Classical Music for Aficionados

November edition of Gramophone has RAVE reviews of  both " A London Symphony "  and "Symphony Antarctica" .
Former on Hyperion with BBC SO/Brabbins , later on Chandos  with Bergen Phil./Sir Andrew Davis . Former "essential listening for all RVW devotees" , later"a distinguished release" .Sound is always good on both labels. Chandos esp.usually has great depth .
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I've never forgotten a quip made by Gramophone reviewer many years ago.
"The difference between RVW and Bartok is the difference between English and Hungarian folk-music " .

No, no, even better (if that's possible) than the other RV-W suggestions, all of which are great, are his Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus.  I have the Chandos recording.  Bliss.

TwoLeftEars (et al):
Just got the Tabakova in and have previewed the CD; it is impressive indeed, Highly sophisticated compositional style with spectacular string playing. Who knew the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra had these kind of chops (Tabakova does, apparently)?
The piece that immediately appealed to me was the cello concerto. With its unison opening and minimalist style, it screams "Play Me Loud on a good audio system!" The second hearing was even more enjoyable.
BTW, the other unison-influenced movement that I have been listening to recently is the first movement of the Borodin Second Symphony. Blast away, Russian nationalists.
For the English-oriented aficionados, have just gotten the complete Chandos set of Arnold symphonies by (mostly) LSO and Hickox. These performance are so much better than the earlier Arnold CDs I have that they reawaken interest in this all too often ignored composer. Each symphony is another journey and explores, anew, tonal, contrapuntal, and performance capabilities. Again, the performance makes the composer.
And, although one could occasionally complain about a certain "corny" nature to Arnold's melodies, this minor complaint does not detract.
Keep those recommendations coming, TwoLeftEars. If you provide the perfect suggestion we will send you a right ear...or maybe two.

twoleftears, FWIW I agree with your recommendation of Ernest Farrar's Orchestral Works on Chandos. Unfortunately he has a very thin discograph. :-(

Craig, I prefer the Chandos set as well.

And, for 'English-oriented' aficionados I can easily recommend Stanford's Piano Concerto on Chandos. The disc mate is "Concert Variations upon an English Theme 'Down Amound the Dead Men'. Fingerhut on the piano, conducted by Vernon Handley and the Ulster Orchestra. 

Chandos recorded all of Stanford's Symphonies but this is the only thing that really brings me back. I'm quite fond of it.