Double String Quintet 28 / String Octet

There is a certain tradition of large-scale string chamber music in Russia. However, the diverse cultural history of Russia and Eastern Europe has concealed numerous forgotten and little known treasures, which got buried away in times of competing nationalisms and later of ideological cultural doctrines. The two works on this album, both originating in Russia, had been forgotten by musical history but can now be heard again. Franz Xaver Gebel (1787-1843) wrote his Double Quintet during the last years of his life in Moscow. The String Octet by Carl Schuberth (1811-1863) was written some time later, in the 1840s in St Petersburg, where Schuberth was active as a cello virtuoso and conductor. The works on this album are receiving here their world premiere recordings from the Hoffmeister Quartet and soloists of the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra.