Irene Kohler (pianoforte)
The Laurance Turner
String Quartet:
Laurance Turner (violin) ;
Walter Price (violin) ;
Aubrey Appleton (viola) ;
Jack Shinebourne (violoncello) ;
Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) was born near Weimar and became a scholar of the Thomasschule in Leipzig, where he studied under Kuhnau. He founded, a Collegium musicum which eventually led the way to the establishment of the famous Gewandhaus concerts. In
1722 Fasch was appointed Court Kapellmeister at Zerbst, and later was invited to compete for the post of Cantor at the Thomasschule against Bach, but he refused to do so. Bach appears to have held a high opinion of Fasch's music. Not only did he study a number of Fasch's church cantatas, but he actually copied out five of the composer's orchestral suites. Apart from religious music, Fasch wrote various orchestral and chamber works.
Faure had great power of lyrical expression. His music abounds with beautiful and finely drawn melodies. A consummate craftsman and a harmonist of considerable range and subtlety, everything he wrote was polished to the utmost degree and designed with an unerring sense of balance and clarity of style. Above all, he was a miniaturist of genius and his songs and piano pieces rank among the finest of modern times.