What shall I buy with my JPC gift voucher?

[John H White]

I've just been warned in an e-mail from JPC that my 5 Euro gift voucher will expire at the beginning of next month. JPC being the main distributors for CPO, I was wondering which of this company's recent releases would be most worth buying, given that my main musical interests are symphonic and chamber music of the 19th Century. Any ideas please folks?

[Alan Howe]

Have you tried the symphonies by Eybler, currently on special offer...?

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/SESSIONID/fb2168f227aec203db41480801eeeed3/cpo/detail/-/art/Joseph-Eybler-Symphonien-Nr-1-2/hnum/3479539

[John H White]

They certainly look interesting Alan, given that he appears to be a contemporary of Beethoven. However, it would seem that, if they date from around 1790, that would make them contemporaneous with the later symphonies of Haydn and Mozart. In my experience, so far, none of the other symphonies I have heard written at that time seem to anywhere near come up to the standard of these two masters, that is, apart from a few of those written by Haydn's kid brother Michael.
However, I'm always ready to be proved wrong!