The Symphony in D major of
Luigi Cherubini hardly qualifies as a "discovery"; it may not be a standard repertory item, but it has been performed by
Arturo Toscanini, among others, over the years. It's a stirring post-Classical symphony that gets its full due here from
Riccardo Chailly, obviously having a great time conducting the
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. The rest of the music, however, is not so common, and it is worth the listener's while. The Overture in G major is a close cousin to the symphony; it was written in the same year (1815), and even more than the symphony, it shows with its massive slow introduction why
Beethoven, who disliked most other composers, admired
Cherubini. The rest of the album is devoted to marches that, with one or two exceptions, have never been recorded. These are intriguing pieces of Gebrauchsmusik written, in most cases, for specific occasions or individuals. Several are funeral marches, not a genre
Cherubini invented, but his examples have the gravity of
Beethoven's. This is a release that belongs on the shelf or hard drive of any
Beethoven admirer.