Vanhal

Composer – Born in the Bohemian village of Nechanicz, Vanhal (1739-1813) became a leading composer in Vienna and one of the most popular throughout Europe during his lifetime. As with most Classical era composers, his stock fell dramatically after his death. However, the Naxos series of Vanhal symphonies reveals an expert composer of elegance and hard-driving rhythms with a wealth of melodic invention.

Yes, this disc includes a rarity: a concerto for two bassoons! The bassoonists, Annika Wallin and Arne Nilsson, do a great job. So does the orchestra, the Umea Sinfonietta, from northern Sweden. Jan Vanhal's beautiful two-bassoon concerto is the key work on this disc. And for those who don't know who Vanhal was, well, he wrote plenty of music. In 1777, Mozart played the solo part in a concert performance of a Vanhal violin concerto. In 1784, Haydn, von Dittersdorf, Mozart, and Vanhal played some string quartets together at the home of composer Stephen Sorace (Haydn on first violin, Dittersdorf on second violin, and Vanhal on cello).

The Vanhal symphonies are technically exceptional and capable of going toe-to-toe with the middle-period symphonies of Haydn and even several of Mozart's. Vanhal's thematic material is often memorable, and his development sections well worked through…

The symphonies of Johann Baptist Vaňhal are among the most important works of the classical period. Bold and imaginative, powerful and lyrical, Vaňhal’s symphonies are only now beginning to win wider recognition as the masterpieces they are. This recording features his early and highly prophetic Symphony in E minor as well as one of his later works, the brilliantly-scored Symphony in C (Bryan C17) which Haydn is known to have admired.

The second volume brings us more Vaňhal, his Symphony in G minor. This is a defter, more energetic and more engaging work than the one in the first volume. Solo winds have their say in the slow movement and the compositional level here is high. František Xaver Dušek was, like Vaňhal, another Bohemian who moved in Mozartian circles. Mozart played one of Vaňhal’s violin concertos and Dušek famously entertained Mozart when the younger man visited Prague for performances of Don Giovanni". Active both in Prague and Vienna Dušek turns in a Symphony of gallant confidence. The trio has a certain studied charm but a real sense of orchestral control and surety.

The range of the Bohemian – and to a lesser extent Moravian – musical diaspora can be very adequately gauged from the composers in this survey. Some underwent name-changing, Germanicising being the most opportune thing to do if seeking preferment in a ducal court, not least as regards pronunciation. In the first volume therefore we find Jiří Antonín Benda becoming Georg Anton and Jan Křitetel Vaňhal turning into Johann Baptist Vanhal, even Wanhal. And so on.

Following on from her debut album impressions, featuring chamber music for bassoon and piano, bassoon player Sophie Dervaux is poised to release her second album on the Berlin Classics label. This album marks two premieres: in addition to this being the very first recording of the Concerto no. 2 in C major for bassoon and orchestra by Johann Baptist Vanhal, Ms Dervaux performs as both soloist and conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg.