This is the first release 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 were 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’.

Reviews

Ian Page’s projects with The Mozartists are distinguished not only by exemplary standards of performance but also by the ambition and imagination that underpin them. … Chiara Skerath (‘One to Watch’ in the last issue of Gramophone) is suitably dramatic in first recordings of arias from operas by Jommelli and Traetta – especially valuable, not least because these are composers perhaps better known by name or reputation than for their actual music. … The playing throughout is excellent and the programme is as deeply satisfying as the project’s entire conception. David Threasher

Gramophone May 2020