Johann Evangelist Brandl - Symphony in D Major (WoO, 1792), Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Kevin Griffiths (conductor)
I. Allegro con spirito - 00:00
II. Andante - 07:04
III. Menuetto. Allegretto - Trio - 14:51
IV. Presto - 18:37
Johann Evangelist Brandl (Nov. 14, 1760, at Rohr, near Ratisbon, died at Carlsruhe May 26, 1837) was a German composer, violinist and court conductor (Hofkapellmeister)
Brandl received first music lessons at the age of six and in 1770, at 10, he was sent by Canon Gelasius to the seminary at Munich. From 1774, at the Jesuit school at Neuburg, he received a thorough musical education from a certain Feldmaier. From 1778 he was at the Eichstätt, where he continued his studies under the guidance of R. Schlecht. In 1779 he embarked on a concert tour with the violinist Westermaier in which he enjoyed great success with his performances and compositions. In 1784 he was appointed Kapellmeister at the court Prince Hohenlohe-Bartenstein and in 1789 he was appointed Hofmusikdirektor in the service of Bishop de Speyer at his own court in Bruchsal. In 1806, the orchestra was disbanded and the most important musicians, including Brandl, were integrated into the Badische Staatskapelle in Karlsruhe; he first became the second Kapellmeister (under Franz Danzi who began as Hofkapellmeister in 1812) and first violinist, and later the first Kapellmeister, positions he held until his death.
Although mostly unknown today, Johann Evangelist Brandl was a well-respected composer and violinist at the turn of the 19th Century. His first compositions received good reviews and his later works even became known abroad. His contemporaries considered him “one of the most important and most respected composers of our time”. From his estate there are masses, oratorios, operas, songs and chants, symphonies and other orchestral works. His quartets as well as quintets of various ensembles are also known (his Op. 17 string quartets were dedicated to Haydn). His works abound in fantasy and creativity and covers almost all genres, except, surprisingly, the keyboard, for which he will hardly write. Musically, his compositions, even if they are close to those of Mozart and Haydn , are “between the worlds” - they already point beyond the classical formal language and anticipate virtuoso elements and sometimes astonishing harmonic twists and turns of Romanticism .
The Symphony in D Major, WoO, of 1792 is the earliest dated symphony, roughly contemporaneous with the first half-dozen of Haydn’s “London” Symphonies. In some ways it’s comparable to them and other symphonies of the period, and in other ways it’s not. It’s a full-fledged Classical-period symphony in four movements with a Menuetto and Trio in third place. However, it does not begin with a slow introduction, which was more or less standard practice at the time. That makes it a bit backward-looking.
On its dedication page to Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein, Brandl designated the work a „Grande Simphonie á grand Orchestre”.