The music of the so-called Mannheim School, centered on the court orchestra of Palatinate Elector Karl Theodor in Mannheim, Germany, in the middle of the eighteenth century, has received less attention from historically oriented ensembles than contemporaneous Italian or Viennese music -- even though the characteristic "Mannheim Rocket" crescendo is familiar even to casual listeners through John Corigliano's modern composition of that name and through the homage paid by the creators of the electronic pop orchestra Mannheim ...
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The music of the so-called Mannheim School, centered on the court orchestra of Palatinate Elector Karl Theodor in Mannheim, Germany, in the middle of the eighteenth century, has received less attention from historically oriented ensembles than contemporaneous Italian or Viennese music -- even though the characteristic "Mannheim Rocket" crescendo is familiar even to casual listeners through John Corigliano's modern composition of that name and through the homage paid by the creators of the electronic pop orchestra Mannheim Steamroller. This two-disc box from Germany's Profil label thus fills a need. Mannheimer Schule (or Mannheim School) offers an assortment of music designed for the fabulous orchestra, which came together when a group of top-flight unemployed musicians from various European capitals happened to gather in Mannheim. One disc is devoted to concertos by Carl Philipp Stamitz and Franz Xaver Richter, the other to symphonies by Ignaz Holzbauer and Christian Cannabich. It's a more or less...
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