Pleyel Symphony in C Op.66/B.144 (1803)

[Alan Howe]

OK, it's probably like Haydn (under whom Pleyel studied), sitting as it does on the cusp of the romantic era, but it's fascinating to hear this magnificent Symphony, dating from the same year as Beethoven's Eroica (1803), especially in this lively recording under Matthias Bamert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k30v5RYuvck&t=484s
CD/Download available here:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7946766--contemporaries-of-mozart-ignaz-pleyel

[Mark Thomas]

What a coincidence. I'd never heard a note of Pleyel before but the first movement of this very symphony was played on BBC Radio 3 earlier this week and its almost-but-not-quite-Beethovenian idiom was most impressive. I've since downloaded the whole work and the other movements are of a similar quality. Around a dozen of his 40+ symphonies, most of them pre-dating this one, have been recorded.

[Alan Howe]

Actually, I heard the same excerpt - it's what prompted me to buy the CD! Great minds...

By the way: it helps that the recording isn't hampered by certain features of HIP (weedy string tone, complete lack of vibrato, etc). Nevertheless it's crisply played by a small orchestra (the London Mozart Players) with lively tempi - very convincing. I have great admiration for Matthias Bamert - he's as persuasive here as he is in Parry!

[terry martyn]

I have possessed for about 50 years that Klocker-inspired boxed set of concertante LPs which includes one by Pleyel (not the most distinguished of the batch,in my view, but the cognoscenti say otherwise). Fairly recently, I read the rave review of Pleyel's Clarinet Concertos (a cpo venture) on Musicweb, bought, and was struck with the refinement and slightly understated elegance that has pre-echoes of Spohr.
However,I remained completely unaware that Pleyel had composed symphonies in the first five or six years of the nineteenth century and Mike Herman's discography is misleadingly silent. So,I spent a few happy hours delving into the recorded orchestrak works of Pleyel, concentrating on the two Naxos albums of symphonies, the two-CD cpo set of concertante works plus the bassoon concerto ,the cpo CD of symphonies conducted by Howard Griffiths (always a plus for me), and ,of course, Alan's recommendation of Pleyel's later symphonies on Chandos.
I found a record-shop in Berlin on discogs ,willing to send and ship to me the Chandos for under 8 euros, and all the others either on amazon.co.uk or amazon.de.So,like a bear preparing to gorge on Arctic salmon,I forked out £30 for the lot,as a Christmas present to myself,and I indend to get to know Pleyel a lot better.
Many thanks,Alan,for spotting the London Mozart Players and Pleyel!

[Alan Howe]

...and thanks, for once, to BBC Radio 3! Of course, in the past, the whole work would have been played. These days, we get mere tidbits...

[terry martyn]

My Pleyel CDs have finally arrived.  A couple,at least, of the concertante works recorded on cpo date from the early years of the nineteenth century.  And two of these,according to cpo, bear the same Benton number - B115. This is incorrect and misleading. They are two entirely different works, and the one for violin,piano.and orchestra is actually B116.This work is possibly Pleyel's last orchestral work and dates from somewhere between 1802 and 1805.