Not at all. A great many works exist only in MS score with the parts not printed but written by a copyist or copyists, yet they have been performed and continue to be performed using those parts. And copyists' parts are perfectly usual for many works where the full score has been printed, though the string parts (on the whole) tend to be printed - which is why these are sometimes the only parts of some works which survive. "Published" does not, of course, necessarily mean "printed".

I've come late to this topic and I find the download link no longer works. Can anyone provide me with another link that does work or a copy of the PDF, please? Sorry to be a nuisance.

I agree that Parry at his best (and he is usually at his best) is superb. I would love to hear more of his music for voices and orchestra, of which there is quite a lot.

I am encouraged by your enthusiasm. I will order a copy for the New Year.

The Concerto Symphonique for piano & orchestra (1948) is rather good IMHO. It deserves to be better known.

I agree. I enjoy them both.

I couldn't agree more, John. As I have probably said before, the two glaring omissions from Holbrooke's orchestration in the BBC recording are the concertina and the mushroom bells. The former has a very important part which is quite exposed sometimes, so one really misses it. The latter add a very special and solemn timbre; although they do mostly play at the same time as the tubular bells they play different notes in the chords and, reading the score, their absence is audible. There is a set of mushroom bells at the ROH, Covent Garden, I believe. I am sure they would have loaned them if asked.

I agree. A very fine piece. And a discovery for me.

Most certainly.

Those of us who would like to read about the music and the performers.
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Such recordings as there are are private ones,  usually of mediocre quality, and not generally available. There are some on this forum. There are no commercially available recordings of his music that I know of, apart from that of the oboe concertino which I helped produce for Cameo Classics.

I think Joseph has got an unjust reputation for overscoring: for throwing as many instruments as possible into the pot, kitchen sink and all. A study of his scores shows this is not the case at all. A large orchestra is sometimes called for,  but the instrumentation, even in the most complex of his scores, is no more excessive (and I would contend less so) than in many orchestral works by Mahler or Richard Strauss, or other roughly contemporary composers. There is in fact more percussion in Vaughan Williams' 8th symphony than in any score by Holbrooke, including The Bells, while Mahler and Strauss call for more "out of the way" instruments more often than Joseph. Moreover, Jo also uses many of these extra instruments sparingly and tellingly,  often producing passages of chamber like delicacy in the midst of large scale works. Because he liked them, and wrote well for them, Jo frequently asks for a large woodwind section, including saxophones. He was a masterly orchestrator and knew very well the sounds and timbres he wanted to produce. It is a shame that the same care in adhering to his called for instrumentation is not accorded to him as it is to performances of pieces by Mahler or Strauss. If we could hear what the composer wanted us to hear we would perhaps arrive at a better judgement of his worth. I think this is being done with the CPO disks and I very much hope we shall get more from that company.

As to Gwyd's bassoon, I will ask Jean when I next speak to her.

The full instrumentation is not used on the Marco Polo disks.  And Gwyd was quite right: the BBC did not use the full orchestra specified by Josef for their performance of The Bells. No mushroom bells, though these specifically play different notes in chords with the tubular bells. No deep bell in C. No steer horns - and a host of other omissions, most serious of which is the concertina which has a very important part and one which is quite exposed sometimes.

I hope to interest CPO, or another record company in all these works eventually + a CD of Josef's light music (of which there is plenty).
[Incidentally, Josef calls for concertinas (number unlimited!) in "Dylan", but I don't think these are used in the Wild Fowl Fantaisie, though it does require 5 saxophones.]

Thank you, very much, Tobias. Another attractive work. There is a piano concerto by an Otto Singer - I presume this is Singer senior though. Would I be right?