Double bass Concertos No. 2,3 & 4

Johann Mathias Sperger

Ján Krigovský  | Collegium Wartberg 430

Challenge Classics / HQ|NORTHSTAR / Turtle Records®

Catalogue CC72915

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About the Album

The first question to ask must be: how could it possibly come about that certain essential works by a composer which display no flaw or failure in musical conception or compositional execution stayed dormant in libraries for well over two hundred years and had to wait so long for publication and audience attention?

With the present recordings, initiated by the Slovakian double bass soloist Ján Krigovský, works are finally coming to light which are bound to cause a small sensation in the musical world! Three concertos for double bass and orchestra by Johann Matthias Sperger, who was not just a composer but also the most renowned double bassist of the 18^th century, performed and recorded here by orchestra and soloist according to their original scores. The decision was taken here to select, from Sperger’s vast legacy of compositions – which includes no less than eighteen double bass concertos (all fully preserved as regards both score and individual parts) – just those early works called No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. These works are all products of the years of Sperger’s first employment as a double bassist, between 1777 and 1783, in the court orchestra of the archbishop of Hungary, the duke Joseph Graf von Batthyány in Pressburg. They date specifically from the years 1778 and 1779.

Album tracks

Double Bass Concerto No.2 in D Major (Pressburg 1778)

[1] Allegro moderato 8:28

[2] Cantabile 7:31

[3] Rondo. Tempo giusto 5:38

Double Bass Concerto No.3 in B-flat Major (Pressburg 1778)

[4] Allegro moderato 9:48

[5] Adagio 6:24

[6] Allegro 6:33

Double Bass Concerto No.4 in F Major (Pressburg 1779)

[7] Allegro moderato 10:20

[8] Adagio cantabile 6:50

[9] Rondo. Allegro moderato 7:45