Baroque Bohemia and Beyond: Volume VIII
Jan Václav Antonín STAMIČ (1717-1757)
Sinfonia a quattro in A (before 1750) [11:58]
Sinfonia a quattro in D (before 1750) [15:06]
František (Franz) Xaver RICHTER (1709-1789)
Sinfonia a quattro in E-flat (1754) [13:34]
Sinfonia a quattro in G (c.1755) [17:22]
Joszef MYSLIVEČEK (1737-1781)
Flute Concerto in D* [18:13]
New Dutch Academy Chamber Orchestra/Simon Murphy
(on period instruments)
Ana de la Vega (flute)/English Chamber Orchestra*
rec. live and studio, Den Haag, 2003-2005; Henry Wood Hall, London, 2016*.
DDD/DSD.
Licensed from Pentatone.
ALTO ALC1443
[76:23]
The series Baroque Bohemia and Beyond is one of the cornerstones
of the budget-price Alto label. Volume I was an early release (ALC1001),
and this is No. VIII. Whereas the first seven albums were recorded by Czech
Chamber Philharmonic and Petr Chromčák, the recordings on this new release
are all licensed from Pentatone, where the three separate albums from which
they are taken remain available on SACD and as hi-res stereo and surround
downloads.
Jonathan Woolf welcomed the first three releases in the Alto series –
review
– and Volume 7 –
review; the latest volume, which brings us back to three more familiar composers,
is also welcome. Especially so, as the three parent Pentatone albums remain
at full price, twice as much each as this Alto CD, though they will be
essential for the fuller picture and for those who must have SACD or a
hi-res download.
For reference, the first two are labelled The Mannheim Project
Volumes 1-2. At the risk of causing confusion, Pentatone use the German
forms of the composers’ names, Alto the Czech.
PTC5186028 SACD:
Franz Xaver RICHTER Sinfonia a 4 in B-Flat, Sinfonia a 4 in C minor
Johann STAMITZ Sinfonia a 4 in A (included on the Alto CD), Sinfonia a 4 in D (included on the Alto CD), Symphony in D, Op 11: Andante non adagio
New Dutch Academy Chamber Orchestra/Simon Murphy
PTC5186029 SACD:
Franz Xaver RICHTER Sinfonia a Quattro in C ‘La Melodia Germanica’, Sinfonia a Quattro in E-flat (included on the Alto CD), Sinfonia a Quattro in G (included on the Alto CD)
Johann STAMITZ Sinfonia a Quattro in F
New Dutch Academy Chamber Orchestra/Simon Murphy
The third, more recent SACD (PTC5186723) contains Flute
Concertos by Mozart (K313 and 314) and Josef Mysliveček,
performed by Ana de la Vega with the English Chamber Orchestra; only the
Mysliveček is included on the Alto CD.
Reviewing the Pentatone
SACD
in 2018, I thought the inclusion of the Mysliveček concerto made that the
ideal choice for the Mozart for those who already have the more usual
coupling of more Mozart, such as the flute and harp concerto. There are not
too many recordings of music by this friend of Mozart, and de la Vega’s
performance makes a very good case for this concerto. The recording on the
stereo HD layer of the SACD is spot-on accurate, but the Alto CD doesn’t
leave much to be desired.
More recently (2019), de la Vega has recorded two concertos by Carl
Stamitz, the equally talented son of Jan/Johann, one for flute and oboe in
G and one for flute in D, together with two of Haydn’s concertos for 2 lire
organizzate, arranged for flute and oboe, in C (Hob.VIIh:1) and in G
(Hob.VIIh:3) with Ramón Ortega Quero (oboe) and the Trondheim Soloists
(Pentatone PTC5186823 SACD [64:36]). I listened to that via press access in
hi-res 24/96 stereo, equivalent to the stereo layer of the SACD. As Michael
Wilkinson wrote of that recording, the Haydn concertos, originally composed
for the defunct lira oraganizzata, the favourite instrument of the King of
Naples, but perfectly at home on the flute and oboe, make for attractive
listening –
review
– but the main interest for me lies in the two Stamitz concertos. The sheer
delight of hearing de la Vega's recording brings me back circuitously to the importance of
the music of the members of this talented Bohemian family and the value of
the Alto CD as an introduction to their music.
The title of the two Pentatone SACDs reminds us of the importance of the
so-called Mannheim School and the contribution that the composers at the
Mannheim Court made to the development of the eighteenth-century symphony
and concerto. Johann Stamitz made the main contribution, but Dr Burney
described the whole team, which included Franz Xaver Richter, as ‘an army
of generals’; Mozart was most impressed when he visited Mannheim in 1777
and Haydn was also influenced by their work.
Both these composers receive first-rate performances from the
period-instrument New Dutch Academy Chamber Orchestra. Though they had been
formed only a year before they recorded Volume I, there’s no indication of
any newness or rough edges needing to be worn off – just the opposite is
the case in these lively and persuasive accounts. I doubt that even the
detractors of period performance could find much to criticise here.
There seems to be only one other recording of
Stamitz’s Sinfonia a4 in A, on Naxos 8.553194. An earlier recording on
the Opus label appears to have been deleted, at least in the UK. There’s an alternative version of the Sinfonia
a4 in D from Richard Egarr and The Academy of Ancient Music (The Birth of
the Symphony, AAM001). Despite my nigh-universal admiration for Egarr and
his team, I thought their account a little superficial by comparison with
the Dutch performers, especially in the andante second movement,
where the latter bring a greater degree of engagement with the depth of
feeling in the music. I see that Johan van Veen thought the Academy’s
playing tame overall –
review; it’s not one of their best recordings.
This recording of the Richter E-flat work also appears to be alone in the
catalogue, but there’s an MDG all-Richter recording containing the one in G
(MDG 3090508). I haven’t been able to hear that, but those attracted to his
music could do much worse than to explore the series of Richter recordings which
Naxos made, including of his pre-Mannheim (1744) Grandes Symphonies, from the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and
Häkkinen Aapo, on 8.557818 and 8.570597. Tim Perry was impressed by Volume
1 –
review
– as I was by Volume 2 –
review. Naxos CDs no longer come in the super-budget category, but, at around
£7.50, they will hardly break the bank; lossless downloads are typically a
little over £5, and the whole catalogue, and much more, is available from
Naxos Music Library, so that could be your next musical port of call.
(I note with concern that one dealer is asking £7.99 for this Alto album in
mp3 and another is charging £11.99 for a lossless download, almost twice the
price of the CD.)
I listened to Volume I of the Pentatone Mannheim recordings in CD-quality
16-bit sound, and to the second volume in 24-bit, equivalent to the hi-res
stereo layer of the SACD. The two volumes are also available in surround
sound, as are the SACDs. In both 16- and 24-bit modes, the recordings sound
first-rate, but so do the Alto transfers of the tracks from these two
albums. The 24-bit sounds a little fuller, but if you are not desperately
in need of hi-res sound, and one CD of this repertoire is enough, the Alto
should be right up your street. Be warned, however, that the music and
performances may tempt you to explore all three composers further.
Meanwhile, the change of personnel for this long-running series brings results
just as attractive as the earlier volumes, if not more so.
Brian Wilson
