Walter Gropius is regarded as a revolutionary visionary who founded the Bauhaus style in the 1920s. His work is characterised by clarity and boldness. In common with the musicians of the Gropius Quartett, Weimar and Berlin were to become the centres of his creative work. Following Gropius' example, and influenced by personal encounters with Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich, the Gropius Quartett has set itself the goal of crystallising the clear structure of the composition and bringing it to life through their own passionate playing style. The members of the Gropius Quartett have known one another since studying together at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad and at the Juilliard School in New York.

Romantic Choral Music

SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & PIANO

V 2: SILENCE

SCHUMANN: Dichterliebe and Kerner-Lieder

ROMANCE 2

RUSSIAN PIANO MUSIC

Largo

V 60: CANTATAS (BWV 198/199/20

ORCHESTRAL WORKS: BOX 11

BOCCHERINI: Cello Concerto in B-Flat Major / HAYDN: Cello Co

MICHAEL BOHNEN AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

RODRIGO: Fantasia para un Gentilhombre / ZAMFIR: Concierto d

Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 98 and 103 come from his set of 12 "London" symphonies, written at the height of his mastery and celebrity. With these pieces, Haydn accomplishes the rare feat of writing works that are both intellectually demanding and perfectly delightful. The recordings of Thomas Fey and his musicians are highly praised around the world for their personal expression, and precision of execution as well as their innate ability to detect the internal characterization of each movement.

The lute was a very popular instrument in Bach's day. The various types of lute had for centuries been influential in shaping the development of music. Certain musical terms are in fact directly derived from lute-playing technique, including the expression style brise, coined by Couperin to denote lute-like arpeggiated chords on the harpsichord. During the first half of the 18th century, Sylvius Leopold Weiss was particularly renowned and respected for his consummate mastery of the lute. In his treatise of 1727 on the theory and practice of playing the lute, Ernst Gottlieb Baron writes: "He has been the first to show that more could be done on the lute than was hitherto thought possible... " Reporting on a meeting between S.L. Weiss and J.S. Bach in 1739, Johann Elias Bach wrote the following in a letter to his pupil Johann Wilhelm Koch: "... we heard some very fine music when my cousin from Dresden, who came to stay for four weeks, gave several performances in our house together with the two famous lute-players Herr Weiss and Herr Kropfgans." This musical acquaintance is likely to have begun much earlier, namely during J.S. Bach's time in Cothen. Up until this point it was customary for lute music to be composed only by lutenists- too great were the difficulties in coming to grips with the instrument's tuning, it's illogical limitations on polyphonic part-writing and it's unique form of notation, known as tablature.