PentaTone Releases The New Dutch Academy Playing String Symphonies By J. Stamitz And F. X. Richter

The Creation Of Style ñ The New Dutch Academy Mannheim Project

12-Jun-03

The Chamber Orchestra of The New Dutch Academy ñ directed by Simon Murphy is a unique initiative created by leading members of the new generation of early music performance specialists in the Netherlands who play on authentic instruments.Mannheim: The Creation of StyleThe Mannheim court in the 18th century represents one of those pinnacles of enlightened vision, endeavor and achievement in the arts. Between 1748 and 1778 under the rule of Elector Carl Theodor, the German court reached its zenith.Carl Theodor himself was the very personification and embodiment of the new ideal of the enlightened prince. Upon coming to power in 1743, he began assembling a group of musical talents that would become an unrivalled powerhouse of musical energy, endeavor, activity and influence that would light up the cultural skies of Europe for the next half century. In the mid-18th century, the composers and performers at Mannheim, such as J. Stamitz (ìthe father of the symphonyî), Richter, Wendling, Frânzl, Cannabich, Toeschi, Holzbauer and Filtz, were seen as the leading protagonists of the new symphonic language and the Mannheim orchestra was regarded as the defining and ultimate performing vehicle in this style. As a whole, Mannheim was the most famous and influential musical court of the 18th century. Starting at the beginning, this disc explores the emergence and formation of the classical language at Mannheim in the period c. 1740 ñ 1750, and the importance of the leading role that the Mannheim composers played in the formation of the medium of that western phenomenon, the symphony. The influence of the Mannheim School on subsequent generations of composers cannot be overestimated, nor can the esteem in which they were held in the 18th century, as both performers and composers.The New Dutch Academy Mannheim Project is an immense project involving original material from dozens of libraries throughout the world, the analysis of manuscripts, the preparation of working scores, the consultation of treatises and other sources; thought about aesthetical schools, flows, changes and in relation to instruments, playing techniques and musical realization; and the combination of all this with performance, learning the Mannheim language, and bringing the music to life. With this disc, PentaTone is very proud to launch the NDAís Mannheim Project, and to set the tone for the resulting series of recordings which will present newly discovered works, many of which will appear for the first time in recorded form.