You really, really MUST hear the symphonies of Mozart's exact contemporary Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92). He wrote a dozen or so symphonies which are recorded, some of which are startlingly original (including a 'Symphonie funebre' and one in C-sharp minor(!)).
I have some of these discs, and the Symphonie funebre, written for the funeral of of the assassinated Gustav III, is an amazing work. According to the notes "The third movement is simply the accompaniment to the main chorale Lätt oss then kropp begrafven (‘Let us bury this body’) which was sung by the audience. " Does that make it a choral symphony? Naxos did not record the words.
The Symphony in C sharp minor on the same disc is what would now be called a Chamber Symphony. These two symphonies are both in four movements.
The Sinfonia buffa on disc 2 is "a miniature pantomime, with an opening movement that moves swiftly between contrasting scenes, from sudden outbursts of melodramatic emotion to melodies that trail off into unsettling silence."
Sadly, it seems that more of his works have been lost than survive, so those on the Naxos discs are just a fraction of his total output.
