Customer Reviews

3 Quartets

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The oboe soloist, Marc Schachman, is not very good at all. He sounds constantly one step behind the rest of the group and misses far too many notes for a profession musician. There are plenty of good historical performances available on the oboe (try Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra's recording of the Mozart oboe concerto) but this is not one of them. The clarinet quartet, a transcription of a violin sonata, comes off pretty well but there's also a smoother recording by L'Archibudelli out there (and it doesn't stand up as one of Mozart's more important works). The string quartet (one of the so-called "Prussian") is quite fine, as the string players are pretty strong. Since the general quality of the recording is relatively poor, however, you might as well get Quatuor Mosaique's version and avoid the sloppy oboe quartet that opens this disc. It's too bad because the price is right, but the quality isn't up to par.

The wind soloists, Marc Schachman, oboe, and Eric Hoeprich, clarinet, are 2 of the world's most highly regarded "original instrument" players. Together with the members of the Artaria Quartet, also well-known players from the San Francisco Bay Area, they give vibrant and highly expressive performances of 3 diverse chamber works of Mozart. I have heard these performers in a variety of repertoire, and was delighted to discover this recording. Although this disc was recorded some years ago, it stands up today as one of the best in the field. The sound is resonant yet clear---Highly recommended.