The Mozartists, as their name might suggest, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries, performed on period instruments. This recording is the second in their projected seven-volume series exploring the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement that spread through Europe for approximately two decades from the early 1760s. A forerunner of Romanticism, Sturm und Drang strove for intense evocation of fear, terror, passion and extremes of emotionality in literature, art and music.

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Three minor-key symphonies written between 1765 and 1770 exemplify this early phase, beginning with the Symphony No 39 in G Minor of Joseph Haydn, full of dynamic contrasts, unease and agitation. Although not a household name today, Johann Baptist Vanhal was one of the most respected symphonic composers of the 18th century....