JOHANN GOTTLIEB GRAUN (1702/3-1771) and/or CARL HEINRICH GRAUN (1703/4-1759): 5 Trios for 2 Violins and Bass.

Description: Showing the originality of the Graun brothers, who, without having anything to do with the Mannheim style, moved from baroque styles (as in the one pre-1730 trio here) to forms of thematic elaboration very like classical "development" with polyphony mixed with concertante and virtuosic elements in the later trios from the 1750s and 1760s (which also are practically full trios - the cello almost an equal partner of the two violins). The music thus seems to belong in the Classical period without offering any clear path as to how it got there. Les Amis de Philippe.