For a composer who was so hugely famous during his lifetime, who wrote – and had regularly performed – nearly 70 operas, dozens of oratorios, masses and cantatas, 57 symphonies, Simon Mayr remains largely neglected, nay ignored, nowadays. No one is going to pretend he is the scandalously forgotten ultra-genius of his times, all the more since his times saw the rise of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin – Mayr was born 1763, seven years after Mozart, and died 1845, four years before Chopin. But his music is worth considerably more than just to be left collecting dust in obscure libraries. Most his life and career developed in Bergamo, which makes him more of an Italian composer even though he was born German, but as early as 1802 he definitely moved south of the Alps and never returned back north. He was known for introducing Beethoven’s music to Northern Italy, and certainly some of Beethoven’s teachings stuck onto Mayr, as can be heard in this Mass in c minor written 1825 – though Mozart and Rossini are never too far away either. Things are quite different for his Stabat Mater composed 1803 – during the first years of his tenure as Maestro di capella at the Bergamo cathedral – with obvious leans towards both Haydn and Pergolesi. The work oscillates between the religious and the operatic style, what with arias and duets alternating with concertato movements and more restrained choral numbers. The world-famous orchestra Concerto Köln and the Orpheus Vokalensemble give us an opportunity to reassess Mayr’s music under the best possible musical auspices. © SM/Qobuz