Moniuszko - String Quartets - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Concertos For Various Instruments, Bach / Winne / Balssa / Ponseele / II Gardellino, Date 04/08/2014. Composer Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Performer Emmanuel Balssa, Marcel Ponseele, Orchestra/Ensemble Il Gardellino, Number of Discs 1. When people spoke of the 'great Bach' during the 18th century, they were not referring to Johann Sebastian but to his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, one of the chief representatives of the Empfindsamer Stil (Sensitive Style). He was in the service of Frederick the Great for over 30 years as harpsichordist and chamber musician. Bach's compositions, however, were not particularly appreciated at the rather conservative court - the works of Quantz or the Graun brothers met with greater favor there. Thus Bach composed primarily for the academies in the considerably more open-minded Berlin salons of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Although works for keyboard instruments are the main focus of his production, over the course of his long career he also wrote more than 50 instrumental concertos in which the entire expressive range of his original music can also be clearly perceived. Just in time for the composer's 300th birthday, Il gardellino is presenting a small selection of these on this CD. Alongside the Cello Concerto, H. 432 and the Oboe Concerto, H.466, we can also hear the Flute Concerto, H.482/1, a work that was rediscovered in Kiev as recently as 2001.

Zygmunt Noskowski, the influential Polish conductor and composer, is perhaps better remembered for his role as a teacher and mentor to later luminaries such as Karol Szymanowski and Mieczyslaw Karlowicz - and for his connection to Stanislaw Moniuszko - than for his own compositions. Yet for much of the 19th century, he was Poland's leading exponent of modern music and his works are central to the Polish tradition. After the Capriccio recordings of his Symphonies (CD C5509 and C5547) this album presents some of his string quartets and shows us again a veritable picture book of Polish romanticism.

K. Szymanowski - String Quartets [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/28/2003