The cellist-composer Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer (1783–1860) was an orchestral musician in Dresden and Leipzig as well as an important soloist and teacher. He is best remembered for the music he wrote for his own instrument: the studies of his Violoncellschule are still in use today. But the prolific Dotzauer wrote much else, and his generous output of chamber music includes a handful of good-natured quartets for solo wind instruments and strings. They share an elegant late-Classical manner, with echoes of Mozart and Haydn, but their poise and charm can disguise fearsome technical demands and occasional harmonic boldness.

The Ensemble Pyramide consists of flute, oboe, violin, viola, cello and harp – here Markus Brönnimann, flute, Barbara Tillmann, oboe, Ulrike Jacoby, violin, Muriel Schweizer, viola, and Anita Jehli, cello. In its concert programmes, the Ensemble enjoys exposing surprising connections in music history by juxtaposing early and new music. Having worked for years in the same formation, its members have developed an unmistakable ensemble sound and a special stylistic flexibility in the performance of music from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Its special repertoire includes quartets and quintets of the Classical era as well as French chamber music with harp from the first half of the twentieth century. The Ensemble also dedicates its energy towards the performance of long-forgotten works, and has had its own concert series in Zurich since 1995.