I am in a CD swap club.  Recendly I made a swap of some junk for what I
thought was some Wolf piano/violin sonatas.

When I got the CD what I actually received was Joseph Wolfl (1773-1812)
Three Sonatas for Piano, Grand Duo for Cello and Piano.  These are
performed by Pleshakov, Hampton and Schwartz on Orion.

The piano sonatas inhabit the world of late Haydn / early Beethoven.

The C minor OP25 has an almost Bachlike quality about it.

Half the sleevenotes with this disc suggest that Hummel is a hard done
by figure in music history - agreed.  But, then just as one thinks they
are are going to suggest the same for Wolfl they pull up short.  Three
classifications were given of Wolfl's works by Richard Baum.

1 Vapid imitaions of Mozart and others,
2.Subjective dramatic expressions of his best creative powers,
3 Virtuoso display pieces.

The works here, we are assured are from category two.

Apparently Wolfl wrote 125 sonatas .

If the others are half as good as those on this disc I for one will snap
them up.  These works are magnificent on every level:  Overall structure,
movement structure and thematic material.

Soundwise the disc is not so great.  There's too much background noise.
But as this is the only time these works have been recorded that's just
something I'll have to live with.

This disc was recorded in 1969/78 and released on CD in '95.

If you find it buy it. Remember the name Joseph Wolfl.

Bob Draper
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