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I'm not too sure about the Breuer - yet. More later...

How about this verismo opera from a Brazilian composer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJl-yxg40w&t=2983s
Performance available on BIS:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7936746--francisco-braga-jupyra

That is still the performance to beat

Probably correct. But there are other ways of conducting the work (just not Barenboim's!)

Agreed, Ilja. We don't need all the sordid details of the composer's life constantly regurgitated. We need to know about the music and the performances - which is what we get in this latest review. And what's more, I think the reviewer gets the music about right.

Looking forward to Symphonies 2 and 4 from the same performers/label...

Here's a perceptive and appreciative review:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/bendix-symphonies-1-3-dacapo/

I'm sure it's not deliberate. It's just the problem of how to break into a tough and niche international market.

No mention so far.

half a million Swiss francs

By my calculation, that's almost £450,000. Wow!

It's still a very fine achievement, Fred. You are rightly proud of the result.

And the CD has now arrived here in the UK from jpc...

I note, by the way, that this recording wasn't made in connection with a radio broadcast. I don't know whether that's significant.

The playing and sonics are very good: I rather like the spacious acoustic of the Messehalle No.1 in Frankfut (Oder) - the town is located close to Germany's eastern border with Poland, incidentally.

I hear a lot of Draeseke in the music on this CD, mostly in the contrapuntal mastery of the writing on display. I suppose the Symphony is the most Straussian of the three works included and, for that reason, and for its generous spirit, it is likely to be the most widely appreciated of the trio recorded here. All in all, a most interesting and attractive disc of late-romantic music.

Here's the Cello Sonata:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MP8EdKojvA&list=OLAK5uy_nJYD871oHrRubPsXHpPL_kdZapgrJ3sto&index=2
The CD can be purchased here:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/richard-rossler-cello-sonata/hnum/7685551

Absolutely gorgeous stuff - thanks, Martin. A great tonic on a gloomy November day! It'd make a really enjoyable CD, perhaps with some further material by the composer.

There's another Dukas-Holst link. Anyone know what it is (no prizes)?

Broadly, yes. I think that Tokar (Delilah) and Immler (the High Priest) are the stand-out singers myself and that the others are adequate. I agree fully with the reviewer about the quality of the opera and the excellent work of conductor, orchestra and chorus. As I look back on the release, though, I am most disappointed by Vigilius (Samson), whose voice has little of the allure required by the role.

However, the biggest drawback remains the lack of exposure that the recording is receiving. It deserves far better. Nevertheless, two reviews at MusicWeb are better than none (AFAIK) elsewhere in the English-speaking world...

A second review at MusicWeb:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/raff-samson-schweizer-fonogramm-2/

Perhaps its nickname should be the 'Tinseltown Concerto'?