For centuries Europe’s musical life was informed by living composers and their works. Many took their inspiration, subject matter, latest idea from events in the day’s politics or society, or simply from the spirit of the times. It would never have occurred to anybody to perform a sonata that was already twenty years old, unless it had a relevant relation to the rest of the program. Today one listens only to that which one already knows. Hence the traditional reception is stood on its head!

 

At fault, however, is not only the decreasing musical literacy of the listeners and, with that, of their possibilities of differentiation. At fault are also the performers, who again and again perform and record a small canon of masterworks – often without real justification – and thus forget that there can only be a pinnacle if there is a broad base underneath. In this process of impoverishment, not only those works have fallen into oblivion that would in any case have ended up there as the result of a qualitative selection. No, even true masterworks have fallen victim to it!

 

The present recording allows a direct reference and comparison to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. Back then, the composers featured here were often more “en vogue” than the great master himself.