Sinfonia in Bb

In the course of a long and successful career François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) witnessed an extraordinary transformation in musical styles. As a young man in Paris in the 1750s he played in La Pouplinière’s orchestra under the direction of Johann Stamitz and at the end of his life he was director of the Paris Conservatoire while Berlioz was a student there. The structural and stylistic innovations of the Mannheim School which he encountered at first hand through his contact with Stamitz can be heard in many of symphonies although his fine lyric gift and keen sense of orchestral sonority lend his works a distinctive quality. The later symphonies, like those of the Op.12 set published in 1769, are remarkable for their full textures and fine wind writing.