About the album

George Onslow(1784 -1853) was a French pianist-composer with a British father. He studied pianoforte in London with Dussek and Cramer and composition in Paris with Reicha. In the course of his life, Onslow primarily wrote chamber music, string quintets and quartets and piano quintets, duos and trios, furthermore a few symphonies. This brought him fame in Europe, above all in Germany, Austria and England. He also wrote three operas, but these were not really successful. The Duos op.16 were written in 1819 and published a year later in Vienna. The string instrument printed on the score is designated as "violin, viola or violon-cello". Ilia Korol opted for the violin because of the tessitura; this would have been less beautiful on a lower-pitched instrument, whereas the violin provides a brilliant contrast to the partially dense structure of the piano part, which is "just made to be played". Onslow left us a quite specific interpretation of Romantic chamber music, a personal style of great individuality and extraordinary quality.