"long 19th Century"

Devoted to the music of Ivan Klinger, this album of premiere recordings from guitarist James Akers highlights works from this relatively unknown composer. Klinger’s seeming anonymity belies the composer’s substantial and high-quality oeuvre. Born in 1818 in Seltz near Kherson (today’s Ukraine), Klinger was one of the few guitarists to devote himself to the Western style six-string guitar. Featuring both original compositions and arrangements of other works, Klinger’s playful and serious, virtuosic and challenging music here receives the attention that is long overdue.

The aim of this artistic project is to revive some of the most significant musical compositions that have shaped the history of two unique instruments from the classical-romantic period: the bass clarinet and basset horn. Although these instruments were first constructed in the 18th century, they underwent a long evolution before reaching their current form. Furthermore, it took some time for them to be fully appreciated by composers.