The third and final volume of the Fesca Symphony series by Biermann and the NDR Radio Philharmonic, which received a great welcome! The symphonies and orchestral works of Bohemian composer Friedrich Ernst Pesca (1789-1826), who died at the early age of 37, all show the overflowing power, unique elegance, and ability to bring out the colors of the orchestra in the post-Beethoven era. In particular, Symphony No. 1, which captures the spirit of a 22-year-old young man, makes us realize that the praise he received from his contemporaries was not false. The performance of the conductor and orchestra, which introduced this hidden composer to the world, is full of affection, empathy, and confidence.

As a composer of instrumental music, Louis Spohr was second only to Beethoven in the category of widespread attention and recognition during the first half of the nineteenth century. After Beethoven's death in 1827 he was regarded by large segments of the music public as the greatest living composer. In 1828 the leading music critic Friedrich Rochlitz asked very rhetorically, 'Who else should now write symphonies?' Spohr was supposed to continue what Beethoven had begun. However, even then Spohr's symphonic music was recognized as the absolute opposite of the type of the Beethovian symphony. If genial musical license holds sway in Beethoven's oeuvre, then in Spohr classical order prevails.

Star trumpet player Lucienne Renaudin Vary brings us four beautiful Christmas pieces: “Silent Night”, “Weihnachtsfriede” (Kollo), “Weihnachten” (Humperdinck), and “Süßer die Glocken nie klingen”​.

Johann Wilhelm Wilms was once called the Dutch Beethoven. His works were extremely popular and were met with tremendous praise. However like contemporaries such as Eberl and Fesca, it became increasing difficult to compete with Beethoven and his works eventually fell into oblivion. This new release on CPO documents two of Wilms’s symphonies and the Overture in D major. Howard Griffiths and the NDR Radiophilharmonie give an inspired interpretation and demonstrate the accessibility of this composer’s music.

On her second PENTATONE album FLOW, Annelien Van Wauwe presents a programme inspired by her love for yoga, combining Mozart’s famous Clarinet Concerto with the world premiere recording of Wim Henderickx’s concerto SUTRA. Van Wauwe performs both works on the characteristic basset clarinet, together with the renowned NDR Radiophilharmonie under the baton of Andrew Manze.

According to current research, Paul Wranitzky composed at least 47 symphonies for which sources have been preserved. The symphonies Opp. 50 and 51 belong to Wranitzky's last series of symphonies. They were published in late 1804 by Wranitzky's main publisher, André, in Offenbach. The Symphony in D major, Op. 37, was published by the same publisher in November 1799. All three works recognizably follow Haydn's model in structure, movement types, and thematic formation, though not without setting individual accents. For example, the opening and closing movements are not thematic in the true sense of the word; Wranitzky treats his motivic material more like a musical construction kit; identical material is used in different places with different functions. The motivic material is deliberately kept simple, but possesses enough specificity to give the individual movements motivic coherence. And once again, the composer's "melodic inventiveness, the effectively juxtaposed rhythms and the effectively exploited orchestral apparatus".

Emilie Mayer was one of the very few successful female composers of her time. The Mecklenburg-born composer was also referred to as the "female Beethoven". On this second CPO symphony album, Emilie Mayer opens up a new facet of her compositional spectrum by exhibiting classicistic tendencies: clear and transparent outlines, regular periods in the formation of themes, no formal experiments.

After their prize-winning Mendelssohn symphonies cycle and acclaimed Mozart symphonies album, the NDR Radiophilharmonie and its chief conductor Andrew Manze now present Beethovens Fifth and Seventh symphonies. While Beethovens Fifth is arguably the most famous symphony in the history of music, the Seventh counts as one of the most rhythmically-advanced pieces of nineteenth-century music; an apotheosis of dance, to quote Richard Wagner. Both works display Beethovens mastery of and audacious approach to musical form as well as the richness of his melodic invention, and are generally praised as paragons of symphonic composition. Andrew Manze brings his experience in the field of historically informed performance to the polished symphonic sound of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, providing an ambience that fits these early nineteenth-century works like a glove.

The NDR Philharmonie and Andrew Manze continue their exploration of Mozart’s late orchestral works with a recording of the composers 38th and 39th symphonies. Nicknamed after Prague, where it was first performed in 1787, the 38th shares with its successor a solemn, “Romantic” slow introduction to the first movement, followed by lighter music that shares a kinship with the playful arias and ensembles of Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, composed in the same period. By playing all repeats, Manze underlines the ambitious, expansive character of these works, but the NDR Radiophilharmonie never drags, offering the same energy and sense of urgency as in their acclaimed interpretation of Mozart’s 40th and 41st symphonies, released in 2019.

Mendelssohn’s Second Symphony “Lobgesang [Hymn of Praise]” is highly original from a conceptual point of view, with its combination of three instrumental movements, followed by a cantata with three soloists and chorus. The piece is a milestone in the history of the symphonic form, stretching the seams of the symphony genre even further than Beethoven had dared with his “Choral” Ninth. In his Lobgesang, Mendelssohn achieved nothing less than the artistic destruction of the conceptual opposition of vocal and instrumental music. Here they enter into a relationship of constructive, mutual support in the service of music. Moreover, the Biblical lyrics express Mendelssohn’s deeply-felt religiosity.