Sterkel - Messengers of Love"Who is not familiar with the abundantly tuneful composer?" is a quotation from the review of Sterkel's Piano Fantasy op. 45 in the German fashion magazine Journal des Luxus und der Mode dated August 1817. But today the name Franz Xaver Sterkel is little known. Julla von Landsberg and Jan Kobow thought it was time to change this and put together an enchanting selection from the composer's rich collection of almost four hundred songs. Together with

which he recorded with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus

which facilitate a vivid and transparent presentation of the thematic structures and internal developments

They share an obsession for terror

the four musicians present an album focusing on two composers

but Goossens's precious instrument also premièred Vaughan Williams's Oboe Concerto

such as the radiant Sonata No

Krahl's third outing as leader

Sensual arias and virtuoso concerti by composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti

The Italian countertenor - 'a voice [

Rock Gutter welcomes us with it's heavy rhythm

Ken Mill's original Icon recording feat

The music and poetry is all linked to the subject of the Grail and encourages us to discover it's meaning through our own personal quest