The Mozartists & Ian Page – Sturm und Drang, Vol. 1: Beck, Gluck, Haydn, Jommelli, Traetta (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:56 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Signum Records

This is the first project in a seven-volume series exploring the Sturm und Drang movement, which swept through all art forms in the between the early 1760s and 1780s. The purpose of this movement was to frighten and perturb through the use of wild and subjective emotional means of expression.

This series of Sturm und Drang recordings incorporates iconic compositions by Mozart, Gluck and, above all, Joseph Haydn, but it also includes largely forgotten or neglected works by less familiar names. The music featured on this disc was all composed in the 1760s. It includes ballet and opera as well as symphonies, but is drawn together by the hallmarks of the remarkably visceral and dynamic style of music that we now call Sturm und Drang.

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The Mozartists & Ian Page – Arne: Artaxerxes (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:17:45 minutes | 4,64 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Signum Records

The discovery of Artaxerxes by Thomas Arne was a nice surprise for Joseph Haydn, who was unaware that such operas existed in England. Performed practically without interruption in London from 1762 to 1830, it was probably also seen by the young Mozart. At any rate, this is a likelihood suggested by the conductor Ian Page, a great connoisseur of British musical life in the eighteenth century, who has released this album with his ensemble The Mozartists.

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