Over the years I have heard many recordings of music written for the Imperial court in Vienna. That’s no wonder: Vienna was a centre of music-making in Europe. During the 17th and 18th centuries some of the best musicians and composers were in the service of the Habsburg emperors. Most of the recordings concentrate on music for violins or voice. This disc is different in that it presents music for viol consort. That’s all the more interesting, as it is often thought that in the 17th century consort music was only written in France and England. It is quite surprising that this kind of music was also written in Austria. Most musicians in the service of the Imperial court were from Italy, where the viol consort had gone out of fashion since the first quarter of the 17th century. The fact that Italian composers wrote music for viol consort was due to the personal preferences of the emperors, Ferdinand III and Leopold I, who also wrote some music for this kind of ensemble themselves.

Die Hamburger Ratsmusik: ein Ensemble mit 500-jähriger Geschichte. Dieser Gegensatz reizt zum kreativen Dialog zwischen Tradition und Gegenwart, von Alter Musik und lebendiger Interpretation. Die Anfänge der Hamburger Ratsmusik reichen zurück bis ins 16. Jahrhundert. Nach dem Grundsatz „Gott zu Ehren und Hamburg zur Lust, Ergötzlichkeit und Nutz“ leistete sich die Stadt ein Eliteensemble von acht Ratsmusikern, das vielen fürstlichen Hofkapellen Konkurrenz machen konnte.