RIES: Symphonies Nos.7 & 8

Griffiths, Howard, Zürcher Kammerorchester

CPO 999904

Our complete edition of the 8 symphonies of Ferdinand Ries (1884-1837) is like a rehabilitation of a composer who was highly talented and had important things to say, but unfortunately all this in the direct shadow of a giant - Beethoven. Even contemporary critics saw the "Beethovenian genius" in many of his works and did not mean it only appreciatively. Today, fortunately, our view is more unbiased, so that we can virtually enjoy the closeness and friction of the Ries works to their unmistakable models: There are few more powerful and imaginative works besides Beethoven. A compositional highlight in this series of works now forms the final point of our edition, the Symphony No. 7 op. 181, composed in 1835. Here Ries draws the sum of his skills and ventures much that is new: the harmony is far more rugged and bold, the instrumentation much more contrasting than in the earlier works.

But also the Symphony in E-flat Major (let's call it the Eighth), not numbered by Ries and written at the same time as the 6th Symphony, is stirringly magnificent music. All of this, of course, only really comes into its own in the breathtaking interpretation by Howard Griffiths and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra - this time supported by our multi-channel recording in surround sound as SACD, of course also playable on any CD player in stereo!

SACD x 1

CPO

11/12/04

761203990429