This album contains a mix of familiar and rarely performed works for cornet and piano, including an incredibly moving arrangement of Reynaldo Hahn’s popular À Chloris, performed by Frank Anepool and Vaughan Schlepp.

The invention of the cornet around 1828 was made possible by development of the valve for brass instruments. The cornet’s ensuing popularity was partly due to the creation of many brass bands during the 19th century as a result of the newfound leisure time and increased wages of the lower classes. Consequently there also was a demand for music specifically composed for the instrument. The repertoire on this album is representative of the various musical styles which became popular for the cornet during the 19th century.

As a versatile trumpeter, Frank has also established himself as a performer of modern classical music and has played many world premieres. He has performed with Combustion Chamber, is a member of the Clazz Ensemble, and as a freelance musician he performs and makes recordings with numerous orchestras and ensembles. He conducts both choirs and brass bands, and he has taught principle study Baroque trumpet at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Frank plays on a Boosey & Hawkes Souvereign 920 medium-bore cornet which was built in the 1970s. The mouthpiece is a Guilbaut Couesnon No.2 built in Paris in the 1880s.

Vaughan Schlepp has given numerous recitals and master-classes throughout the world as well as having made recordings for radio, television and compact disc. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the Netherlands and America. As continuo and solo organist he has participated extensively in the successful recordings of the complete Bach Cantatas which were released in 2001.

His recordings on fortepiano and Hammerklavier with violinist Antoinette Lohmann and also with countertenor Sytse Buwalda have met with wide acclaim. Vaughan Schlepp here plays a beautiful Érard grand piano from 1845, signed by the famous 19th-century virtuoso Sigismund Thalberg.