Credits:

Wilhem Latchoumia

Description:

In 1781, the Viennese composer Dittersdorff planned to compose a series of symphonies based on the "Metamorphoses" of the ancient Roman poet Ovidius and proposed them to the publisher Artaria. His intention was to publish the 15 symphonies in three sets of five symphonies each, together with the engravings created for each set. This was touted as one of the "most ambitious projects" of the late 18th century, but the project was ultimately abandoned. Today, only the six symphonies in their complete form and the composer's own arrangements of the six works for four hands remain, and the whereabouts of the remaining three are unknown. Three of the four symphonies are included on this album, but the exact order of the pieces is not known, and one can only guess at the order of the pieces. The dramatic music, based on a collection of Greek and Roman mythological "metamorphosis" scenes, sounds very appealing even today. Naxos Japan