Double-Reed Chamber Music - Then and Now, Vol. 1 - CD

In 1719 the aristocratic Schwarzenberg family inherited the huge castle of Ceský Krumlov in south-western Bohemia, reviving it's distinguished but dormant musical tradition with a new ensemble of two oboes, two cors anglais, two bassoons and two horns, active from 1771 onwards. These musicians soon provided the foundation for a wave of chamber music featuring double-reed woodwind instruments that flourished as the instruments improved. It reached it's peak of popularity in Vienna in the last two decades of the century, but has remained largely unknown since then. This series unites past and present by combining some of the scores researched in the Ceský Krumlov archives (including a 1799 handwritten copy of Beethoven's 1794 C major oboe trio, which suggests it was a Schwarzenberg commission) with works composed more recently - mainly by oboe-playing composers.