Symphonies Volume 1

Description

In 1785, Antonín Reicha went to Bonn with his uncle Joseph to play the flute in the local court orchestra. It was there that he met Ludwig van Beethoven, who was ten months younger than him. Soon, they began a friendship that survived despite the long distance. While Beethoven established himself in Vienna, Reicha gained the greatest recognition in Paris as a composer and especially as a teacher. César Franck, Hector Berlioz, Louise Farrenc, and Friedrich von Flotow are just a few of his illustrious students who learned their craft thanks to Reicha's great technical mastery. It is not easy to summarize what he accomplished. He wrote dozens of wind quintets, string quartets, other chamber music works, very original piano pieces, as well as four symphonies and several overtures. His experiments undoubtedly elicited a "Homeric laugh" from his famous Viennese friend. And how could it be otherwise, as pieces like the overture – which can be heard on the first CD of our complete symphonic recording – even unsettle modern sensibilities with their constant disruptions of meter, leaving one unable to explain why one always loses count... Only repeated listening helps!