The last time a chamber work by the little-known Friedrich Witt appeared on records in this country, it was also coupled to one by Conradin Kreutzer. That was his Piano and Wind Quintet, sharing a record with Kreutzer's Piano Quintet (Acanta 4023 139, 9/86), and the model was Beethoven's Piano and Win Quintet. Here, both composers are showing Beethoven's Septet the sincerest form of flattery, though with Witt the imitation is more of style than anything specific. His 1817 Septet is a perfectly agreeable work that goes through conventional motions with a good deal of charm. There are four movements.
Kreutzer's Septet is more closely modelled on Beethoven. It also has six movements, and the disposition of them is very similar (apart from a not very distinguished central Andante of Kreutzer's replacing Beethoven's theme and variations). His best movement is the second, which challenges Beethoven on his own ground with a lyrical clarinet Adagio and stands the comparison remarkably well. This is beautifully played by the ensemble's clarinet, Diethelm Adorf; David Bryant, the horn, is also called upon to display some virtuosity. The recording is fresh and even, with a good sense of presence, not least with the important bass part. Gerhard Allroggen's sleeve-note skilfully quotes Goethe's dictum that it is the stars of the second and third magnitude which show us the richness and vastness of the firmament: here are, indeed, two such minor works which pleasantly demonstrate the quality of chamber music making in Germany in the early decades of the nineteenth century.'