Anyone who thinks that period-instrument performance means austerity and coolness should listen to this disc. Here's playing full of expressive warmth and vigour. The opening of Op 77 No 1 is done duly gracefully, but with a sturdy underlying rhythm and the Scherzo is crisp and alive. Then the first movement of the F major work is beautifully done, with many sensitive details; and the lovely second movement is ideally leisurely, so that the players have ample room for manoeuvre and the leader makes much of his opportunities for delicate playing in the filigree-like high music. The players show a real grasp of structure and illuminate the key moments with a touch more deliberation or a little additional weight of tone. These performances, clearly recorded, are competitive not merely within the protected world of 'early music' but in the bigger, 'real' world too!

Les dictionnaires de musique du XIXe siècle signalent tous l’importance de Gross comme violoncelliste et compositeur. Il est injustement absent de ceux d’aujourd’hui. Son oeuvre de plus de 43 opus est composée principalement de musiques pour le violoncelle, de pièces pour piano, de lieder et de quatre quatuors à cordes.

Orfano fin dall’età di cinque anni, Félicien David cominciò la sua formazione nella cantoria della cattedrale di Aix-en-Provence prima di iscriversi al Conservatorio nel 1830. Qui frequenta le classi di Millault (armonia), Fétis (contrappunto) e Benoist (organo), seguendo contemporaneamente l’insegnamento di Reber. Periodo di breve durata tuttavia, poiché già nel 1831 abbandona l’istituzione senza aver ottenuto alcun premio e aderisce, sotto l’influsso del pittore Pol Justus, alla comunità saint-simoniana, della quale diventa il compositore ufficiale.

Born into a long line of musicians, some of whom officiated at the court of Versailles, Boëly was first taught from the age of five by his father, a countertenor at the Sainte-Chapelle who was also a composer, teacher and author of a treatise on harmony influenced by Rameau. In 1796, he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study under Guérillot (violin) and Ladurner (piano), who introduced him to Bach, Haydn and Clementi. His formal education was of short duration, however, since he was forced to leave the conservatory in 1800. From then on, he taught himself, reading the old masters to cultivate his personal tastes and develop his style, which was out of sync with that of the audiences of his time who preferred patriotic or Italian works to his overly classicist offerings.