RECORDING OF THE MONTH RECORDING OF THE MONTH BARGAIN OF THE MONTH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Oboe Concerto £11 post free World-wide RACHMANINOV Elegy, Preludes, Piano concerto 3 £12 post free World-wide CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY RACHMANINOV TRios 2CDs £16 post free World-wide

BUY NOW  AmazonUS

World Wide Webster The Webster Trio plays Dvořák, Debussy, Brahms and Gottschalk Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) Slavonic Dances arranged Webster Op.46 No.6 Op.46 No.8 Op.72 No.4 Op.72 No.5 Op.72 No.6 Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Petite Suite (1889) arranged Webster Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897) Hungarian Dances arranged Webster Nos. 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 21 Louis Moreau GOTTSCHALK (1829-1869) La Jota Aragonesa (1851) arranged Webster Souvenir de la Havane (1859) arranged Webster Souvenir de Cuba (1860) arranged Webster Grande Tarantelle arranged Webster The Webster Trio - Leone Buyse (flute), Michael Webster (clarinet) Robert Moeling (piano) Recorded in Stude Hall, Rice University, May 2002 CRYSTAL RECORDS CD 357 [64.22]

AVAILABILITY www.crystalrecords.com The salon ensemble of flute, clarinet and piano can be a difficult one to balance especially in this kind of repertoire. There’s also the question of sonority and the kind of weight of ensemble that can be achieved, especially in the more vigorous and eventful Hungarian and Slavonic Dances. These problems are by and large well met in these arrangements by clarinettist Michael Webster, whose eponymous trio must be cringing at the god-awful pun that gives the album its title. Maybe not though – they seem to be able to take a joke, judging from their humorous cover grins. Webster’s arrangements and transcriptions work well enough in these mini-me reductions. There is nice flute in the Op.46 No.8 Dvořák and light, bouncing rhythm from the trio in the Poco adagio, Op.72 No.5. The highlight of the Debussy is the delightfully appealing Cortège and of the Brahms I suspect the naughtiness of the Sixth will hit the hardest. No.5 though is too fast and not witty. For more specialist tastes – the non-tea room brigade (not that I’m suggesting that this is exclusively Lyons Corner House material) - then it’s the Gottschalk that will be of most interest. The glittery embellishments and decorative right hand piano roulades that lace La Jota Aragonesa are full of evocative legerdemain. The Souvenir de la Havane moves via Habanera rhythm from darkness to light and there’s fine drive and sway in the Chopinesque Souvenir de Cuba, written in 1860. So a fine idea well executed and recorded with the usual array of non-pompous and helpful notes by Webster himself – it’s a Crystal speciality often to get the performers to write notes. Good fun. Jonathan Woolf   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Return to Index

Reviews from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.