Late Classical Symphonies

[Gerontius]

Chandos has a wonderful, new 5 CD budget box set containing reissues of Symphonies in their 'Contemporaries of Mozart' series at a very low price. The contents are simply wonderful. Included are 15 Symphonies by Kozeluch, Krommer, Pleyel, Carl Stamitz and Vranicky.

Matthias Bamert conducts The London Mozart Players. The catalogue number is: Chandos 10628.

I am eagerly awaiting this set. Has anyone in the Unsung Composers Forum heard any of these Symphonies? They were first issued by Chandos at full price in the 1990's and early 2000's?

[eschiss1]

Chandos has a wonderful, new 5 CD budget box set containing reissues of Symphonies in their 'Contemporaries of Mozart' series at a very low price. The contents are simply wonderful. Included are 15 Symphonies by Kozeluch, Krommer, Pleyel, Carl Stamitz and Vranicky.

Matthias Bamert conducts The London Mozart Players. The catalogue number is: Chandos 10628.

I am eagerly awaiting this set. Has anyone in the Unsung Composers Forum heard any of these Symphonies? They were first issued by Chandos at full price in the 1990's and early 2000's?

I've heard some of them.  I liked the Kozeluch symphony in F especially when I heard it broadcast- I think I could (almost?) have supposed the first movement for part of a lost Haydn middle-period symphony.  Character and invention, in my opinion.
Eric

[TerraEpon]

I have the krommer disc and enjoy it a lot....but I'm a fan of Krommer in general.

[Josh]

I have every single CD of that series that has been released.  I consider it the greatest such series ever released!  The sound quality is exceptional, the performances tend to sound like the orchestra is enthusiastic for the music (always a big plus), and a lot of the music is, in my opinion, truly Great with a capital G.

Not to mention, the Clementi "Big #1" Symphony gets its best-ever recording in this series.  It blows away the two other versions I've heard, the competition's not even close.

[DennisS]

I note that the 3 symphonies of Friedrich Ernst Fesca were mentioned in this thread. I have two of the three symphonies (nos 2 + 3) and found them very pleasant, similar in style to Mozart but not as good. As a change of pace to Mozart, Fesca is a good alternative.

Dennis

[Hovite]

You really, really MUST hear the symphonies of Mozart's exact contemporary Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92). He wrote a dozen or so symphonies which are recorded, some of which are startlingly original (including a 'Symphonie funebre' and one in C-sharp minor(!)).

I have some of these discs, and the Symphonie funebre, written for the funeral of of the assassinated Gustav III, is an amazing work. According to the notes "The third movement is simply the accompaniment to the main chorale Lätt oss then kropp begrafven ('Let us bury this body') which was sung by the audience. " Does that make it a choral symphony? Naxos did not record the words.

The Symphony in C sharp minor on the same disc is what would now be called a Chamber Symphony. These two symphonies are both in four movements.

The Sinfonia buffa on disc 2 is "a miniature pantomime, with an opening movement that moves swiftly between contrasting scenes, from sudden outbursts of melodramatic emotion to melodies that trail off into unsettling silence."

Sadly, it seems that more of his works have been lost than survive, so those on the Naxos discs are just a fraction of his total output.