The recording presented here is dedicated to the last two symphonies of Franz Schubert’s earlier compositional period. Both are united by their emergence in the atmosphere of the amateur orchestra founded by Otto Hatwig, in which Franz played the viola, and his brother Ferdinand the violin.

This orchestra was a stroke of luck for the young Schubert, akin to a laboratory where he could thoroughly test his compositions against the works of composing contemporaries such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Méhul, and in real world conditions. Nevertheless, in their compositional intent, the symphonies are so fundamentally different that it is tempting to present these two dissimilar siblings on one CD.

As one of the city’s four symphony orchestras, the Munich Symphony is strongly committed to Munich and its musical traditions. Kevin John Edusei is one of today's most promising young conductors.