The most interesting of a long line of musicians in the Benda family from Bohemia was Georg Anton (1722-95). He greatly impressed Mozart with his melodramas in which words were spoken over music (Mozart used the technique in Zaide). A new recording of one or two of these could have helped lighten the diet of the six sinfonias presented here. Their cheerful, mid-century style is appealing, with some deft crescendos and syncopated rhythms, but 18 short movements in a row is too much of a good thing. Christian Benda, the latest in the family line, conducts with vim, and the recording favours the bright Prague violins.
