Hamburger Morgenpiost

Focus had well proven their ability to write rocking instrumentals by the time of this release. Their catalog, although consisting of four albums, rarely had a dull moment between them. Hamburger Concerto is equally consistent, much of it being prime Focus material. The Akkerman-written "Birth" and "Early Birth" are examples of Focus fully flexing their muscles, featuring superb guitar work and amazing all-round musicianship, as well as sporting some superb riffs. The usual lengthy instrumentals are present also, as well as some manic vocals from the manic but genius Thijs Van Leer. Although Hamburger Concerto is not as unerring as Moving Waves or Focus III, anyone who enjoyed the previous releases would undoubtedly find great satisfaction from this album.

This MDG Gold disc Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 brings four pieces of Antonio Rosetti (or, if you prefer, Antonín Rösler) to the CD catalog that have never been recorded. This isn't much of a stretch of the imagination, as Rosetti's orchestral output is enormous; the contents of this disc include only three out of his 44 symphonies and a single flute concerto out of the 12 composed by Rosetti. Most of this music is neglected, so the automatic question that comes up is whether there is actually something to look forward to in further investigating Rosetti, or if he is to remain one of those marginal figures in the classical era that only scholars seem to know or care about.

Over the years I have heard many recordings of music written for the Imperial court in Vienna. That’s no wonder: Vienna was a centre of music-making in Europe. During the 17th and 18th centuries some of the best musicians and composers were in the service of the Habsburg emperors. Most of the recordings concentrate on music for violins or voice. This disc is different in that it presents music for viol consort. That’s all the more interesting, as it is often thought that in the 17th century consort music was only written in France and England. It is quite surprising that this kind of music was also written in Austria. Most musicians in the service of the Imperial court were from Italy, where the viol consort had gone out of fashion since the first quarter of the 17th century. The fact that Italian composers wrote music for viol consort was due to the personal preferences of the emperors, Ferdinand III and Leopold I, who also wrote some music for this kind of ensemble themselves.