Johann Brandl symphonies vol.2

[Sharkkb8]

Another cd from cpo, of Brandl orchestral works, due out Feb 28 - a symphony and a symphonie concertante.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8736778--brandl-symphony-concertante-symphony-in-d-major

At Presto:  "Akin to Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, Brandl's Symphonie Concertante, as a work with two solo instruments, expands the dimensions of the first movement solo concerto. In this way, Brandl gives both soloists space and time to present and then virtuosically elaborate upon all the themes and motifs in succession, which our two soloists, the Castro-Balbi brothers, display sensationally. Brandl had composed his four-movement Symphony in D major with a dazzling finale as a 'Grande Simphonie à grand Orchestre' some ten years earlier. Already then, Brandl anticipated Beethoven's Fourth Symphony op. 60, completed in 1806. The quest for new sound worlds that the Rhinelander Beethoven envisioned is also evident in Brandl, who was ten years his senior. Today musicologists are discovering Brandl as an artist whose mature musical language surmounted the style of Classicism and instead favoured a sharpened chromaticism, exhibiting Early Romantic characteristics."

[Alan Howe]

My copy arrived today, but I'm sorry to say it isn't a patch on vol.1. This is second-tier late classical fare, nothing more. Undoubtedly the most striking music on the CD is the overture to his opera Nanthild, das Mädchen von Valbella, dating from 1813. Even so, Beethoven-quality music this is not.

[hyperdanny]

oh, too bad...I really like the 2 symphonies in vol.1, especially op.25, and I hoped this second cd could be on the same level.

[eschiss1]

... I'm confused. Were you expecting Beethoven-quality music?

[Alan Howe]

I did put that rather badly, Eric - but it's the cpo liner notes that make comparisons with Beethoven, so...

[Hector]

I suspect the marketing department of recording companies think they are encouraging the public to buy a recording by comparing it to Beethoven, or Mozart, or any other great, yet it inevitably causes disappointment. Krommer, for example, is a poor Beethoven but good at being himself. 

[Alan Howe]

Quite so. Well put.