After their very successful album with duos by Franz Alexander Possinger (Musicaphon M56996), Katja Gruttner and Christian Goosses now turn their attention to another master of the Viennese scene, Franz Anton Hoffmeister. He is one of the most productive of Viennese composers; the diversity of his oeuvre reads like a kaleidoscope of musical genres known at the time. He wrote sacred works as well as the German-language magic operas that were so popular at the time. In addition, there is talk of no fewer than 70 symphonies (44 of which are confirmed), 15 string quartets and an incredible 34 string quintets - more than the output of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven combined!

Includes work(s) by Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Ensemble: Gulbenkian Foundation Chamber Orchestra Lisbon. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood. Soloist: Ashan Pillai.

The best-selling Contemporaries of Mozart series with Matthias Bamert and the London Mozart Players is one of Chandos' most long-running recording projects and we are delighted to add three symphonies by the German-Austrian composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister to the collection. His highly appealing music is full of fluent melodies and classical elegance, much admired by Schubert. All the works here are recorded for the first time.

Nine operas, around 70 symphonies, nearly four dozen string quartets alongside other works of chamber music, and a substantial number of concertos as well as vocal compositions, both sacred and secular: there's no doubt Franz Anton Hoffmeister, as a publisher, knew exactly what connoisseurs and lovers of music enjoyed playing. He was also never short on musical ideas of his own when it came to meeting the tastes of the late 18th century. Two years older than Mozart, Hoffmeister is widely regarded as one of the "most remarkable, skilled, and prolific composers of sophisticated, artful entertainment music" - a reputation clearly demonstrated in this production. It blends elegant and soulful hunting themes, virtuosic passages for two accomplished horn players, and smooth, pleasing orchestral sounds into classical delights.

These exuberant and technically demanding 18th-century concertos for two horns are performed by JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic with soloists Jacek Muzyk and Daniel Kerdelewicz, the orchestra's Principal and Associate Principal Horns respectively. The Hoffmeister concerto is a world premiere recording.

Includes serenade(s) by Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Ensemble: Consortium Classicum. Conductor: Dieter Klöcker.

Classical Music

Andreas Blau and his orchestral colleagues of the Berliner Philharmoniker are to be admired for discovering the treasure that is Anton Hoffmeister's Flute Quartets, and they play them superbly well, while placing Hoffmeister's output in close proximity to Mozart and Haydn, and in the vicinity of early Beethoven. The solo parts are evidently tailor-made for the flute, and their virtuoso passages seem modeled on cadenzas from Mozart piano concertos. Their musical sensitivity, evident enjoyment and great orchestral experience ensure the recordings do not just document the artistry of so-called minor masters, but are a valuable addition to our view of the brilliant epoch of Viennese classicism.

Classical Music

The novelty of Franz Anton Hoffmeister' double bass quartets lies in his substitution of that husky-voiced instrument for the first violin in a regular string quartet line-up.

Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a formative figure in the musical life of his time and highly regarded as a publisher of famous contemporaries such as Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The variety and appeal of his own works also made him a popular and renowned composer. As for volume 1 of this series (8.572738), flautist Bruno Meier created new editions of these previously unknown works. With elegant and catchy themes, substantial proportions, intriguing major/minor contrasts of key and virtuoso solo writing, Hoffmeister satisfied the tastes of his time, finding a perfect balance between grace and artistry.

Hoffmeister was one of the great figures in musical history. He was a founding father of the music publishing industry - his firm published Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and many others - as well as being a prolific composer. His operas, symphonies, concertos and chamber music were widely admired in Vienna and beyond. Not the least important of his works were those for the flute and the piano, for which a large audience existed. Among his most enjoyable, some of the piano works reveal Hoffmeister at his most searching, and forward-looking. This is the last of three volumes of the first complete recording of Hoffmeister's piano sonatas. Hoffmeister wrote a series of piano sonatas, sonatinas and other pieces for the instrument. The use of fortepiano or harpsichord was specified, indicating their composition coincided with the transitional period from the Baroque to the Romantic periods. The sonatas display a considerable degree of melodic inspiration and harmonic skill, full of imaginative transformations as well as pithy wit. Far from mere salon entertainment the B major Sonata, in particular, shows a more experimental side of his art.

Franz Anton Hoffmeister numbers among the composers born during the 1750s who distanced themselves from the genre of the symphony during the 1790s without completely refraining from the composition of such works. It is not entirely clear how many symphonies Hoffmeister composed. Forty-four have been identified so far, and at least forty-two of these works had been composed by 1792. Hoffmeister then let a decade pass before he presented himself to the public with his last symphonies, which are heard on this recording. The Symphony in D major in particular favorably impressed the Gewandhaus reviewer for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung: »A symphony by Hoffmeister, it too unpublished, is lively, friendly, in no way shallow, and by far belongs to the most outstanding music that this composer has written for instruments.« Both symphonies are marked by high compositional mastery and great powers of imagination. The overture from the heroicomic opera Der Königssohn aus Ithaka (The King’s Son from Ithaka), one of Hoffmeister’s most successful stage works, rounds off this CD. - cpo - (Translated from German text.)

Franz Anton Hoffmeister occupied an important place in Viennese musical and cultural life. He was much respected as a publisher—his firm published works by Mozart and Haydn, and he was friendly with Beethoven—but also as a composer. He wrote at least eight operas, a substantial number of symphonies, and a large amount of music for the flute, a popular instrument amongst the wealthy amateurs of the time. He also wrote expressively and rewardingly for the piano, which had a similarly wide audience. This is the second of three volumes of the first complete recording of Hoffmeister’s piano sonatas.

Flutters and cruises gracefully along like a sunlit fritillary on a summer breeze.

There is no misprint: these really are Franz Hoffmeister's 21st and 24th Flute Concertos, and they are moreover half an hour long apiece. German Hoffmeister was one of the seemingly countless truly prolific composers of the eighteenth century, and the 25 solo Flute Concertos - there are three more double concertos involving the flute - are among around sixty he wrote for various instruments. His two Viola Concertos appeared last year on the last Naxos Hoffmeister release, the third of four to date. See also a review of his Double Bass Quartets.
 
Though Hoffmeister's music was widely admired in his lifetime, he himself paid as much attention to his music publishing business as to composition, and always had one eye on the hobbyist market. So it is that the Concertos are quite conventional: from their 'safe' D major tonality and archetypal fast-slow-fast structure to their elegant tunefulness, they reflect their creator's canny craftsmanship rather than the hand of artistic genius. That is not to say they are ever dull. In fact, there is much to admire, and fans of the flute and the Classical orchestra will pass many an uplifting, mellifluent hour, especially in the good company of Swiss flautist Bruno Meier and the dependable Prague Chamber Orchestra (PCO). Meier's gold flute has an appropriately luxurious tone, and although Hoffmeister's music does not quite demand "extreme virtuosity" or "place severe technical demands on the soloist" as the notes claim, he has no easy ride either. Yet he flutters and cruises gracefully along like a sunlit fritillary on a summer breeze. The PCO have appeared several times before on Naxos, most usually performing Ji?í (Georg) Benda, so they are au fait with the intermediate demands of this kind of music.
 
Sound quality is pretty good. The CD booklet is the usual Naxos effort - slim-but-informative, the notes by Stephan Hörner imparting the most significant biographical and musical detail. The disc is available in Germany with the catalogue number 8.551292 and a subtly different cover. The CD running-time is however equally ungenerous all over the world - it seems very likely that a third concerto would have squeezed on. Naxos promise more to come in this series.
 
-- Byzantion, MusicWeb International