MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


alternatively AmazonUK

Carl Ditters von DITTERSDORF (1739-1799)
Sinfonia in D major, Grave D6 (1788) [19:46]  
Sinfonia in A major, Grave A6 (1781) [13:02]  
Sinfonia in E flat major, Grave Eb9 (1782) [29:08]
Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra/Álvaro Cassutto
rec. 20-23 September 2005, Igreja da Cartuxa, Caxias, Portugal
NAXOS 8.570198 [61:56]



Dittersdorf began his musical career as a violinist in the Prince of Saxe-Hildenburghausen's orchestra in Vienna, for ten years from 1751. He then served under Count Durazzo at the imperial court theatre. As Kapellmeister to the Bishop of Oradea, for four years from 1765, he wrote his first vocal works. He was then employed at both Breslau and Vienna, where his success was such that he was created Knight of the Golden Spur, until in 1773 he was ennobled. He composed a series of operas, mostly singspiels, for Vienna, of which the most famous is Doctor und Apotheker (1786). During the decade that Mozart worked in Vienna (1781-1791), Dittersdorf gained a greater number of operatic performances.
 
Dittersdorf was widely renowned in his day. He was much admired by Mozart, with whom he played chamber music in Vienna. His instrumental output was particularly prolific, including some 40 concertos and 120 symphonies. These three examples reveal the sure technique that lay behind his artistic success. The performances are accomplished, though they lack that certain sparkle that can raise music to another level. In particular the string sound is rather generalised, and with music that often moves at tempo Allegro that becomes an important issue.
 
The same formula operates across all three works. Dittersdorf, like his more famous friends and contemporaries Haydn and Mozart, understood the importance of creating a cohesive balance across a multi-movement composition, and this he achieved with consummate artistry, If this achievement seems less secure in the Symphony in E flat major it is simply because it is constructed on a larger scale, and the material does not have quite the personality to sustain it.
 
With a composer such as Dittersdorf, the onus is on the accompanying documentation to provide the necessary support and encouragement to the project as a whole. The notes by Allan Radley are well planned, though stronger on generalities than on the music in hand; there is scarcely a mention of the A major Symphony, for example.
 
Dittersdorf is undoubtedly a composer who continues to deserve attention, and  in that sense this Naxos issue is a commendable enterprise.
 
Terry Barfoot
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.