It is curious that only a few Classical string trios survive as celebrated works for today s performers and audiences. These are Beethoven's Op.9 set of three trios, the two youthful works of Schubert, and the grand 6- movement Divertimento in E-flat by Mozart, notably the sole representative from the 18th century. All are truly masterful works, frequently performed and recorded, but which naturally beg the question: Is this really all there is? A little research quickly unearthed a whole history of string trios from many of the 18th century's most prolific and eminent composers. Those represented on this CD alone collectively contributed upwards of 200 works, exhibiting an extraordinary variety of textures and expressions, as well as astonishing instrumental techniques.

Christian Cannabich was one of a family of German musicians. Born in Mannheim, the son of a musician in the service of the Elector, he established himself as one of the most important of the Mannheim composers. He made Mozart welcome in Mannheim in 1777 and 1778, in the latter year following the court to Munich, when the Palatine and Bavarian electorates were united. He was much respected as an orchestra director, and died in 1798 in Frankfurt while visiting his son, the composer Carl Cannabich.

Matthias Bamert’s survey of music by Mozart’s contemporaries continues with this elegant programme of Cannabich Symphonies. Harmonically conservative, lavishly scored, and full of the mannerist crescendi and rising figures the Mannheim Orchestra was famous for, these are fascinating examples of the style gallant. Though Cannabich had found his way to sonata form in the G major symphony, something of Telemann’s programmatic writing hangs over the Symphony in A major, while baroque affects are yet more keenly felt in the D major Symphony. The London Mozart Players’ pristine sound and careful phrasing is highly enjoyable throughout.

Christian Cannabich himself - at first leader of the orchestra, then director of instrumental music at the court of Carl Theodor - was one of those who engaged with the new form of music drama. Cannabich, who mostly composed symphonies, chamber music and ballet suites and enjoyed the reputation among his contemporaries of being an excellent orchestra mentor, created the stage work Electra in 1781 with a setting of words by Mannheim intendant von Dalberg. From its beginnings in France, the melodrama established itself in the 1770s as an independent form of music drama, with particular success in the German-speaking territories.