In previous decades, the classical symphony from the second half of the 18th century onwards had been more or less synonymous with composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and few observers would have mentioned Ignace Joseph Pleyel (1757-1831), the composer from Ruppersthal in Lower Austria. A thorough examination of the symphonic oeuvre of this unjustly forgotten composer, as carried out by the Pleyel Society since 1995, revealed a body of works that is capable of astonishing both audiences and musicians alike.