Although Georg Abraham Schneider is virtually unknown nowadays, he was a significant figure in early nineteenth-century music in Berlin, where he was active as a musician, concert promoter, and composer.

The music on this recording is full of wit, enthusiasm, and vitality; it illustrates perfectly where Schneider's strength lay, namely in considering the benefits for the player as well as the effect on the audience.

The Flute Quartets op.52 no.3 and op.69 no.3 could well have been composed around 1810, while Schneider was without regular employment; they were certainly published before 1815. They were undoubtedly modelled on Mozart's flute concertos, both in the musical and textural structure and in the treatment of the flutes. While the Quartet op.52 no.3 in G major is characterised by an air of untroubled joviality, especially in the first and last movements, the Quartet op.69 no.3 has a very different tone. The absence of cello and the pulsating quavers in the accompaniment at the beginning are suggestive of Mozart's late string quintet in the same key.

In addition to his works for violin and viola, Schneider wrote numerous other duets for diverse instruments, primarily for two flutes, two clarinets, and two horns. An 1833 catalogue of works penned by Schneider himself lists fifty duets for two bassoons, although very few of these seem to have survived. Schneider would certainly have approved of the way that several pieces for two double basses have been adapted in this recording. They are intended as educational material, but for two players of a similarly high standard who can set an exhilarating dialogue in motion while simultaneously developing their technical skills and musicality. So although these pieces are not overly long, they can be interpreted as an encyclopaedia of the music of the time: its compositional techniques, its character, its figurations and playing techniques.