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thank you, I will listen to it ASAP, since I was extremely impressed by their work on the Farrenc symphonies, now my reference.

Been there....I caught the "bug" since my first listen of the 8th.
After the final rush of the amazing final bars, I was left like "wow, WHAT was that?"
As discussed here many times, there are flaws in his music, mostly how it is often overstretched, but there is "something" about it.
I am not musically educated enough to elucidate it deeply, but I always felt it's just very original, fundamentally "different" from anything else.
I like "constant energy", though.

Just like terry martyn, I am very attached to the Marco Polo's "Passionata"..I don't forget that for a very long time theirs was the only Lachner we had. But I agree, the performance is pretty flabby, and while I love the piece, I recognize that if a symphony needs a taut performance, it's this one. It really would benefit from a Schmalfuss redoing, just like (actually even more) the Orchestral Suites, where in the fugues the Polish strings are untight and scrawny. On the other hand, I feel that the Marco Polo's 8th (my favorite Lachner symphony so far) is pretty well done.

I wholeheartedly concur with Ilja..actually these Ondine releases have been a minor revelation to me.
I had one volume of the old cpo edition but, even if it was good, as we are used with maestro Griffiths, it didn't do anything for me to dispel the "Beethoven-lite" stereotype about Ries.
I bought one, listened to it a couple times, didn't feel the need to go further.
The stereotype is sort of true, let's not kid ourselves, but here's the thing: these passionate and stormy Ondine performances, HIP-influenced but in the right way and not too much, make the pieces sound more musically rich  and more interesting than they probably are.
I listened to what was available on Youtube and then I immediately ordered both available cd issues.
BTW , on YT there's a concert video of the same orchestra and conductor playing the 4th, and it can be seen that the Tapiola Sinfonietta is,a pretty "substantial" chamber orchestra, no anemic sound here.

On Youtube there's a video excerpt of the performance (a little more than 2 minutes) and, no, Baremboim does not look ok at all. Sad.

DGG presumably colluded because they still see dollar signs around his name. 

Looks like you came to basically DH's same conclusion: in a subsequent video, prompted by some recent releases that he despises (the Baremboim and, well, pretty much anything Thielemann) he argues that what once were called the major labels (DGG, Sony, Decca etc) should just stop releasing new recordings and concentrate on the back catalogue.
This because he says they don't really exist in the way we knew them: they're just a minute part of some conglomerate, they don't have a staff, they don't have editorial policies, they don't take care of their artists.
According to him (and debatable as he sometimes is, he knows the business) they just will release anything if somebody pays for it, be it the orchestra, some sponsor or whatever.
No vision or even quality control, just convenience and (I like the word) collusion.
This is his opinion, but it's a fact that nowadays anything interesting or well done comes from the independents.

David Hurwitz just published his take on baremboim's Franck, and he totally concurs with the consensus on this board.
Actually his video is quite the rant, and rather funny.

Disclaimer: I like my Franck's symphony "Germanic and monumental", probably because I don't love it deeply, so the authentic French way doen't work for me, I find it mawkish.
That said, there's ways to do it and ways not to.
Very interesting (for me) to compare Baremboim's finale with one of my favorites, incidentally with the same orchestra and label, Giulini's.
That also is criticized for being slow and un-French, and actually timings are almost the same.
But in the Giulini I perceive a deep conviction , a rythmic undercurrent that keeps together the whole movement and carries it inexorably to a triumphant finale that's really "final"
I hear nothing of that in Baremboim's, it's very disorganic, and the final bars are underwhelming. 

DH is not the only one: even before seeing his video, I was alarmed by the fact that in the 2 reviews on the set's page on amazon, one from the USA said the sound is "lousy", the other one from germany says "Der Klang ist distanziert und blass" (distanced and weak, according to google)
Usually these "user reviews" are all over the place and do not agree on anything.

make no mistake, I too despise HIP travesties of Romantic repertoire, but here I am a little more hopeful.
I have a few recordings with this orchestra (including the Dausgaard Schumann, which I like very much, finding it refreshingly vigorous).
While interpretive choices could and will be a matter of taste, the Norwegians never sounded undernourished (not too much at least) screechy, or in any way grating to the ear. (in the releases I have..)
Cross fingers.

further listening has, if anything, reinforced my appreciation.
For instance, a session on my primary stereo rig (more state of the art) has furtherly put the spot on the wonderful playing of the Rheinland-Pfalzers......just like in the Stojowski, maestro Wit really makes this orchestra sing.
I'll never get rid of the Sterlings, first of all beacuse the're excellent, and plus there's more music there besides the symphonies, but this is definitely a keeper.
Now I would love to hear these forces in the 3rd, which i think is a very difficult place to realize, and the Sterling, while good, did not quite "do it" for me.

I received it yesterday. I have listened to it only once, so take it as a first impression.
It's a great complement to the Sterlings , because it's intepretively different and personal, as you would expect from a great Maestro.
The 1st: I much prefer this one to the Sterling, it's a more cogent and organic view of the piece.
The 2nd is excellent on its own terms, but I retain a preference for the darker, more coruscating Sterling version.
In general, Wit's tempi are pretty similar to the previous ones,  the difference Is almost always on the plus side, they tend to be slightly longer (a minute or so per movement)
Beautifully played (these German "provincial" orchestras never cease to wonder), beautifully recorded and handsomely packaged..first class productions still exist.

I sadly (because I always want to like the pieces) concur with Alan: I find there is a lot of note-spinning here, and not a lot of symphonic resolution.
I listened to it three times without being able to "nail" the piece, and my attention invariably ebbed away at several points.
The Volbach, for example, is in my opionion a much stranger work.

I just hope that Jarvi père doesn't race coarsely through them like he did with the Scharwenkas for Chandos, a release I frankly disliked.

mine, ordered from musicexport Greece through my Amazon, has been dispatched the other day. I love thse symphonies, especially the 2nd, and I am very curious to hear what Wit makes of them, even if I have nothing to complain about the Sterling. I hope they are "different" interpretations.