The title of this record—''Classical Music In Bohemia''—is misleading, for the connection between the five symphonies is more that they were written by three of the composers most strongly associated with the Electoral Court of Mannheim and its famous orchestra. Yet it would also be wrong to look to the record for music exemplifying what are normally regarded as Mannheim characteristics: here is none of the brilliant orchestral virtuosity that impressed so many visitors and so many other composers, Mozart among them, no sign of the famous devices such as the 'rockets' or 'birds' once identified by Hugo Riemann as tricks of that famous orchestral trade.
These are charming, skilfully written pieces very easy on the ear and not demanding much of the mind. The note even goes so far as to reproach Stamitz for allowing his interest in formal structure to push aside what it calls, translating Einfallsreichtum, ''ideational inventiveness'' (''wealth of invention'', perhaps). There is something in this view as far as his first movements are concerned: Stamitz was in other works to achieve a greater sense of creative energy. It is in the slow movements that more of his quality is revealed. The Larghetto of the G major Symphony is a beautiful invention, pitched in style somewhere between Handel in his most sensuous operatic manner and a pastoral Mozart aria. The Andante of the B flat, work, by contrast, comes closer to anticipating the world that Stamitz's contemporary Gluck was to make his own.
Benda's symphony, like all the others still in three movements, is centred on an elegant muted string Andante, and winds up with a nice, dancing Vivace scherzando. Richter's G major work includes some rather startling modulations in its first movement, and is also capable of settling into what was at the time quite a cliche, the repeated figure over a descending scale bass. All five works are given alert, good-humoured performances that suit them nicely, and the recording is good and clear.'