This is a curious miscellany, assembled from a diversity of composers to give an idea of the kind of music heard in Russian court and aristocratic circles in the eighteenth century. None of the composers is a major figure, though at one time there was an immense following in Russia for the polonaises of Osip Kozlovsky – as he is called here, though he was better known by his original Polish name of Jozef Kozlowski. Among the others, Grigory Teplov was a member of the Academy of Sciences and an official at the court of Catherine the Great, a gifted man who made a modest name as an amateur composer, and Fyodor Dubiansky was another amateur best known for having written some of the earliest Russian songs, among them the pretty and very popular Night and day the blue dove moans, included here. Interestingly, four of the composers are women, in times when music was an accomplishment rather than a profession for most of those taking part. The only one about whom much is known is Natalia Kurakina, a leading figure in her husband’s salon, a harpist and the possessor of a fine contralto voice.
These are slender pieces, elegantly played by an ensemble drawing on flute, guitar and viola da gamba, and with the songs agreeably sung by Iana Ivanilova; but they give a pleasant glimpse of a long-lost world of Russian music-making.'