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I see some of his music is avaiable on YouTube, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blTX9OlTsfw

On the Analekta Label CD where Mathieu's PC No. 4 is found, this interesting story regarding PC No. 4 appears on the insert:

'Let's go back in time a little. On September 21, 2005 at André-Mathieu Hall in Laval, Quebec, Alain Lefèvre was performing the Concerto de Québec for the Orchestre symphonique de Laval's season opener. After the concert, as the audience was leaving, a couple lingered behind, the woman apparently wanting a word with Alain Lefèvre. With much emotion, she told him she knew André Mathieu, and that she was even his last sweetheart. The woman then handed him a bag, telling him it should rightly be his. Alain asked for her address and phone number so he could thank her, but her companion, ill at ease, led her away and put an end to the encounter. In the bag, between two sheets of brown cardboard, were five vinyl records with André Mathieu's handwriting on the center labels. The ten sides contained four works: Laurentienne (1946), the Sonata for violin and piano (1949) and excerpts from the 1949 Trio. The huge surprise, though, was on the last four sides. There could be no mistake–Mathieu's hieroglyphic handwriting read: Piano Concerto No. 4 .

'At first, Lefèvre thought this was yet another version of the Concerto de Québec, also known as the Symphonie romantique, Concerto romantique and Concerto No. 3. So why not another version of the composer's signature work, Mathieu's improvisational genius being so well documented? After having the four sides transcribed, though, it became quite obvious this was a new and unknown work, perhaps one of Mathieu's strongest and boldest. The second movement was later reworked by Mathieu into the Rhapsodie romantique, but the first and third movements revealed what was probably his best work, most representative of his "modern Romanticism."

'Now let's travel even further back in time. In September 1946 André Mathieu set sail for Paris to work with Arthur Honegger. Upon his return to Montreal at the end of the summer of 1947 he undoubtedly already had the Piano Concerto No. 4 in his luggage since he played two of its movements on the October 8 Radio-Canada show Radio-Carabin. He programmed the work at every one of his concerts from 1948 to 1955. It is impossible to know, however, when André Mathieu made those records, especially since he had left other recorded testimonies of the work in the form of individual movements and even an abridged version of the concerto. Putting together these various source materials, Alain Lefèvre asked the composer and conductor Gilles Bellemare to take on the colossal task of putting together a workable score.

'Working from just these tinny sounds, Gilles Bellemare had to take down the entire work in musical dictation, devise a coherent piano score, and deduce what should be allocated to the orchestra or the piano. That done, he had to substitute his own ears for Mathieu's in order to determine the nature of the accompaniment and of the orchestration. Luckily, Bellemare was well acquainted with the composer's compositional and pianistic styles, having previously revised the score of the Rhapsodie romantique and published a new edition of twelve piano pieces by André Mathieu.

'Everything finally fell wonderfully into place so that the three concerts of May 8, 9 and 11, 2008 in Tucson, Arizona were a musical celebration that we can all now share in, thanks to this recording.'

YouTube said it's a private video and I'm not allowed to access it.

Also, listen to this aria from Arensky's Raphael: Strast'yu i negoyu serdste trepetchet: https://youtu.be/DmobG28L3HA

Thank you to all for this useful information. It turns out that on my desktop computer, Firefox has suddenly decided to block The Opera Database, because on my mobile phone there is no problem. I haven't been able to sort out the problem yet. Thank you also for pointing out the shortcomings of the site. However, it still seems to be the most comprehensive site for this type of information.

I have, until about two weeks ago, made ample use of the well-stocked site called 'The Opera Database' (http://theoperadatabase.com) where thousands of operas were listed - useful for finding obscure opera composers and operas. The site seems to have disappeared. Does anybody know what may have happened to them, or recommend other sites, where similar searches could be made?

Christopher, my list is compiled simply from a YouTube search. I can't seem to find other recordings. Especially the PC deserves a proper studio recording.

[Anna Kuzina]

The recent discussion on Corentin Boissier reminded me to check whether we have a thread on Anna Kuzina (1984 - )

Anna Kuzina is a Ukrainian romantic composer, not to be confused with the Ukrainian actress of the same name. Some years ago YouTube asked me whether I would like to look at her compositions, and it was a very pleasant discovery. Here are some examples of her numerous works on YouTube (I use their English titles):

Piano Concerto

Symphony-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra

The Melody for Soul No. 1 to 10 (possibly an incorrect translation – rather Soul Melody?)

Breath of Life

In Memoria for bass, mixed choir and orchestra

Spring awakening

Psalm 76: My voice is unto God for mixed choir

I'll be Young for bass and piano.

The PC is an impressive romantic work; many of her works are tranquil, like the Soul Melodies, which are beautiful pieces with varying orchestration; there are often religious themes, like psalm settings, and a preference for the bass soloist.

It would be nice if someone could give us a more complete list of compositions.

I found the following anecdote on YouTube regarding Pancho Vladigerov's Piano Concerto No.1, which I partially rewrite here for the benefit of those of you who may not have seen it. I can't vouch for the truth or otherwise:

Apparently Herbert von Karajan performed this work as the pianist in the Mozarteum for his master degree performance examination. He damaged a tendon in the process. This happened because halfway through the piece he glanced toward the audience, and much to his surprise, saw his mother sitting in the front row! Much to the audience's amazement he tried to play both the right and left hand parts with just his left hand to enable him to give mum a nice long wave. She smiled ever-so-proudly back at her son, seemingly oblivious to the crescendo of boos reverberating around the concert hall.

I also disagree with Mr. Hurwitz. I think it is an exciting work, especially the first movement. It has a rhythmic 'catch' to it which is delightful.

I discovered that Presto Classical sells an eight CD set of this remarkable composer.
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8073405--guillaume-lekeu-les-fleurs-pales-du-souvenir
In terms of romantic works for organ and orchestra discussed elsewhere on this forum, he also composed a beautiful organ-and-orchestra piece Epithalame pour orgue et orchestra.

[William Lovelock]

I don't think you mention a splendid Symphony in G minor (1936-37) by Percy Whitlock (1903-1946). It is written in a highly romantic style with prominent organ:

I must thank joelingaard for making me aware of this work by Whitlock. It is indeed composed in romantic style. I have confused this composer with the similarly named William Lovelock (1899 - 1986), who also wrote an organ-orchestra work Concert Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, which is a modernistic work.
The recording of Whitlock's Symphony on YouTube, unfortunately, is not of good quality sound, and it would be tremendous if the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra could re-issue this recording. I was unable to listen to the alternative Jackson recording on the internet, but apparently it is not so good as the BBC one, according to one YouTube commentator.

Your responses have prompted me to do some new searches and I have managed to add another eight works to my collection (I added them to the list above). Especially useful was a search on Presto Classical. This also made me aware of a surprisingly large number of modern compositions in this genre, which I don't collect. Reverie mentioned the Moskowski Suite No. 2, which is interesting, but I did not manage to find any recording.

Thanks to all who have replied so far, and for the kind remarks. I have corrected an error and added one more work. Next step is to check the suggestions you have made.

[Ebenezer Prout]

Over a period of some three decades I have been trying to collect recordings of romantic works for organ and orchestra. My attempts so far have produced a mere 50-odd works, of which I give a extract below. I would be delighted if members could help me by adding or correcting.

My norms are that the organ part should be fairly prominent, e.g. it would exclude works like those by Liszt or Respighi, where the organ is just added for effect in the finale, and that the orchestra should at least include strings. Also, obviously, choral works like requiems or masses would be excluded. I do include works that originally may have been composed for other instruments but were then re-orchestrated for organ and orchestra.

Of course, as the discussion below shows, there are many compositions that have been composed but of which recordings do not exist. My list excludes those works of which I could not locate any recordings.

I only collected a handful of modern composers, and of course they fall outside our remit, but included in my original list are Dupré, Langlais, Lovelock and Marģeris Zariņš.

My three favourites are: The organ concerto by Poulenc (which I regard as the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard), the concerto by Zariņš (Concerto Innocente for Organ and Orchestra) and Respighi's Suite for Organ and Strings.

Here is my very short list (some sung composers included):

Ebenezer Prout (1835 - 1909) Concerto No. 1 Op. 5 (1870)

Guillaume Lekeu (1870 - 1894) Épithalame pour orgue et orchestre (1891)

Hendrik Andriessen (1892 – 1981) Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (1950)

Léon Boëllmann (1862 – 1897) Fantaisie Dialoguée for Organ and Orchestra Op. 35 (1896)

Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) Suite for Organ and Orchestra Op.88 (1915) – Based on his PC

Marco Enrico Bossi (1861 – 1925):
•    Fantasia Simfonica per Organo e Orchestra Op 147 (1923)
•    Concerto for Organ and Orchestra Op. 100 (1900)
•    Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra Op. 130 (1908)

François-Joseph Fetis (1784 – 1871) Fantaisie Symphonique for Organ and Orchestra (1866)

Eugène Gigout (1844 - 1925) Grand Chœur Dialogué (1881)

Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) – Some of Gounod's works for pedal-piano have been arranged for organ and orchestra:
•    Fantaisie sur L'Hymn National Russe (1885)
•    Concerto for Pedal-Piano and Orchestra (1889)
•    Suite Concertante (1885)

Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (1837 – 1911) – As far as I know most of these were not originally composed for both organ and orchestra:
•   Adoracion
•   Allegro for Organ and Orchestra Op.81
•   Cantilene Pastorale Op. 15 (1864)
•   Elegiac Marche
•   Fantastic Marche
•   L'Organiste pratique, Livre 2: Deuxième marche funebre Op. 41 (1874)
•   Finale alla Schumann sur un Noël Op.83 (1893)
•   Marche Fantaisie sur des Chants d'Eglise Op.44
•   Meditation sur le Stabat Mater Op.63 (1886)
•   Organ Symphony Op. 42

Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen (1838 - 1915) Reformationshymnus: Symphony No. 5 for large orchestra and organ.
(This new discovery (for me) is a Sterling recording by our own Adriano with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra!)

Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) Sursum Corda Op. 11 (1894)

Joseph Jongen (1873 – 1953):
•   Alleluia for Organ and Orchestra Op. 112 (1940)
•   Hymn for Organ and Orchestra Op. 78 (1924)
•   Symphony Concertante for Organ and Orchestra (1926)

Horatio Parker (1863 – 1919) Concerto for Organ and Orchestra   Op. 55   (1902)

Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings (1938)

Ture Rangström (1884 – 1947) Symphony No. 4 for Organ and Orchestra

Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936) Suite for Organ and Strings (1914)

Josef Rheinberger (1839 – 1901):
•   Organ Concerto No. 1 Op. 137 (1884)
•   Organ Concerto No. 2 Op. 117 (1894)
(Rheinberger also composed some works for solo violin and organ. I wish someone would re-orchestrate them for full orchestra and organ.)

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921):
•   Symphony No. 3 Op. 78 (1886)
•   Cyprès et Lauriers Op. 156 (1919) (Part 1 - Cyprès - is organ only)

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 – 1924) Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra Op. 181 (1921)

Charles-Marie Widor (1844 – 1937)
•   Overture Portugaise (1865)
•   Allegro Vivace Op. 42 No. 5 (1882)
•   Scherzo La Chasse (1868?)
•   Symphony No. 3 for Organ and Orchestra Op.69 (1894)
•   Symphony for Organ and Orchestra Op.42 (1882)

Hans Fährmann (1860 - 1940): Simfonisches Konzert Op. 52 (1905) (Organ rather inaudible in the recording I found)

Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949):

•   Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter des Johanniter-Ordens Op. 103 (1909)
•   Festival Prelude (1913)

Josef Suder (1892 - 1980) Symphonische Musik No. 1 (1941)

Jaromír Weinberger (1896-1967): Passacaglia für Orgel und großes Orchester (1932)

I would be happy to send my complete list (which includes modern composers) privately to anybody who is interested.