Two New Orchestral Albums Coming Fall 2025

𝐃𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒)

• Army of Generals, Vol. 3: Shakespeare & Ovid in Mannheim
  – releasing September 5, 2025

• Christian Cannabich: Médor et Angélique ou Roland Furieux
  – releasing November 14, 2025

Both albums, recorded live, restore to life three groundbreaking stage works from the Mannheim court under the reign of Carl Theodor. Each performance features actor João Luís Veloso Paixão, whose historically informed declamation brings these tales to life with emotional intensity and rhetorical elegance.

𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒔, 𝑽𝒐𝒍. 3 features Georg Joseph Vogler’s Hamlet Symphony (1778) and Christian Cannabich’s Ceyx et Alcyone (1762–63)—two musical dramas deeply rooted in the expressive ideals of the Enlightenment. Vogler’s Hamlet unfolds as a compact music-drama, tracing the arc of the Danish prince’s grief, ghostly visions, feigned madness, vengeance, and spiraling melancholy in the stormy idiom of Sturm und Drang. In the narrative ballet Ceyx et Alcyone, Cannabich evokes the mythic pathos of Ovid’s 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠 with mystical dances, central tempest scene, and richly textured orchestral colour. João Luís Veloso Paixão narrates both works, interweaving French texts adapted from Raymond and Charles de Massac’s Ovid and Antoine Houdar de La Motte’s Alcione (1706), enhancing the dramatic impact through a melodramatic format.

The second album presents Cannabich’s Médor et Angélique ou Roland Furieux (c. 1768), based on 𝑂𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜 𝐹𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑠𝑜 by Ludovico Ariosto. This narrative ballet begins in a tender, pastoral idiom steeped in French Baroque influence, where Angélique and Médor share moments of idyllic bliss through elegant, dance-driven tableaux. This serenity is violently interrupted by the arrival of Roland, whose discovery of their love sends him into a frenzied descent into madness. Cannabich’s music mirrors this narrative rupture with abrupt shifts in texture, rhythm, and tone—ultimately returning to a majestic calm with Roland’s grandiose entrance. João Luís Veloso Paixão again delivers dramatic narration between scenes, heightening the tension and drawing the listener deep into the emotional landscape of the ballet.

Co-directed by Anders Muskens from the harpsichord and concertmaster Rachael Beesley, these albums represent a bold revival of the theatrical and expressive ideals of the Mannheim court. With period instruments, rhetorical flair, and dramatic narration, Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester reclaims these neglected masterworks—offering a resonant tribute to Carl Theodor’s visionary cultural legacy.

This project was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, and Forschungszentrum HOF | MUSIK | STADT. More information will follow soon on the release.