Josef Eybler (1765–1846) is probably the most famous composer not to have completed Mozart’s Requiem, despite trying. Little recognised today, he enjoyed great success in 18th-century Vienna where he was best known for his choral music. Oddly, it was through Disney that I first heard his music in the film Born to Sing (1962), also known as Almost Angels, based on life in the Vienna Boys’ Choir. It starred the Australian actor Sean Scully as a teenager. The choir sang Eybler’s Omnes de Saba venient. I was hooked.

Sounds of Vienna ARCO

Sounds of Vienna, The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, Sydney, 2022. Photo © Robert Catto

The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra pairs the String Quintet in D Major, Op. 25, of Eybler (date unknown) with Schubert’s Octet in F Major, D803 (1824), in a look at the golden era of 18th-century Viennese chamber music. The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra draws its expert performers from around the world, playing period instruments dating from Simon Oswell’s 1740 Gaspare Lorenzini Italian viola to Anneke Scott’s 2012 horn based on a late 18th/early 19th-century original from Austria. Sound and style are how the...