He has always stood in Beethoven's shadow, with whom he played in the Bonn Hofkapelle. Yet Anton Reicha is in no way inferior to the Viennese titan in creativity, and Beethoven himself held his colleague of the same age in high esteem. Reason enough to put together a special package for their 250th anniversary: three carefully produced CDs with Reicha's quintets for wind instrument and string quartet each, plus another with orchestral works, make up a newly reissued set of far more than just historical value. Expertly performed by the critically acclaimed Consortium Classicum and the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Peter Gulke, this attractively priced set will be of interest to lovers of Beethoven and his contemporaries.
