Oestreich: Horn Quartets and Horn Trios

Deutsche Naturhornsolisten, Oestreich, Carl

MDG 605 1029-2

The German Natural Horn Soloists once again demonstrate their phenomenal talent on this rerelease of virtuoso romantic music. After the great success of the Reicha trios they now turn to horn quartets and trios by Carl Oestreich. These pieces full of popular flair and reminiscent of the hunt are fun for the firsttime listener and a must for all horn fans! Carl Oestreich ranks with the great unknowns of nineteenth-century music history. There are strange gaps in his biography, and he fell into complete oblivion after his death. Today even horn insiders do not have much more to tell about him than the rest of us. We encounter Oestreich the hornist for the first time in the music capital of Dresden during the early nineteenth century. Somewhat later, in 1826, we find him in Frankfurt, where six years later a mysterious illness forced him into retirement. When he died in 1846, he was probably hardly more than forty years old. During his short life he traveled throughout Germany as a horn virtuoso, and the numerous compositions from his Frankfurt years attest to his wealth of imagination. The performance of Oestreich's compositions on original instruments without valves is a feat for musical "aces supreme" (GA). The five members of the German Natural Horn Soloists are all renowned musicians who are mentioned in the same breath with the Concentus Musicus, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and Camerata of the 18th Century. HifiNews fittingly wrote: "...a joy and an excitement with their immense variety and varied tones - from the most erotic legato to the brassiest fanfare... exemplary."

CD x 1

MDG

6/24/15

760623102924