Complete Syms Vol. 4

Richard Wagner found his British colleague Ciprian Potter to be an "old-fashioned but quite loveable composer'. On 28 May 1855 in London, he conducted Potter's symphony in G minor with such authority that not only was the "old, friendly eccentric man" enthusiastic, but the audience as well. And why wouldn't they be, when this magnificent work of 1832 contains just about everything one would expect from the very best of orchestral music and everything one had come to recognise from the historical giants Haydn and Beethoven - without, however, succumbing to that tasteless form of imitation that clumsily panders to the prevailing taste. A delightful gem, the Duo concertant for violin, piano and orchestra of 1827, follows the Symphony in B flat major (composed in 1821), concluding the fourth instalment of the forthcoming complete recordings: a three-movement showpiece with which the 'quirky old eccentric' certainly need not hide behind comparable works by Weber, Hummel and other virtuoso contemporaries.