Dittersdorf: Sinfonias
A casual listener may well wonder at the extravagant titles of the first two of these Symphonies. They sound like pleasant, somewhat less-inspired music of Haydn's era, which they are. The helpful program notes enable us to understand Dittersdorf's parody in theDelirium Symphonyof thesturm und drang(storm and stress) style popular at the time. It doesn't take much help to laugh along with some of the style parodies in theFive Nations Symphonythough, especially the comically repetitious Italian movement. The Hungarian orchestra under its German conductor (now a resident of New Zealand) plays with polish and zest, and the recorded quality is outstanding.--Leslie Gerber