No one could accuse the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, conductor Michael Halász, and the Naxos label of rushing its series of Johann Baptist Vanhal's symphonies. It began in 1998, and with this 2022 release, it reaches only its fifth volume. With 77 Vanhal symphonies in total, one wonders what medium the final volume might use. This said, the recordings have exposed music by a worthwhile but forgotten composer, and this volume makes a good place to start with him. The Symphony in C major heard here was ...
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No one could accuse the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, conductor Michael Halász, and the Naxos label of rushing its series of Johann Baptist Vanhal's symphonies. It began in 1998, and with this 2022 release, it reaches only its fifth volume. With 77 Vanhal symphonies in total, one wonders what medium the final volume might use. This said, the recordings have exposed music by a worthwhile but forgotten composer, and this volume makes a good place to start with him. The Symphony in C major heard here was originally published as Haydn's and was taken as his until pioneering musicologist Eusebius Mandyczewski proved its actual provenance. Listen to the compact, highly witty, and rhythmically subtle Minuet, and it will be clear why the work's publishers thought they could get away with the ruse. The dating of Vanhal's symphonies is often unclear, but one can hear how what is now known as sonata form took shape over his career. Like Haydn, he had an experimental way with the orchestra, and...
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