Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a formative figure in the musical life of his time and highly regarded as a publisher of famous contemporaries such as Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The variety and appeal of his own works also made him a popular and renowned composer. As with volume 1 of this series (8572738), flautist Bruno Meier has created new editions of these previously unknown works. With elegant and catchy themes, substantial proportions, intriguing major/minor contrasts of key and virtuoso solo writing, Hoffmeister satisfied the tastes of his time finding a perfect balance between grace and artistry.

These "double bass quartets" of Franz Anton Hoffmeister, a Viennese composer and publisher well known to both Mozart and Beethoven, are not written simply for one member each of the string family from violin to double bass; the bass is explicitly conceived of as a replacement for the first violin. That might seem an awkward order, but the charm of the music resides in the variety of elegant solutions Hoffmeister finds for the problems this configuration causes.