François-Joseph Gossec's Grande Messe des Morts, Ao3 (30/11/16)

[EdgeleyRob]

Never knowingly heard anything by this composer before.
What a marvellous piece the Requiem is.
Surely Berlioz,Faure and others were influenced by this work.
The audience were caught out by the seemingly abrupt ending so maybe it was also new to them too.
Well worth a listen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b083qx8z#play

[french frank]

Suffy another admirer a couple of years back.

[EdgeleyRob]

Suffy another admirer a couple of years back.

Thanks ff,now I know why sc was so impressed.

[MickyD]

Though I was grateful to hear this piece, I have to say I felt rather underwhelmed by it. Maybe it was just the mood I was in! Even so, thanks for flagging it up, Rob.

[vinteuil]

... always useful to have his name in mind when compiling the inevitable "list of ten famous Belgians".

Wikipedia is more accurate in its description - "The son of a small farmer, Gossec was born at the village of Vergnies, then a French exclave in the Austrian Netherlands, now in Belgium.. "

There is quite an attractive CD of Symphonies, with Concerto Koln -

http://amzn.eu/17SliUE

[MickyD]

...and may I add another largely forgotten Belgian to the list, one Pieter van Maldere - some nice symphonies here in a not very well-known disc from the Academy of Ancient Music:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sinfonie-Pieter-van-Maldere/dp/B000063704/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1480685861&sr=1-2&keywords=van+maldere