Today Conradin Kreutzer is regarded as an absolutely paradigmatic representative of the musical "Biedermeier," which designates not so much an epoch as a style and...

Today Conradin Kreutzer is regarded as an absolutely paradigmatic representative of the musical "Biedermeier," which designates not so much an epoch as a style and a state of mind. Chamber music often clearly of more demanding execution also served the purposes of home performance in middle-class households. Viewed stylistically, Kreutzer’s music may be described as tranquil, with a basic stance of intimate lyricism and emotionally finely balanced expressive content. Singable, catchy melodies, cautious chromaticisms, and logical harmonic designs predominate in his chamber music. Nevertheless, Kreutzer repeatedly surprises us with unexpected tones actually already suggesting romantic tones. With his great command of the compositional craft, he writes music that is virtuosic but not complicated and always very easy to realize instrumentally – producing music for home performance at its very best!

-----

The six-movement Septet Es-Dur op. 62 for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, violoncello and double bass is dated to 1804-10, even though the work was not printed until 1825, so that actually the opus number is not quite apt. The composition is of great musical richness, always soundly interesting, contrastingly attractive. The Ensemble Himmelpfortgrund offers an interpretation of undoubted freshness.

– Klassik.com