Frantisek Tuma, a Viennese of Czech origin, was, thanks to his status as one of the earliest composers to designate independent instrumental pieces as sinfonias, among the few composers of the middle eighteenth century to get recorded back in the days when it was all Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, and maybe Vivaldi. In later years he partly disappeared from view, perhaps because his music didn't fit into any of the city styles -- sweet Paris, muscular Mannheim, sophisticated Vienna -- on which performers have focused. It fits the ...
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Frantisek Tuma, a Viennese of Czech origin, was, thanks to his status as one of the earliest composers to designate independent instrumental pieces as sinfonias, among the few composers of the middle eighteenth century to get recorded back in the days when it was all Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, and maybe Vivaldi. In later years he partly disappeared from view, perhaps because his music didn't fit into any of the city styles -- sweet Paris, muscular Mannheim, sophisticated Vienna -- on which performers have focused. It fits the mercurial temperament of Baroque specialist Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano historical-performance ensemble, even if it's not entirely suited to his style. Tuma was a transitional composer of the best kind: he reveled in sharp clashes of style. A student of Fux, he could write Bachian counterpoint with the best of them; several of his sonata or sinfonia movements here are fugal or even strict fugues. But he uses counterpoint in a way that points forward to how Mozart...
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