Great Clarinet Quintets

Mozart (Artist), Brahms (Artist), Reginald Kell (Artist), Fine Arts Qrt (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 15, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Boston Skyline
• ASIN: B000001UOE
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #273,054 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two fine performances of two great clarinet quintets, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Clarinet Quintets (Audio CD)

The conductor of my high school orchestra thought that Reginald Kell was the greatest clarinet player of any era. I did not play clarinet and was in no position to judge the accuracy of that assessment, but listening to Kell has brought me great pleasure. EMI put out a disc of Kell and the Bush Quartet playing the Brahms in the late 1930's. That performance is outstanding, giving a flavor of performance styles of that era. This recording of the Brahms is also outstanding, and the disc has the added advantage of a beautiful performance of the Mozart clarinet quintet. My favorite moments lie in the second movement of the Brahms. Listen to it with no distractions and I assure you, you will be transported.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What could be more beautiful?, January 13, 2011

By 

Patrick A Daley (Fredericton, New Brunswick) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Great Clarinet Quintets (Audio CD)

These recordings are sheerly beautiful, transcendent. The old Chicago Fine Arts Quartet and great clarinetist Reginald Kell are graceful and romantic. I haven't heard every recording the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets, not even every one the critics recommend, so I can't say there are no others as beautiful. I just find these to be wonderful on their own terms. The performances are gracious and lyrical, but with excellent intonation, and the performers are very much together. There's nothing sloppy or poorly thought out here.

I have some other great recordings of both works. For the Mozart K. 581, there is the excellent 1979 recording by Anthony Pay and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble on Philips, long beloved of the Penguin Guide and Amazon customers. The recording by Bohuslav Zahardnik and Le Quatuor Talich on Calliope is superb. It is almost as graceful as the recording by the Fine Arts Quartet and I like it a lot. I have a fine recording of the Brahms Opus 115 with the famous clarinetist Karl Leister and the Amadeus Quartet on LP, DG 139354, along with some other fine performances I don't like as well. It is really a great performance and it has been a favorite of mine for years. But now I prefer the recordings of both works made by the Fine Arts Quartet.

Many years ago, I came across the Fine Arts Quartet's LP of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets on Concert-Disc CS-253. I did not have a recording of either work and it was cheap, so I bought it. That was my introduction to the Fine Arts Quartet. It has remained my favorite recording of those works, though I like the Philips recording with the Quartetto Italiano very much, too. The sound is superb. The LP projects a wide image and sounds very natural. It has been thus with the the few other Concert-Discs of performances by the Fine Arts Quartet I have found since: great performances and very natural sound. And so it is with this recording on CD. The image is very clear with the clarinet in the center, the violins on the left. and viola and cello on the right. The sound is warm and spacious, with a nice ambient glow, and the performances are first class.

Just to avoid any confusion, this is the old Fine Arts Quartet, with Leonard Sorkin and Abram Loft, violins; Irving Ilmer, viola; and George Sopkin, cello. I understand the present group is very fine, too, but I am not very familiar with them.

I recommend this CD very highly, and the price is certainly right.