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As we generally seem to be addressing the (excessive) speed in the first movement, and, with Jarvi, the very beginning, I have ask whether someone knows some programmatic detail that I don't.  Just going by the track listings on the CDs I have, "Part One" (which contains the first two movements) is titled "Liebesgluck."  That is variously translated as "Love's Bliss," "Love's Happiness," or "Joy of Love."  The Chandos notes indicate that there are bits in the allegro that "hint at future events," but I should think that the very beginning of the movement should be giddy, intoxicating, transcendentally serene, or something like that.

While not disagreeing with anything said, I wonder if projecting a mood of feverish excitement can be achieved as much by emphasis, phrasing & tonal expression as by sheer speed.  Bernard Herrmann was probably best known for his Hitchcock scores, so, as a conductor, I'd imagine he was pretty good at setting a mood.

Oh yes, Alan, the tempo is all wrong.  My teeth being grinding at the very thought of it.  The "Lenore" is my favorite symphony, and I've been collecting CD versions for 46 years.  We're up to 7 now, but I find them all flawed in one way or another.

Who, I wonder could give us the ultimate Raff 5th?  Honeck/Pittsburg on Reference?  Paavo Jarvi/Tonhalle on Alpha?  Maybe a dark horse choice would be Janowski/Dresden Philharmonic on Pentatone?

...and I now see from the ERSO website that they're performing the 10th Symphony, 'Zur Herbstzeit,' in late November, so I'm guessing we can expect that to be recorded.

The 10th is my second favorite, after the mighty 5th, of course.

I had emailed Chandos on an unrelated topic, and, after they replied, I said thanks and asked if there was any chance they'd be continuing the Raff symphonies with another conductor.  I was ecstatic to get the following reply:

"Raff will be contiunued with Neeme Jarvi in Estonia. Starting later this year,
Kind Regards
The Chandos Team"

Mine, also, has been shipped, two days ago.  I have to say the cost and shipping to the USA were quite reasonable.

Normally, I would have waited until it showed up on Amazon.com, but thought it better to get ahead of the tariff situation.

Thanks, Alan.  Long live the CD.

For however many years now, I've been hoping that the remaining Raff symphonies by Werner Andreas Albert and the Philharmonia Hungarica that were recorded by WDR would somehow see the light of day.  Project killed off by some contractual dispute or something, wasn't it?  I seem to remember that the glorious 5th was next up for issue. I guess I should just be grateful we got 7 through 11.  Still, hope, like stupidity, springs eternal.

April 24th for the download. How long until the CD is released, I wonder.

I can't disagree.  It is my favorite symphony, but, to my mind, all seven of the recordings released on CD so far are flawed in one way or another, be it sound quality, phrasing & tempo, or quality of orchestral playing.  That said, I still enjoy listening to all of them, well, maybe all except Yondani Butt & The Philharmonia on ASV.  That one is absolutely lifeless.

I just found out yesterday that Heritage Records have, in the past few years, been reissuing Unicorn-Kanchana CDs, including several Bernard Herrmann titles.  As noted in a thread from a few years back, all copies of the 1990 CD reissue of Herrmann's 1970 recording of Raff's 5th Symphony evidently suffer from "bronzing," aka "CD rot."  I've emailed Heritage encouraging them to consider reissuing the Raff.

My eternal gratitude will go out to any of you who would do the same.  I'd also note that there are a number of other currently unavailable titles in the Unicorn catalog that might be of interest to readers here, so it can't hurt to let them know there's interest in their efforts.  I'll paste the link to their website below:

https://www.heritage-records.com

Listed on Presto as download only, but I imagine the CD will be listed soon.  The filler is the 9-minute "Sinfonia Festiva."

BIS has a forthcoming SACD of Helvi Leiviska's orchestral music coming soon.  It is "volume 1," so I guess at least one more is planned after this one.

I saw it listed on the HMV Japan website, and not being able to read Japanese, I can't tell what the pieces included are, but their Opus numbers are. 11, 27 and 30.

From a review I saw on www.classicalmusicdaily.com, I believe the Chineke! Orchestra CD also uses the Trevor Weston reconstruction, but am unable to confirm that because Decca doesn't seem to have posted a photo of the inlay card or mentioned it in their promotional blurb.

Now that Nézet-Séguin's Price project appears to have moved from DG to Decca with the second installment, I wonder if they'll take a pass on the piano concerto, there being such a new one already in Decca's catalog.  Naxos, please take note!

Scott

There'll have be to be at least three CDs to cover Respighi.  There's still the two piano (or is it piano, 4 hands?  I can't remember now.) version of the Concerto in Modo Misolidio.  When I emailed Toccata to inquire about that particular piece, the reply was that they were going to include everything.