Composer: Johann Stamitz
Performer: David Castro-Balbi
Orchestra: Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn
Conductor: Kevin Griffiths
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 555479-2
Release: 2023
Size: 997 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Violin Concerto No. 2 in C major
01. Allegro vivace
02. Adagio
03. Allegro
Violin Concerto No. 3 in F major
04. Adagio – Allegro moderato
05. Adagio
06. Allegro
Violin Concerto No. 4 in F major
07. Allegro moderato
08. Adagio
09. Allegro assai
Symphony in E flat major, Op. 4, No. 4 (Wolf Eb4)
10. Allegro
11. Andante
12. Minuetto
13. Presto
Johann Stamitz is considered the father of the Mannheim School and thus the founder of modern classical orchestral music. At the beginning of our century, Hugo Riemann even described him as Haydn’s long-sought predecessor, who was to fill the unseemly gaping hole between the so completely different styles of the Baroque and Classical periods with a certain exclusivity. In the compositional output of Johann’s two famous sons Anton and Carl Stamitz, solo concertos and concertante symphonies occupy a large place. As virtuosos on their instruments, they created compositions not least for their own use. Surprisingly, however, only a few concertos by Johann Stamitz have survived, most of them violin concertos that are indebted to the model of the instrumental concerto developed by Antonio Vivaldi. The fast first movements are in ritornello form, i.e., the succession of tutti ritornellos and violin solo episodes. Technically demanding are the double stops and chords combined with wide leaps in the first movement of the second concerto. Polyphonic, polyphonic playing on the violin seems to have been an absolute speciality of the violinist Johann Stamitz.