This disc, although not so marked on the cover, is the fourth in a series licensed from a Czech source by the Alto label of Long Island City, NY. Without that information it would be a bit hard to understand the title Baroque Bohemia & Beyond -- none of the music would qualify as Baroque, and all of it is Bohemian. The only "name" composer here, and the only one whose works on the disc have been recorded before, is Josef Myslivecek, whose name so flummoxed his Italian employers that they just called him "il divino Boemo." ...
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This disc, although not so marked on the cover, is the fourth in a series licensed from a Czech source by the Alto label of Long Island City, NY. Without that information it would be a bit hard to understand the title Baroque Bohemia & Beyond -- none of the music would qualify as Baroque, and all of it is Bohemian. The only "name" composer here, and the only one whose works on the disc have been recorded before, is Josef Myslivecek, whose name so flummoxed his Italian employers that they just called him "il divino Boemo." He is represented by a pair of three-movement symphonies from the year 1763, each with a dense, compact opening movement (the one heard on the very first track on the disc is especially accomplished), a graceful Andantino, and a rustic final presto. They're a lot of fun, and they give an idea of why the young Mozart, on hearing Myslivecek's music, not only praised it but recommended it to his sister. The rest of the disc offers world recording premieres. All the pieces sound slightly...
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