Gossec: Symphony in B flat, B81; Symphony in C, B85; Symphony in D (Simphonie de chasse) B62; Symphony in D, B87

COMPOSERS: Gossec
LABELS: ASV
WORKS: Symphony in B flat, B81; Symphony in C, B85; Symphony in D (Simphonie de chasse) B62; Symphony in D, B87
PERFORMER: Orchestre de Bretagne/Stefan Sanderling
CATALOGUE NO: CD DCA 1123

Dubbed ‘the father of the French symphony’, François-Joseph Gossec was a sort of musical Vicar of Bray. He spent the first part of his long career as a fashionable society composer à la JC Bach; then, after the Revolution, he became the voice of the new regime, turning out hymns, marches and ceremonial music for monster forces. The four Italianate symphonies here are agreeable examples of Gossec in his earlier, ancien régime incarnation. Most attractive are the slow movements, especially the doleful Larghetto in the C major, B85, and the delicately sensuous serenade in the Symphonie périodique, B87. The allegros are invariably elegant, sometimes colourfully scored, especially in the jolly, alfresco Simphonie de chasse – Gossec’s answer to Haydn’s Hornsignal. But by comparison with Haydn and Mozart – or, more fairly, JC Bach – Gossec’s invention can often seem chilly and static, with few really memorable thematic ideas, rudimentary harmonies and next to no developmental tension. The first movement of the B flat repeatedly threatens to stagnate altogether. I’ve certainly heard more interesting Gossec symphonies on discs from Chandos and Naxos. That said, there are undemanding pleasures here for anyone interested in 18th-century byways. Performances, if not always ideally polished, are spirited and enthusiastic, with sensibly chosen tempi and lucid, well-balanced textures. Richard Wigmore