The Silent Elector Leipzig Cembalo Duo

On its most recent recording, the Cembalo-Duo Leipzig presents debut recordings of works from the music library of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August III (1750-1827). The valuable collection includes rarely performed works for two keyboard instruments by Peter August, Joseph Schuster, Carl Heinrich Graun, and Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, as well as the better known F major concerto by Joseph Haydn.

A splendid musician, Friedrich August III occasionally composed himself. His most important chamber music partner was the court’s organist Peter August, who was also the custodian of the music collection. While the latter’s own compositional activities were restricted almost exclusively to music for keyboard instruments, he collected copies of a diverse range of works for the royal family, and arranged many of these for two cembalos in order to perform them together with the Elector.

Hildegard Saretz (cembalo) and Michaela Hasselt form the Cembalo-Duo Leipzig: on the present disc, Hasselt performs at a Hammerflügel. The combination of cembalo and Hammerflügel allows for a nuanced differentiation of sound that would not be possible if the repertoire was performed on two cembalos.

Leipziger Cembaloduo

Fanfare (14. Dezember 2015, Bertil van Boer)

“a fine disc and has not only several works that one would be hard put to find anywhere else, it shows how private performances at court worked.”