Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813)
Symphony in G minor (Bryan g1)
Symphony in A major (Bryan A4)
Symphony in A minor (Bryan a1)
Symphony in F major (Bryan F5)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Ivan Repušić
rec. 2020, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Studio 1, Munich
cpo 5554332 [69]
Johann Vanhal was born in Bohemia into a family bonded to the local nobility. Music was an important part of education for all children in Bohemia at the time, and Vanhal quickly showed abilities beyond the usual, to the point where he was appointed organist at a local church in his teens. By his early twenties, his development was such that he was encouraged to move to Vienna with the support of the Countess. His first composition with a date is from 1767, but it is known that he played in the first violins (alongside Carl Ditters) in a 1763 performance of Gluck’s Orfeo. A Dresden nobleman with an eye for talent became his patron and paid for an Italian sojourn. However, afterwards Vanhal declined the offer of the Kapellmeister post in Dresden, and remained in Vienna as an independent composer, and became one of the best known in the city.
There is some confusion (or at least disagreement) over the spelling of his surname. In the cpo booklet, the German translation of the notes and the cover have him as I have written throughout: Vanhal. However, the English version (and Wikipedia) show him as Wanhal, while Naxos throughout their series of his music use Vaňhal.
The symphony in the second half of the eighteenth century was the new and fashionable genre, thanks in no small part to Haydn and Mozart. Vanhal certainly contributed his fair share: there are 77 symphonies that are accredited to him in the catalogue prepared by Paul Bryan. In my experience, once you get past the two giants to the very substantial group of other central European composers contributing to the genre, not only does the quality drop (unsurprisingly), but there is a lack of distinctiveness. One is left with very pleasant works, but I doubt even the most expert could tell with 100% assurance if they were listening to Dittersdorf, a Stamitz, Wolf, Kraus, Wranitzky, Vanhal or one of the numerous others (between them, Naxos’s 18th Century Symphony series and Chandos’s Contemporaries of Mozart runs to more than 20 different composers).
Turning to this recording, I heard in the G minor symphony, echoes of Mozart’s No. 40 in the same key, but if Bryan is correct in dating the work to the mid-1760s, it is well before Mozart’s, and thus any similarity is almost certainly coincidental. I should say that the booklet notes mention a similarity to another G minor symphony, Haydn’s No. 39, written at exactly the time it is believed Vanhal wrote his. Given Haydn’s importance, this connection seems rather less coincidental. Nevertheless, Vanhal was definitely his own man, and his work is not just a pale imitation. Of the other three works, the A minor, dated to the mid-1770s, is the pick, with a quite lovely Andante and Mozartian finale. The two major key symphonies are pleasant company, but my attention tended to drift in and out as I listened.
My previous encounters with Vanhal had led me to think that he was one of the best of those not named Wolfgang Mozart or Joseph Haydn, and this recording has confirmed that. That said, none of the four symphonies is better than Mozart or Haydn on a less inspired day, but each provided 15-20 minutes of enjoyable listening, with the two minor key works well above that level. Ivan Repušić and the orchestra give the works air and lightness essential for music of this era, and the sound engineer has helped here as well. The booklet notes are among the best I’ve seen for this label.
David Barker
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