Post by erik on Jul 9, 2022 22:19:07 GMT -5
A heretofore unknown Spanish composer of the Haydn/Mozart period, Carlos Baguer, gets into the Classical Works Spotlight with a symphony very much in the mode of the aforementioned two Viennese giants.
Carlos Baguer: SYMPHONY NO. 12 IN E FLAT MAJOR
Because Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were the leading composers of symphonic music in Europe during the great Classical period of Western music during the late 18th century, many composers from other parts of Europe who lived during this same time frame and who were also composing symphonies saw their efforts fall through the cracks. Spanish composer Carlos Baguer, who lived from 1768 to 1808, was one of those composers. During his forty years, Baguer was not necessarily a prolific composer like Mozart and Haydn, he was nevertheless able to compose nineteen symphonies that were not slavishly imitative of those two giants but which were definitely influenced by them. His Symphony No. 12, which he composed in 1786 at the age of eighteen, is one of those. At fifteen minutes in length, it is only half as long as the symphonies it emulates, and at the same time it has a refreshing uniqueness to it, eschewing the trumpets and timpani to be found in the larger works of his contemporaries, and oddly also doesn’t betray a single influence of his own home country. Following his death in 1808, Baguer’s music went into near-total obscurity until near the end of the 20th century, when the English-based Chandos recording label, together with German conductor Matthias Bamert and the London Mozart Players, instituted a series of recordings of other Haydn/Mozart-era composers’ symphonies that led to a greater understanding of these heretofore unknown journeymen of Western classical music.
London Mozart Players/MATTHIAS BAMERT (Chandos)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 13 IN E FLAT MAJOR
SYMPHONY NO. 16 IN G MAJOR
SYMPHONY NO. 18 IN B FLAT MAJOR
Carlos Baguer: SYMPHONY NO. 12 IN E FLAT MAJOR
Because Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were the leading composers of symphonic music in Europe during the great Classical period of Western music during the late 18th century, many composers from other parts of Europe who lived during this same time frame and who were also composing symphonies saw their efforts fall through the cracks. Spanish composer Carlos Baguer, who lived from 1768 to 1808, was one of those composers. During his forty years, Baguer was not necessarily a prolific composer like Mozart and Haydn, he was nevertheless able to compose nineteen symphonies that were not slavishly imitative of those two giants but which were definitely influenced by them. His Symphony No. 12, which he composed in 1786 at the age of eighteen, is one of those. At fifteen minutes in length, it is only half as long as the symphonies it emulates, and at the same time it has a refreshing uniqueness to it, eschewing the trumpets and timpani to be found in the larger works of his contemporaries, and oddly also doesn’t betray a single influence of his own home country. Following his death in 1808, Baguer’s music went into near-total obscurity until near the end of the 20th century, when the English-based Chandos recording label, together with German conductor Matthias Bamert and the London Mozart Players, instituted a series of recordings of other Haydn/Mozart-era composers’ symphonies that led to a greater understanding of these heretofore unknown journeymen of Western classical music.
London Mozart Players/MATTHIAS BAMERT (Chandos)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 13 IN E FLAT MAJOR
SYMPHONY NO. 16 IN G MAJOR
SYMPHONY NO. 18 IN B FLAT MAJOR