Paul WRANITZKY (1756-1808)
Orchestral Works Vol 1
Die Poststation: Overture (1794) [4:51]
Symphony in C major, Op 19, "Grosse Sinfonie bei Gelegenheit der Erhebung Franzens zum
Deutschen Kaiser" (Coronation) (1792) [26:35]
Symphony in B-flat major, Op 33, No 1 (1798) [25:03]
Das Fest der Lazaronen (1794): Overture [5:35]; Act II: Serenate [5:28]
Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Pardubice/Marek Štilec
rec. November 2019, Pardubice, Czech Republic
NAXOS 8.574227 [68:30]
One of the least recalled of recording projects is Chandos’ “Contemporaries of Mozart”. It was curated by the London Mozart Players under Chandos then-‘regular’ Matthias Bamert. Their twenty-five discs revived the fortunes of the same number of composers including Herschel, Marsh, Cannabich, Pleyel, Vanhal, Gossec, Gyrowetz, Pichl, Salieri and Wesley. We were being introduced to their symphonies; works that showed joy or ambition or significance or any permutation of these. Chronology has denied MWI its chance to review these. The site only launched in 1995 and did not get close a fuller bloom until around 2000. Chandos might have helped by issuing a box of these 25 discs (and I suppose still might), but did not. The closest they came was to bringing them out on two USB sticks in 2011 but it’s tragic that, allowing for the second use market, they have all but disappeared in any format.
An entry in the Chandos series was allotted to three symphonies by Paul Wranitzky also the subject of various Supraphon and CPO issues. One of the ones chosen by Bamert and Chandos was the grandly titled: “Grand Characteristic Symphony for the Peace with the French Republic”. The present disc and, over the years, a sprinkling of such from Naxos in their “18th Century Classics” series have steered intelligently through the same oceanic regions. There are others, but Leopold Koželuch (1747–1818) is worth mentioning because there has been a goodly handful of discs of his music from Marek
Štilec and the Pardubice orchestra. Wranitzky seems to have been chosen by Naxos to join Koželuch.
From Moravia, Wranitzky moved to study in Jihlava and Olomouc, thence to a
musical career in Vienna. There he secured various musical posts as well as
membership of a Masonic Lodge that eventually resulted in bringing him into
contact with Kraus and Mozart. He became orchestra director for the court
theatres. The Naxos note-writer recounts that he received various
commissions from the Imperial Court. Shortly after his death his music fell
into eclipse and was all but forgotten despite his productivity which included stage works and 45 symphonies.
This disc casts light on two of his operas through orchestral cherry-picking. The plots are intricate and inconsequential. The little overture to Die Poststation bustles busily. It affably smiles along without being all that striking. The overture to Das Fest der Lazzaroni is another short jollity - the sort that might have been taken up with relish by Beecham had he encountered it. The opera’s diminutive three-movement ‘Serenate’ comprises elements of relaxation and sternly dramatic storms. Otherwise, it has a blithely wind-led manner.
The four-movement Symphony in C major, ‘Grosse Sinfonie bei Gelegenheit der Erhebung Franzens zum Deutschen Kaiser’ was written to celebrate the Coronation of young Franz II. Across four inventive movements it radiates charm, quietly engaging confidence and a daintiness that embraces tacit strength rather than effete fragility. Four years later came the Symphony in B-flat major, Op 33, No 1 (one of three). It was dedicated to Baron Peter von Braun, manager of the Viennese court theatres. It too is in four movements, but for all its zesty happiness has a slightly less euphoric and more intense style than its Imperial predecessor.
This music is from the same style school as the better-known late symphonies of Mozart and the two early ones of Beethoven. The playing from Pardubice (previously heard in Lange-Muller, Cimarosa, Auber, Beck, Michael Haydn, Sterndale Bennett and Potter) is alert and downily buoyant. The recordings do no injustice to, and surely enhance, this music by an unfamiliar composer.
Wranitzky scores are available for download from
www.wranitzky.com. The very capable notes, in English only, serve a necessary purpose for most of us. They are by Daniel Bernhardsson.
Rob Barnett
