Duos Impossibles

Noctuary Duos from composer Gerardo Dirié explores sonic worlds of shifting hues, puzzling lyricism, and dramatic trajectories.

Paul Neubauer American violist Paul Neubauer has pursued an active career as an orchestral musician, concerto soloist, educator, and music editor. He studied with Paul Doktor, Alan de Veritch, and William Primrose, and earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music at the Juilliard School. Following graduation, Neubauer became the youngest principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at the age of 21, and held the position for six years. He has performed in concert with major orchestras around the world, and given premieres of viola concertos by Joan Tower, Krzystof Penderecki, and Tobias Picker, as well as the revised version of Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto. Neubauer received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1989, and became a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also served as artistic director of the Mostly Music series and as music director of the OK Mozart Festival. As a viola teacher, Neubauer has been a faculty member of the Juilliard School and Mannes College, and The New School of Music, and his students have included Richard O’Neill, Scott Lee, Gilad Karni, and Che-Yen Chen. Neubauer has edited publications for Boosey & Hawkes, International Music Company, and Universal Edition.

Noctuary Duos from composer Gerardo Dirié explores sonic worlds of shifting hues, puzzling lyricism, and dramatic trajectories.

Presented together here on this album are Duo-Sonatas which were composed within a span of about 15 years. The year of composition of the Viola d`amore-Sonata by Stamitz is however unknown. It was probably written during his time as a travelling soloist from 1770.

A notable first on record, and another valuable addition to the unrivalled library of guitar music across the ages from Brilliant Classics.Among the most significant composers of guitar duos in the early 19th century, Antoine De Lhoyer was born in September 1768 in Clermont-Ferrand. His musical talents manifested themselves from early on, and he trained in Paris. His teacher Vidal paid tribute to him as ‘the finest guitarist in Europe’. However, at the age of 20, de Lhoyer embarked on a military career as a member of the King’s Guards, shortly before the French Revolution. Life in France rapidly becoming uncongenial for someone with his loyalties, he left France in a hurry and eventually settled in Hamburg, where his compositions were first published at the turn of the 19th century.

"Saint-Saëns Duos for Harmonium and Piano, is performed by award-winning acclaimed classical Accordionist Miloš Milivojević and Pianist Simon Callaghan.

"Saint-Saëns Duos for Harmonium and Piano, is performed by award-winning acclaimed classical Accordionist Miloš Milivojević and Pianist Simon Callaghan. The rise in popularity of the harmonium in the second half of the nineteenth century brought with it a large repertoire of chamber music, especially in France, where the instrument had been developed and refined.

New York-based guitarists Jack Petruzzelli and Cameron Greider have played with a Who’s Who of rock and pop artists from Patti Smith and Chris Cornell to Joan Baez and Rufus Wainwright.