Born in Lisbon in 1771, the son of an Italian oboist, João Domingos Bomtempo wrote a substantial body of music, including many works for piano, five concertos for piano and orchestra, his Requiem in Memory of Camões and the two symphonies included on this disc. In Paris, and later in London, he developed a brilliant career as a pianist and composer. If Bomtempo’s Symphony No. 1 shows the influence of Haydn and Mozart, the Symphony No. 2 is a work of much larger scope and dimension, with an opening Allegro moderato which recalls Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. Equally impressive is the second movement, whose rhythmic character is interrupted by a theme which resembles more an operatic aria than the middle section of an orchestral slow movement.