CDs

On their new GENUIN CD, baritone Florian Götz and the musicians of the Grundmann Quartet venture into well-known works in new contexts: they perform Franz Schubert's "Winterreise" in a new version by Eduard Wesly, in which the vocal part is accompanied by cor anglais and string trio. The moods of the individual songs gain new plasticity and tremendous expressiveness.

The composer of the chamber music presented here belongs to the large group of musical talents who left the Bohemian groves and meadows to find a place for themselves in the German-speaking world. Georg Druschetzky (1745-1819) chose the path of a military career, became a well-known timpani virtuoso and soon came to the attention of the Hungarian nobility, who appreciated his virtuoso and administrative skills as much as his original creativity. Especially in the field of chamber music for wind instruments, this contemporary of Haydn and Mozart was an inexhaustible source of pleasure. Without rebelling against the great classical forms, Druschetzky knows how to constantly surprise his audience with a subtle refinement that is virtually written on the historical instruments of the Grundmann Quartet around oboist Eduard Wesly. As on the first album, the four are certainly in their element.

The Grundmann Quartet brings manuscripts from the Széchényi National Library in Budapest to life once more: oboe quartets by Georg Druschetzky, who was gradually forgotten in the shadow of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert and has recently been rediscovered. This is music that is full of humour, subtle, colourful, entertaining and surprising.

Georg Druschetzky, who was born in West Bohemia and received lessons from the famous oboe virtuoso Besozzi at the Dresden Court, was considered a great timpani virtuoso in his lifetime, becoming a member of the Tonkünstler Society in Vienna. The fame of the wind compositions he wrote for the Imperial army spread far beyond their original audience. Druschetzky wrote for leading ensembles of his time and conducted his music at the coronation celebrations for Leopold II. His career took him via Linz, Vienna and Pressburg (Bratislava) to Budapest. The great popularity his compositions once enjoyed, and their wide distribution, can be seen from their presence in libraries across Central Europe.