Customer Reviews

Quintets for Fortepiano & Wind Instruments

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

 

 

Whoever had such a problem with balance probably wasn't aware that this recording was made with some of the foremost experts of period practice on their respective instruments- Robert Levin has made a name for himself playing classical masterpieces on restored fortepianos (and improvising his own cadenzas!), and each of the wind soloists has appeared and recorded the Mozart wind concertos on authentic instruments with Hogwood and the AAM. As such, this recording is different from typical recordings- naturally the balance will be different because these are different instrumtents- the bassoon and the horn were much more powerful before than they are today, and the piano has undergone the opposite tranformation. Beyond the different sound of the instruments, however, the musical approach is also quite different- there is a clear effort to attempt to recreate period practices; a pedantic fidelity to the score is abandoned in favor of the spontaneous reading, complete with numerous embellishments and ornaments, that were more typical of the style. This style of playing and the different sound (esp in the fortepiano) may not be favored by some, but for those interested in how this music may have sounded in Mozart's own day, such a recording offers valuable insight and suggestions.

Staple players of the London-Decca period movement including Robert Levin on fortepiano, Danny Bond on bassoon, Anthony Halstead on horn and Frank de Bruine on oboe, here reconstruct a few Beethoven and Mozart masterpieces for chamber combinations of the instruments. The most notable item is Mozart Quintet for fortepiano and winds K. 452 while the Beethoven Sonata for horn and fortepiano Op. 17 and Quintet for fortepiano and winds Op. 16 are not as well known but equally enjoyable.

As several other reviewers have noted, the balance between instruments does not favor the keyboard, as it often does in piano-dominated modern performances where the instrument, with its broader range, sustaining characteristics, and the player's ability to color the music more drastically, tends to dominate. As was the case with both sets of Mozart piano concertos played on the fortepiano by Malcom Bilson Piano Concertos and Jos van Immerseel Piano Concertos, the period keyboard was not brought forward by either engineering or fidelity. In period performance style (this was recorded in 1998 during the heyday or period practice), the instruments carry their natural balance in the recording.

Had this been recorded and processed in the 1960s or 1970s, that would have been different as those decades saw multiple microphones and mixing in post-production that made almost every recording of the era sound perfect. This began to change in the early 1990s when a few recording studios went back to the "true" stereo of having two microphones -- one pointed at the players and the other pointed at a wall to their left. That's probably the way this was taped in 1998.

The keyboard balance caveat aside, these are enchanitng performances of the two composers' lighter and most accessible chamber music. Unlike the late Beethoven string quartets or piano trios that plumb the questions of man's existence, or Mozart's late pinao sonatas that do some of that, there is no philosophizing or emotinal posturing here. The two Beethoven pieces are more akin to Schubert's "Trout" Qunitet, which has been described as music to drink beer and have fun to. The Mozart quintet is more serious, composed relatively later in the composer's career, and carries the true weight of masterpiece while still airy and transparent emotionally.

There are scores of other recordings of this on modern piano but few on fortepiano. The best available today may be the somewhat too-caffienated Helicon Winds performances on Mozart, Beethoven: Wind Quintets. Of those on modern piano, my preference has been for the 1950s recording by Dennis Brain and troupe that accompanied his famous recording of the Mozart horn concertos Horn Concertos 1-4 / Quintet. For modern sound, one may want to try out the recordings led by pianists Alfred Brendel Mozart: Quintet in E Flat, K. 452 for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, & Bassoon / Beethoven: Quintet in E Flat, Op. 16 for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, & Bassoon, Murray Perahia Quintets for Piano & Winds or Stephen Hough Wind Quintet in E Flat K 452 / Adagio & Allegro.

Choices for the Beethoven are also widespread; for me, the best traditional performance was turned in on disk by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe's wind soloists Sextet Op 71 / Wind Quintet. The sonata for fortepiano and horn included here is not included in that program that includes four slices of early Beethoven chamber music in delightfully alive performances with elan and some mustard for spice. This is one of the very best Beethoven chamber recordings I've ever known and one that has continuously been in my library since I first purchased it on cassette from Musical Heritage Society in the 1990s. For the sonata, another good performance comes from an inexpensive Classical Express recording with Lowell Greer playing the natural horn and Stephen Lubin on fortepiano Brahms & Beethoven: Music for Horn that includes a fabulous reading of the Horn Trio by Johannes Brahms.

If the concert at hand interests you, these are lovely performances of three chamber masterpieces from two of the world's greatest composers. If you are a period performance devotee, you probably already know aobut this. If not, grab it while it's available since it's been out of print for a while. If you are a traditionalist looking for something new or different in chamber music, you may want to give this a try. The price is low so you won't be out much if you don't like it.

I have owned and enjoyed this recording for several years. The performances are delightful, with a completely charming pace and execution. And I have never noticed anything lacking in the quality of the recording. I'd recommend this CD to any fan of Mozart and Beethoven.

I agree with both gentlemen that the music on this CD is wonderful, the execution... above par; how can it not be when the performers are top-rated and their synchronicity impeccable? However, I have to stop my compliments at this point since I did not really listen to the entire CD. And, do you want to know why? Because there is something awfully wrong with the recording... you cannot hear the fortepiano! When such passages come in, I found myself raising the volume; only to have to drop it quickly before the excessively high volume of the wind instruments destroy both my eardrums.

No gentlemen, performances apart... `engineering' ruined it for me. I returned the CD for a full refund.

Whoever mixed this CD has no concept of balance. The pianoforte is practically impossible to hear over the winds, and the horn is so blaring that it makes me want to shut the whole thing off. I would return it to Amazon if I could. Don't buy it.