Johann Friedrich Fasch was court bandmaster at the Saxon-Anhalt court in Zerbst, where there was a great interest in high-quality wind music, which is the...

Johann Friedrich Fasch was court bandmaster at the Saxon-Anhalt court in Zerbst, where there was a great interest in high-quality wind music, which is the only way to explain the large number of outstanding wind concerts given by Fasch. The great heyday of the Zerbst court ended soon after Fasch's death, the princely family died out and the castle fell into a deep sleep until it was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War. The fact that Fasch's music is still preserved today is due to the fact that the composer cultivated a lively exchange of works with famous colleagues such as Telemann, Pisendel and Graupner in Hamburg, Dresden and Darmstadt in order to enrich local musical life. Il Gardellino has unearthed some of Fasch's wonderful wind concertos in two CD productions, which are now available together as a double CD. Their colourfulness is unusual, as several wind instruments are always combined with each other – flute, oboe, trumpet, bassoon, sometimes with multiple instrumentation, also in combination with viola or violin – up to group concerts with up to seven solo instruments. A huge palette of tonal colours, interpreted by proven specialists in the early music scene – there's never a dull moment.