Notes and Editorial Reviews
Richter, Stamic and Vaňhal in particular influenced and even inspired Haydn & Mozart who played Vaňhal’s music and who both played with him in a quartet alongside Dittersdorf… The Thirty Years War (1618-48) resulted in the Hapsburgs taking over the kingdom of Bohemia, but it was impossible to suppress the Czech love for music, a fact then exploited by the Austrian nobles who filled their new Bohemian estates with musical talent. Once government had been transferred to Vienna, many Czech musicians moved away from their homeland to find work around Europe. As one Czech historian put it: ‘almost all the musical sources which welled up from the soil of Bohemia sped by the shortest course to join the main stream of the world’s music’…
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Some went to Vienna itself: Bárta, Koželuh, Vaňhal and the Vranickýs, but some, including the Benda family went to Berlin, others to Mannheim (eg Stamic and Richter), while Rejcha settled in Paris and Mysliveček in Italy. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony no 4 in F major by Georg Anton Benda
Conductor:
Vojtech Spurny
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
2.
Symphony in C minor by Josef Bárta
Conductor:
Vojtech Spurny
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
3.
Concerto for Harpsichord in E minor by Franz Xaver Richter
Performer:
Vojtech Spurny (Harpsichord)
Conductor:
Vojtech Spurny
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
4.
Symphonies (6), Op. 4: no 2 in D Major "Sinfonia Pastorale" by Johann Wenzel Stamitz
Performer:
Vojtech Spurny (Harpsichord)
Conductor:
Vojtech Spurny
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: Mannheim, Germany
Length: 11 Minutes 37 Secs.
5.
Symphony in E minor, B e1 by Johann Baptist Vanhal
Performer:
Vojtech Spurny (Harpsichord)
Conductor:
Vojtech Spurny
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: circa 1770; Vienna, Austria
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 
( 1 Customer Review )
Worthy Early Orchestral Works From Bohemia March 3, 2013
By Henry S. (Springfield, VA) See All My Reviews
"The recording label Alto (associated with the company Musical Concepts) has issued a series of compact disks featuring lesser known Czech composers from the late Baroque and very early Classical eras. This disk is first in the series and contains works by Jiri Benda, Josef Barta, Frantisek Richter, Jan Stamic, and Jan Vanhal. Performed in excellent fashion by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra (which to my ears occasionally sounds something like a period instrument orchestra, although it isn't), the compositions are mostly 'sinfonias', the precursor to the classical era symphony. I found all of the works to be of substantial merit and enjoyable to hear. Further, the CD booklet's discussion of how these Bohemian composers spread throughout 18th century Europe and helped pave the way for Haydn and Mozart is well worth reviewing. All in all, an interesting and attractive recording."
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