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Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Oboe Quartet in F K370
Clarinet Quintet in A K581
Clarinet Concerto in A K622

Gordon Hunt oboe
Chilingirian Quartet
Andrew Marriner clarinet
Chilingirian Quartet
London Mozart Players
Jane Glover conductor
Recorded Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead November 1984 (Clarinet Concerto) and Wigmore Hall December 1981 (Quintet and Quartet)
EMI Classics for Pleasure 724357488327 [78,39] Budget Price


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Classics for Pleasure bring back to the catalogue Gordon Hunt’s splendid recording of the Oboe Quartet. It is in every way, not least in its freshness, spontaneity, and stylistic awareness, a recommendable disc at full price, let alone super-budget,. With members of the Chilingirian Quartet in excellent form and superb sound - full, rich, clear – there’s very little reason to hesitate. If beauty of tone and technique allied to innate musicality is your yardstick then this is a superb re-addition to the catalogue.

If Andrew Marriner’s performances are not on the same exalted level then they are by any standard fine interpretations. At times in the first movement of K581 I felt a somewhat generalized response to the music but that is most certainly not the case by the time of the Larghetto. The Menuetto is well upholstered and nicely accented. The balance between instruments is realistic. Marriner’s recording of the Concerto appeared at about the same time as Emma Johnson’s with Raymond Leppard and the ECO and with which it was inevitably compared. Marriner’s is an unfussy, tonally attractive and technically adroit performance, rising to heights of eloquence in the Adagio. The London Mozart players aren’t always optimally flexible but Jane Glover accompanies with sureness and discretion, allowing Marriner to withdraw his tone without being drowned. In a crowded field their performance is still competitive.

One magnificent recording and two very fine ones at super-budget price. A fine disc.

Jonathan Woolf


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