Search - Clementi, D'Avalos, Philharmonia Orchestra :: Complete Symphonies

Great music from an underrated composer

Ryan Richards | Midland, MI United States | 11/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The trend over the last decade has been to unearth and record forgotten symphonies by contemporaries of Mozart and Haydn. The unfortunate truth is that a lot of those recordings just serve to show why those symphonies were forgotten in the first place: they're just not that memorable. Happily, such is emphatically not the case here. We remember Clementi today mainly for such piano pieces as Gradus ad Parnassum and those Op. 36 Sonatinas, but these symphonies reveal him to be, if not the equal of his contemporaries Mozart and Haydn, at least as close to those masters as anyone could possibly get. It's not just that Clementi brings a thorough knowledge of music theory and technical skill to these works; he also displays a witty inventiveness worthy of Haydn or even Beethoven, and the musical knowledge to ensure his experimentation always works. A good example is the finale of his Second Symphony in D Major, which is not only in a relatively unusual binary form with a coda, but it also features a surprisingly aching second subject in A Minor. These kinds of innovations help keep these symphonies in the memory - and it doesn't hurt that Clementi also possessed a gift for melodic invention coupled with a peculiarly Italianate charm. D'Avalos and the always-dependable Philharmonia Orchestra give these works an irrepressibly full-blooded performance, with flying strings and ringing brass; they're obviously committed to these symphonies and enjoying the opportunity to perform them. If you love the works of the mature Mozart and Haydn, you'll hear that kind of sound in abundance here, but you'll also hear Clementi's unique voice. It's well worth the asking price to make your acquaintance with this highly inventive, highly exuberant, always memorable "other side" of this underrated Italian composer."