ym=2010_02

Testament are to bring out the famous 1966 performance from the Royal Albert Hall, London, of Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult...

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_December09/SBT21454.htm

For lovers of unsung music, this is about as near the holy grail of legendary performances as it gets! If friends are interested, I suggest getting your order in quickly as I understand from MDT that there have already been a number of phone enquiries this morning - and the page advertising the CDs only went up today!

cpo have also announced a recording of the Symphony No.2 by Gerhard Schjelderup (1859-1933)...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/SESSIONID/fb2168f227aec203db41480801eeeed3/cpo/detail/-/art/Gerhard-Schjelderup-Symphonie-Nr-2/hnum/2482341

Here is some info about the composer...

http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2002092514511563384756

Evidently this symphony dates from 1924...

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schjelderup#.C3.98vrige_verk

Does anyone know the VC by US composer, Nicolas Flagello (1928-94)? It would seem to be another approachable VC from the modern era...

http://www.artekrecordings.com/artek/CD36.htm

Sterling have announced (in Germany, at least) the release of Symphonies 1 & 2 by Eyvind Alnaes...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/SESSIONID/fb2168f227aec203db41480801eeeed3/classic/detail/-/art/Eyvind-Alnaes-Symphonien-Nr-1-2-opp-7-43/hnum/9196126

Advertised as a new issue at jpc is this (very cheap) Brilliant Classics CD of Gernsheim's 1st and 3rd Piano Quartets...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/SESSIONID/fb2168f227aec203db41480801eeeed3/classic/detail/-/art/Friedrich-Gernsheim-Klavierquartette-Nr-1-3/hnum/7556107

If you haven't yet heard Hilary Hahn's CD of the Barber Violin Concerto on Sony, you have been missing a reat treat. Not only is the Barber wonderful, but you will have the opportunity to hear another very approachable and tune-filled modern-day VC - that by Edgar Meyer. And Hahn's playing reveals her to be one of today's supreme virtuosos...