Nicholas Ward, Northern Chamber Orchestra - Johann Stamitz: Symphonies, Vol.2 (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 276 Mb | Total time: 61:11 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.554447 | Recorded: 1996
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 276 Mb | Total time: 61:11 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.554447 | Recorded: 1996
The Bohemian composer Johann Stamitz, a versatile performer on a number of instruments, is chiefly known for his work with the Mannheim orchestra, which he built into what a later visitor, the English Dr Burney, described as an army of generals. He seems to have joined the musical establishment of the Elector Palatine, whose capital was at Mannheim, in 1741 as a violinist, and by 1750 had become director of instrumental music. The Mannheim orchestra became famous for its discipline, evident in particular in the ‘Mannheim crescendo’, an effective increase in volume and following decrease that became a feature of music written for the orchestra. It had other characteristic traits, too, including the ascending melodic figure known as the ‘Mannheim rocket’.