…the last selection on this CD, the “Heroic Symphony” of 1817 sounds like a grand Haydn work, minus Beethoven’s quirks of harmony. There is nothing of the “Eroica” in it. The “Fantasia on Paradise Lost,” dates from 1833, but you would scarcely know it. It is as if Handel had been asked to write a Berlioz
Dies irae using his normal harmonic tools. Everything sounds 1833 in size and power, but except for a few Mendelssohnian brassy cadences, the music largely alternates between Haydn oomph and moments of Handelian recitative for different solo instruments. Zestfully performed here by the Kölner Akademie, sounding about 38 strong in an ideal acoustic, and annotated with great care and detail, these orchestral fantasies
come across all of a piece—fabulously crafted, logical, forceful, and permanently transitional. © Fanfare Read complete review
