When François-Joseph Gossec left the concert stage of this world on 16 February 1829, he was 95 years old. He had lived through an era of colossal upheaval. Kings had come and gone, the executioners of the Revolution had raged, Napoleon was no more – yet this peasant’s son from Hennegau had steered his little musical ship past every reef and enjoyed high regard under the most diverse of rulers. This tenacious vitality is evident throughout his work, as is shown in his monumental Requiem, his compositions written for the Revolution, his noble and subtle quartets, and in his symphonies. These were published in sets of six during the 1760s. Simon Gaudenz was awarded an Opus Klassik prize in 2020 for his recording of Gossec’s Six Symphonies à 4 parties, Op. 3. Together with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, he now turns his attention to Opus 6, in which the obligatory strings are sometimes reinforced by two oboes, so that the exquisitely shifting music aquires even greater strength.