Composer: Johann Christian Bach
Performer: Anthony Halstead, Hanover Band
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 9994882
Release: 1996
Size: 268 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Gioas, re di Giuda, W. D1
01. Grave – Allegro – [Grave] – Andante
La clemenza di Scipione, W. G10
02. La clemenza di Scipione, G10: Overture
03. Act I: March in G Major
04. Final Scene: March in E-Flat Major
Adriano in Siria, W. G6: Overture
05. I. Allegro con brio
06. II. Andante
07. III. Allegro assai
Zanaida, W. G5: Overture
08. I. Allegro assai
09. II. Andante
10. III. Allegro di molto
Carattaco, W. G7: Overture
11. I. Allegro di molto
12. II. Andante
13. III. Presto
Carattaco, W. G7
14. Act II: March in B-Flat Major
15. Final Scene: March in G Major
6 Favorite Overtures in D Major, W. G4, No. 1: Orione
16. I. Allegro con brio
17. II. Andante
18. III. Allegro
Symphony in D Major, Op. 18, No. 1, W. XC2
19. I. Allegro assai
20. II. Andante
21. III. Allegro assai
Small-scale but elegantly fashioned, melodious and pleasurable music: it’s no wonder that the London public in the 1760s and 1770s took JC to their hearts. Here we have the overtures to six works of his that were performed at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket – from his first opera there, Orione in 1763, to his last, La clemenza diScipione in 1778, and the 1770 oratorio, Gioas, plus a symphony which is a pasticcio of the Clemenza overture with additional trumpets and drums and a revised version of the Andante from the overture to his only completed French opera, the 1779 Amadis de Gaule. The most striking feature about all these works, apart from their vigorous openings, is the freedom in the use of wind instruments: Zanaida has soli clarinets, and the trio of Orione’s minuet is for wind band only, as are passages in Adriano, the E flat March in Clemenza and the brilliant final Presto of Carattaco.
The Hanover Band’s playing is vital and fresh, rhythmically crisp and tonally clean-cut; the recording is first rate.