Joseph Eybler, the man who could have
completes Mozart’s Requiem (but didn’t),
was appreciated more during his lifetime
than since. Taught by Albrechtsberger,
he composed extensively and was notably
influenced by both Haydn and Mozart.
Only nine years younger than the latter,
he outlived Beethoven by almost twenty
years. His career was cut short by a
stroke in 1833, the booklet stating
that this occurred whilst he was conducting
Mozart’s Requiem - which sounds to me
as though it might be apocryphal. About
six other discs of his music are currently
readily available and, although no claim
of "premières" is made, there
seem to be no other recordings of these
works around. Don Satz was most enthusiastic
about a disc of Eybler’s chamber music
disc last September (review)
and the reader is referred there for
some more information about this neglected
composer.
The two symphonies
on this disc seem to be Eybler’s only
symphonic offerings and they are fairly
early works. The manuscripts have disappeared
but it is thought that they probably
date from the late 1780s, making them
contemporaneous with Haydn’s five that
come between Paris and London
(Nos. 88-92) and Mozart’s last great
trilogy of symphonies (Nos. 39-41).
No information at all about the Overture
is provided in the documentation but
my guess would be that it was composed
rather later.
The first symphony
is in four movements and conventionally
structured for the time. The opening
movement has a slow introduction, and
both here and in the Andante
which follows, one could be forgiven
for wondering whether this is some previously
unknown Haydn. The slow movement is
memorable, both for its graceful simplicity
and for long bassoon solo in the central
section. A minuet follows, and in this
movement and the finale there is more
evidence of individualism. But it’s
all delightful – if Haydn had written
this work, it wouldn’t have been forgotten
until now.
The second symphony
opens darkly, apparently harking back
to Sturm and Drang, but Eybler
is generally more innovative here than
in the previous work. There are two
minuets, placed second and fourth (of
five movements) and some delightful
opportunities for the woodwind. The
centrally-placed Andante once
again catches the ear and this is also
a most winning work.
The overture has a
dramatic, almost Beethovenian opening
then it fizzes along charmingly. The
lack of a title has probably contributed
to its obscurity. This would be a good
opener for many a concert programme.
It seems strange that it is placed last
on the disc.
Before this disc arrived,
L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
and Michael Hofstetter were about as
familiar to me as Eybler, perhaps because
of relative youthfulness. Their playing
is refreshingly alive and I suspect
we shall be hearing plenty more from
them. The recorded sound is also very
good with pleasant ambience. The disc
is a hybrid SACD but I can’t comment
beyond the stereo.
The documentation is
a bit thin, particularly on the music.
The overture is covered by that single
word and the first movement of Symphony
No. 1 is erroneously described as an
"adagio in sonata form". The cover picture
of Vienna by Bellotto atones a little.
Overall, this is highly
recommendable listening, more worthy
of one’s attention than the early symphonies
by Mozart currently being sprinkled
around to celebrate his anniversary.
Patrick C Waller
L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève/Michael
Hofstetter 
