Wolf: Four Symphonies

The classical period was one of those moments in history where the style itself was so powerful that composers of relatively modest ability, with a little luck and few good ideas, could write some outstanding music. Ernst Wilhelm Wolf's Symphony in F is an excellent example of this phenomenon. A resident composer active in Weimar, Wolf (1732-92) composed about 35 symphonies, of which 26 survive. Like Handel's organ concertos, they were written primarily for use as overtures and intermezzos during theatrical productions, and the short D major symphony, with trumpets and drums, clearly gives evidence of this provenance. The other three works, whether in three or four movements, are larger in scale, and certainly are rich enough in content to warrant an independent concert life.

The above-named F major symphony is particularly impresive in this regard, opening with a moody and tightly integrated Allegro and featuring a very ample central Andante in a minor key with gorgeous writing for solo winds. It's just very good music. Elsewhere you will also hear characterful ideas, artfully presented, as in the charming string pizzicatos in the E-flat major symphony's second-movement Allegretto, or the C major symphony's double minuet. The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Weimar under Nicol�s Pasquet plays all four works with freshness and style, and the important contributions of the solo winds are uniformly outstanding. Wolf may not have been a great or important figure in the larger sense, but he had talent, and these very well-recorded performances show him off to excellent effect. At the Naxos price, you simply can't go wrong. [10/7/2005] --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com