Joseph Martin Kraus: Amphitryon (2009)

Among the most popular works of Joseph Martin Kraus during his lifetime was the incidental music he composed in 1787 for a production of Molière's play Amphitryon held in the theater belonging to King Gustav III of Sweden. It was published in a piano reduction and later, after Kraus' death in 1792, in this transcription for "Harmonie" (i.e., a wind band) made in the late 1780s by another expert German-born Swedish composer, Johan Fredrik Grenser. The transcription itself was written for King Gustav's band, and Grenser ... Read More

Among the most popular works of Joseph Martin Kraus during his lifetime was the incidental music he composed in 1787 for a production of Molière's play Amphitryon held in the theater belonging to King Gustav III of Sweden. It was published in a piano reduction and later, after Kraus' death in 1792, in this transcription for "Harmonie" (i.e., a wind band) made in the late 1780s by another expert German-born Swedish composer, Johan Fredrik Grenser. The transcription itself was written for King Gustav's band, and Grenser himself did not outlast Kraus or his King very long; he died in his thirties in 1795. Amphitryon has been recorded before in its original garb for voices and orchestra, but this wind band transcription is excellent and the Amphion Wind Octet maintains a lovely, warm, and dry sound throughout with no signs of dicey intonation or the lazy tempi sometimes encountered in recordings of Mozart's wind serenades; it's fabulous. Moreover, one can easily understand why this music was so popular... Read Less