Norbert Bartl

These "double bass quartets" of Franz Anton Hoffmeister, a Viennese composer and publisher well known to both Mozart and Beethoven, are not written simply for one member each of the string family from violin to double bass; the bass is explicitly conceived of as a replacement for the first violin. That might seem an awkward order, but the charm of the music resides in the variety of elegant solutions Hoffmeister finds for the problems this configuration causes.

In the lineup of promising music geniuses whose lives were cut short, Norbert Burgmüller (1810-1836) is an imposing figure. During his lifetime, he made an impression on Mendelssohn and found an ardent champion in Schumann, who proclaimed "After Franz Schubert's early death, no other death could cause more grief than that of Burgmüller." He studied composition with Louis Spohr, who left a mark on the four string quartets. Three of them were completed while Burgmüller was still a student, but nothing in them suggests juvenilia. These are serious works steeped in a post-Beethoven outlook. While drawing upon Spohr's classicism and 'quatuor brillant' style, they look forward to early Romanticism and have lyrical qualities akin to Schubert.

This is the first recording of Norbert Burgmüller’s symphonic legacy. This little-known composer studied with Spohr and Hauptmann and his compositions were endorsed by Schumann and Brahms.

In the lineup of promising music geniuses whose lives were cut short, Norbert Burgmüller (1810-1836) is an imposing figure. During his lifetime, he made an impression on Mendelssohn and found an ardent champion in Schumann, who proclaimed "After Franz Schubert's early death, no other death could cause more grief than that of Burgmüller." He studied composition with Louis Spohr, who left a mark on the four string quartets. Three of them were completed while Burgmüller was still a student, but nothing in them suggests juvenilia. These are serious and beautiful works steeped in a post-Beethoven outlook. All of them are in minor keys, and while drawing upon Spohr, they look forward to early Romanticism and have lyrical qualities akin to Schubert.