Customer Reviews

Krommer: Partitas for Wind Ensemble

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a huge fan on Naxos. This cd proves that a great cd doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. The recording is energetic. It got me so into the music that whenever I listen to it, I hum along with it. The Budapest Wind Ensemble is marvelous and truely shines in this top notch performance. Mr. Berkes is very talented and it shows in this recording. This is a real gem and you could listen to is over and over again and NEVER get tired of it. Atleast I don't. So, if you really want an awesome cd that doesnt cost alot but sounds great, this is the one.

I read the recommendation at Grammophone and order it inmediatly.

The playing is warm and clear, with incredible candor.It is a record that you can play several times in an afternoon and still find pleasure in each one. It has a "folk" tesiture that is very pleasant. Just listen to the Allegro of the Partita in E. You feel in the gardens of central Europe.

I listen to it at my office, and even people that is not into classical went to look the label. I am buying more records from Krommer, what a discovery!

Buy it!

Kalman Berkes and the Budapest Wind Ensemble render superb musical craftsmanship with this recording and insure that the importance of harmoniemusik will be more widely known throughout the world.

It is particularly heartwarming to note that this recording comes from the heartland of the Austro-Bohemian-Hungarian triangle that gave rich impetus to this genre and contributed to the rich traditons that eventually became the symphony orchestra wind section and the modern wind ensemble.

I find very little to take exception with in the entirety of this recording except perhaps the tempo selection of the fourth movement of the Partita in F Major, Op. 57., Alla polacca. While the tempo that Berkes selects here allows the tremendous virtousity of his musicians to be clear to all listeners, I pause to wonder whether the tempo is faithful to the traditional polacca dance tempo, and again wonder if a slower tempo would not yield more of the true DNA of the composition in terms of musical shaping of the line and over-all accents.

The original review I sent contains a typographical error in the word "conditions." An "i" was accidently omitted. Please insert, or e-mail me and give me directions. I also omitted some information that I would have liked to include on the 3rd Movement (Minuetto), although it may not be crucial.

This is a charming and welcome disc in my collection but to the ears of one lucky enough to grow up with the live sounds of the (Szell/Dohnanyi) Cleveland and the Solti-era Chicago orchestra the winds, pardon me, sound rather hard edged and unrefined, especially the "sour cream and capers" European oboes. And hey--maybe that's how it really sounded out in the Central European countryside back then. But listening to these joyfully squawking horns and woodwinds (and noting the odd intonation problem here and there) I realize there's a reason why those windy Chicagoans are still considered the finest in the world.