Customer Reviews

Mozart: Clarinet Concerto; Oboe Concerto

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Beware. Unfortunately the review of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto played by Jack Brymer, transferred from another listing, is not the one on this listing, which is a period instrument performance apparently titled Victrola Festival Vol 3. That is, the pieces are the same, but the recordings are not, and to add to the confusion, the title is also wrong - this Mozart album has nothing to do with Quarenta Horas which is a Baroque Vocal recording by a group called Al Ayre Espanol. There is no other way of imparting this incorrect information, which is in a few places on the internet (perhaps BMG gave 2 products the same cat. no. and has confused everyone). Verification with Z shops will need to occur.

Jack Brymer is a very well known and respected Clarinetist, but in the three versions (of which two of them I own) I've heard from him he just doesn't phrase the 2nd Movement adagio very well. I have his version from the mid to late 50's, with Sir Thomas Beecham, which is quite a bit better than this one, but the sound quality isn't the best on that one though. He plays the adagio well over a minute slower on the Beecham version, and basically that's the speed that I prefer, but still his phrasing is off just a wee bit. I have one of those Mozart Greatest Hits kind of cd's, and it has the adagio played by an Orchestra and soloist I've never heard of that has exactly the right phrasing, but the sound quality is kind of poor. Once in a while you can find an unknown Orchestra and soloist that will do better than the well known ones, but it's very, very rare. Basically, go for the Brymer, Beecham version which is on the EMI Great Recordings of the Century label or you might want to try the Bohm, Prinz version on DG from about 1974 or so. This one with Neville Marriner just doesn't quite cut the mustard (even though Neville does a fine job accompanying Brymer), so you might want to look elsewhere, because I've heard quite a few versions that beat this particular one. I bought this mostly for the Clarinet Concerto, but just wanted to mention that the Oboe Concerto played by Neil Black, is much better than the Clarinet Concerto, so if you need a great Oboe Concerto, you might want to give this one a try if you'd like. I'm out for good now!!!