Canadian bassist David Sinclair's new CD is an outstanding release, musically, technically and historically. Featuring three concertos from the second half of the eighteenth century, it is the first recording of the Hofmeister Concerto and first recording of the Vanhal on Viennese violine (Lars Baunkilde recorded the Pichl on Viennese violine in 1997). It is superbly recorded in Super Audio (surely the first solo bass CD in this format) on Annette Schumacher's wonderful Ars Produktion label. The balance has been carefully considered in every movement and the accompaniment from fellow bassist and conductor Michael Willens directing the Cologne-based ensemble Kölner Akademie is sensitive and supportive.

On the occasion of the bicentenary of Charles Gounod’s birth, this first complete string quartet (including two unpublished ones) on period instruments reveals an unknown part of his production, dominated by vocal music. Composer of the very end of the 19th century, Gounod and his five quartets are the worthy heir of the Viennese classicism tradition. The lyrical accents of the Quartet in G minor or the airy lightness of the Scherzo of the Petit Quatuor evoke nothing less than the names of Schubert and Mendelssohn. The musicians of the Quatuor Cambini-Paris (Julien Chauvin, Karine Crocquenoy, Pierre-Éric Nimylowycz and Atsushi Sakaï) gracefully reproduce these pages, full of gravity and sweetness.