Search - Joseph Martin Kraus, Petter Sundkvist, Swedish Chamber Orchestra :: Kraus: Complete Symphonies 4

Kraus should be better known

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the fourth in the Naxos series of recordings of music by Joseph Martin Kraus, sometimes referred to as the 'Swedish Mozart'. He was born the same year as Mozart and died one year after he did. But his music really more resembles that of the middle-period Haydn, the 'Sturm-und-Drang' Haydn. Make no mistake, though, he has his own voice and certainly has plenty of skill; the Sinfonia da Chiesa in D, for instance, includes a masterful fugal sonata-form movement that takes one's breath away. The two three-movement symphonies on this recording were originally credited to other composers--one to Haydn, one to Giuseppe Gambini. Recent scholarship has proven that they are indeed the work of Kraus. In fact, the notes for this recording are by Bertil van Boer, one of the leading Kraus scholars and the editor of these symphonies. The performances by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Petter Sundkvist (who also conducts the fine recording of the Stenhammar Second Symphony on Naxos) are wonderful. Naxos is to be commended for making this lovely, inspiriting music available to a wider audience at a budget price."

A Superb Installment in a Great Series

J Scott Morrison | 06/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If there were any doubt about the issue before, Naxos' Kraus series with Petter Sundkvist and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra should establish the singular importance of this contemporary of Mozart and Haydn. In fact, it's not too much to say that the symphonies Kraus produced in the 1780s are every bit the equals of those by the two great masters of the Classical symphony. Take the Symphony in F, VB145. Like all Kraus's symphonies, it follows the Mannheim rather than the Viennese model, lacking a minuet movement. But at over 21 minutes, it is in no way a small symphony. The first movement, with a majestic slow introduction akin to that of Mozart's Prague Symphony, is by turns dancing (it is in ¾ time) and dramatic, with one of those strange harmonic turns followed by a pause that Haydn loved to trick his public with, as if the movement had briefly lost its way harmonically. The slow movement, though relatively short, is endowed by its gracious, long-breathed melody with the easy elegance the older master achieved in his best slow movements.Much the same praise could be accorded the Symphony in D major, which was probably intended for performance by Haydn at Esterhaz. Its finest movement is the finale, with a truly distinguished main melody that propels the movement wonderfully.Also on this disc are the Sinfonia per la Chiesa and Riksdagsmarsch that Kraus wrote for the convening of the Swedish parliament in 1789. Both have a nobility and grandeur that mark them as more than mere occasional music. The accomplished fugal writing in the Sinfonia will probably make you think of the finale of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony or of Beethoven's Consecration of the House Overture. Not too shabby.For me, the quality of the music, the performances, and the recording are of such high quality that I'm reminded of the sense of discovery and excitement I had on hearing the first volume in this series-that wonderful sense of excitement you have when discovering any important composer's music. I guess that's worth eight bills any day!"