"(His) Symphony is a very likeable discovery. Both middle movements display a disarming melodic felicity and assurance, and admiring glances towards Dvorák, although Stanford (his teacher) was never happy with the finale. It was first played by RCM students in 1896 (including Holst and Vaughan Williams !). Although it went down well, it gathered dust for over a century. Bostock's alert and affectionate lead enjoy making it's acquaintance… crisp and clear sound for this world premiere recording. In every respect, a solid thumbs-up" [Gramophone]

A sense of departure – the often-used catchword stands here not only in a figurative sense, but also for three different life situations of the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in which he left his not necessarily beloved hometown of Salzburg and set out for new shores elsewhere. In 1772, at the age of only 16, he travelled to Milan to conduct the rehearsals for the premiere of his new opera – Lucio Silla achieved a new quality of character drawing and set the trend for Mozart’s further operatic work. A few years later he revolutionised the genre of the piano concerto with the “Jenamy” concerto, the last to be composed in Salzburg. Shortly afterwards, Mozart set off on another great journey. The innovations in the interplay between soloist and orchestra laid the foundation for his later successes with the Viennese piano concertos. Finally, the Symphony K. 338 was composed shortly before Mozart left Salzburg for good; musically, it too lays the foundations for the successful Viennese years that followed.

Johann Matthias Sperger, the standout double bassist among the leading forces of the Viennese School in Germany, honored his instrument with greater virtuosity and more compositional versatility than any other composer. This fact is documented by his eighteen double bass concertos, all of which have come down to us in the autographic scores and in some cases in the parts and are available for consultation in the Schwerin Library. On Vol. 2, which features Concertos Nos. 1 and 8, Sperger once again gives the double bass the solo space it needs to display its song qualities, often with extremely striking and exceptional themes. And as already on Vol. 1, our soloist Roman Patkoló “does complete justice to what are sometimes the breakneck demands of the concertos”. The album also includes Sperger’s Symphony No. 15, a work that has a tonal language very close to that of Haydn – and that here is being performed and recorded on album for the first time, 239 years after its composition.

This 10-CD box set of British orchestral music brings together a mouth-watering selection from the enterprising series of discs that the English conductor Douglas Bostock has made with various orchestras for the Classico label.
Important British composers are certainly featured - there are CDs devoted to Elgar, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Bax and Arnold - but this imaginative collection also includes many surprises, just waiting to be discovered, such as symphonies by Frederic Cowen and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Alan Bush and Ruth Gipps, concertos for orchestra by Edward Gregson, Alun Hoddinott and John McCabe, plus a host of smaller works. The recordings here, many world premieres, date from 1998 to 2005.