Symphonies Vol. 2

The real snag on this CD is the recording balance in the the upper midrange and treble, giving a rather thin sound to the upper strings. This is not unpleasant or harsh with good speakers, but it is not natural, either. Some bass boost and treble cut should help, especially for those with Quad preamps, which can make it sound quite nice.

Jean Baptiste Vanhal (1739-1813) was born in Bohemia, where he received his musical training, but moved to Vienna in his early twenties. He possessed a good business sense, and he was one of the first major composers of the period to pursue his career independently, according to his biographer, Paul Bryan, who has done considerable research dating and cataloguing some of Vanhal's voluminous output. Unfortunately, he composed no symphonies after the early 1780s, as the market was drying up. He then devoted his efforts to church music, with some keyboard and chamber music. He apparently was quite successful and lived very comfortably until his death in 1813.

The first work, a Symphony in B flat Major (Bryan Bb3) is a pleasant early work, neither better or worse than any number of symphonies of the period, a lively entertainment.

The second, a Symphony in D minor (Bryan d2) in three movements is really quite a fine work. The second movement, a Cantabile, is really a slow oboe concerto, though not a terribly difficult one, hauntingly beautiful. This alone would make this CD worthwhile.

Symphony in G major (Bryan G11) is another well-made symphony, well-worth hearing. Vanhal's inventiveness is evident throughout.

The City of London Sinfonia under Andrew Watkinson plays quite well, and I can't really fault them, but it takes some adjustment of the tone controls to appreciate their efforts. This is a pity, since Naxos has many recordings of excellent quality, especially since 1993.

This is a less successful an issue as was Vol. 1 of the Vanhal symphonies under Uwe Grodd. The works there were more interesting, and the sound quality superb. However, this is still worth hearing, especially for those interested in 18th century symphonies.

I own volumes 1 through 4 of Vanhal's symphonies and love them all. I think the 18th century composers like Vanhal, Dittersdorf and Stamitz, wrote beautiful entertaining compositions. These were the original innovators building on what Sammartini had started and set the stage for the more familiar and famous Mozart and Haydn. You can find out everything you'd like to know about Vanhal and the others on Wikipedia so there's no need repeat it here. These symphonies were most often written for the composer's sponsor - a baron, duke or the like, meant to be played once or twice and then they were expected to come up with something new for the next performance. For that reason they tend to be light, lively, and original which is why I appreciate and enjoy them. I think the recordings are excellent and can find no fault with them (I just set my equalizer to the pre-set for classical music and it sounds very nice on my small Bose speaker system).