HANS KOESSLER (1853-1926)

 

 

String Quintet in D Minor

String Sextet in F Minor

 

Frankfurter Streichsextett

 

Koessler wrote more than 130 works for almost all the musical genres (the notable exception being opera), most of which unfortunately are no longer extant. CPO is hence proud to present these world première recordings.

 

 “We need not introduce to the Viennese this serious, very important artist, who had the fortune of enjoying the sincerest esteem from Johannes Brahms. […] As far as the new sextet is concerned, first of all it should be noted that the same is constructed on the firmest polyphonic basis and that nowadays there are not five composers alive who would be able to complete such a work.”

This review of 1899 concerns Hans Koessler, a composer who was born in Bavaria but spent most of his life in Budapest, where he succeeded Robert Volkmann as the director of the composition class at the music academy in the Hungarian capital.

 

Koessler taught all the important Hungarian composers of the twentieth century: Zoltán Kodály, Béla Bartók, Ernö Dohnányi, Leo Weiner, and Imre Kálmán were all his students.

 

The Frankfurt String sextet interpret these rare works.

 

CPO 7772692