Beethoven, arr Hummel: Grand Symphonies • 2: No. 2 & No. 6 'Pastoral'

Unless one lived in a major European centre with an orchestra, the opportunity to hear large-scale works by the great composers of the age was well-nigh impossible. The insatiable demand for new chamber versions of famed orchestral works saw Hummel arranging Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 2 and 6 'Pastoral' not long after the great composer's death. Hummel approached his task with great care, bringing a fresh perspective to the works in his sensitive and compelling chamber music configurations. Hummel's arrangements of Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 'Eroica' can be heard on 8.574039.

New Zealand based German conductor and flautist Uwe Grodd has gained a significant international performing and recording reputation over a career spanning more than 25 years. His steadily growing contribution to the Naxos catalogue already includes nearly 30 albums. The current series follows his previous successful recordings of Hummel's chamber arrangement of Mozart's symphonies.