Ensemble LA CANTONNADE: Zsuzsa Csige and Miho Shirai, Transvers Flutes -

Marie Colombat, Baroque Cello - Niklas Heineke, Harpsichord/Spinet

Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht (1722–1794): Trio Sonatas for two Flutes and Basso continuo [World Premiere Recordings]

The fact that few works on Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht are still to be found these days is due less to an injustice on the part of the history of music or to the overshadowing genius of his contemporaries Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn than to the vagaries of history and the cultural context then in upheaval.
Of humble extraction, the Kleinknecht family saw three of its sons pursue brilliant musical careers and achieve fame in one of the most famous courts in Europe. The publication of Jakob Friedrich's works as far away as London and Copenhagen as well as Paris testifies to the esteem in which his compositions were held by his contemporaries. The latter admittedly paid tribute to the "zeal and artistry" behind his work rather than to the spirit of a "great genius"; yet his mastery of instrumental forms and the stylistic variety of his compositions remarkably illustrate the artistic transition and intellectual flourishing of his century. [...]
This selection of Trio Sonatas on period instruments is a rediscovery of a composer who is little known today and contributes to shedding light on the musical heritage of southern Germany in the pre-classical period.


Ensemble LA CANTONNADE
The musicians of the baroque music ensemble La Cantonnade met each other during their studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt. What brought them together was their enthusiasm for chamber music, their interest in the research of the historical sound, and their wish to bring unknown repertoire from the late Baroque era onto the modern stage. The term "la cantonade" was used in earlier times to refer to the side of the theater which was reserved for the privileged audience, hence the French expression "parler à la cantonade" (to speak to the crowd).
The ensemble performs regularly in concert series such as the Kammerkonzerte Darmstadt, the Weilburger Schlosskonzerte, the Kronberger Kulturkreis, the Tage Alter Musik im Saarland (Tamis), the Kleine Kammermusik in Frankfurt, as well as performing for the Markgräfin Wilhelmine Gesellschaft e.V. in Schloss Birken in Bayreuth.
[extract of the booklet text]

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