Mozart Oboe Quartet in F, K370 a. Clarinet Quintet in A, K581 b. Horn Quintet in E flat, K407 c. a Lothar Koch (ob); b Karl Leister (cl); c Gerd Seifert (hn); Brandis Quartet (Thomas Brandis, Peter Brem, vns; Wilfried Strehle, va; Wolfgang Boettcher, vc).

Nimbus (Full price) (CD) NI5487 (67 minutes: DDD).

Selected comparison – coupled as above:

Pay, Brown, Black, ASMF Chamber Ens (10/89) (PHIL) 422 833-2PC

The difference in substance between these three chamber works – each designed to display the special skills of the wind player for whom they were written – makes an attractive programme. In their recording for Philips the ASMF Chamber Ensemble, with Anthony Pay (clarinet), Timothy Brown (horn) and Neil Black (oboe), achieved a convincing balance between concertante and chamber elements in these pieces. By contrast, aided by closer recording, this new issue creates a refreshingly lifelike presence that stresses the music’s intimate character. Listen, for example, to the slow movements of the Clarinet and Horn Quintets, where faster tempos increase the expressive intensity of Karl Leister’s and Gerd Seifert’s accounts respectively, in contrast to Pay’s and Brown’s more relaxed, serenely smooth versions.

Sadly, though, I found Lothar Koch’s leisurely pace in the slow movement of the Oboe Quartet regrettable, since it seems unconvincingly to hold up the music’s natural flow. To my mind, Black’s heavenly playing here more vividly conjures the spirit of Friedrich Ramm (for whom it was originally intended), who was much admired for his beautiful tone. Indeed, for all the eloquence of Koch and the Brandis Quartet in this piece, their carefully shaped phrasing and abundance of impressive detail struck me as lacking the engaging spontaneity of their rivals here. Otherwise, the Brandis Quartet’s fine textural clarity and sensitive balance with the wind players generate increased dynamic range (third movement of the Clarinet Quintet), heightened rhythmic vitality (first movement of the Horn Quintet), and strongly characterized contrasts of gesture (finale of the Clarinet Quintet) to create pleasing, dramatically potent readings.
NAR