MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb from £12.00 postage paid.

Musicweb Purchase button

 

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Serenade in C minor K388 (c.1720) [22:42]
Leoš JANÁČEK (1854-1928)

Mládí (1924) [18:14]
Werner PIRCHNER (1940-2001)

Streichquartett für Bläserquintett PWV 15 (1974) [11:54]
QuintettWien; Reinhold Brunner (bass clarinet) (Mládí)
rec. 29 May–1 June 2006, Wiener Konzerthaus
NIMBUS NI 5812 [52:53]





This is an engaging and well produced program of wind music both familiar and less common. Mozart’s Serenade K388 is of course a popular work, and deservedly so. The unusual minor key gives the work a greater sense of depth than most of the other serenades, and although the ‘dark and sombre’ description I‘ve read elsewhere goes perhaps a bit far, there is certainly plenty of drama and tension in the opening Allegro. The instruments are quite closely recorded, but this takes nothing away from the pleasant atmosphere of that most elegant of Andante movements, and the voicing of the canon in the Menuetto provides the utmost in warmth and clarity. Of the other versions of this piece I suspect the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on DG Galleria would be many people’s choice, but with wind playing like this I feel no need to start casting around for comparisons.

I know Janáček’s Mládí, or ‘Youth’, from a recording by the Prague Wind Quintet on Supraphon, coupled with both of his string quartets played by the Talich Quartet. In general the quintett.wien are a little broader and slightly less urgent sounding than the Prague players, and the Czech wind sound does have that more characterful acidic sound East-European, and more texture-laden vibrato than the Viennese group. This may have been more like the qualities which the composer had in mind, but the quintett.wien has the edge in refinement and accuracy in intonation, so it’s a case of swings and roundabouts. I have certainly been enjoying this new recording a great deal, and it holds plenty of that mix of surprising energy and nostalgic melancholy for which we love this music. I’ll keep the Prague version for that wonderful Czech French horn sound, but have great admiration for the results in this version.

Werner Pirchner may be a less familiar name to many, but some may have discovered his satirical wit and inventiveness on an ECM double CD release from 1986 called ‘EU’. The title, Streichquartett für Bläserquintett, is a typical prod against pomposity, but also has its origins in the original version of some of the music, composed for a film about the Tyrol, and using a Tyrolean slave song to create a number of variations. The later wind quintet version adds a few more movements, and on this recording the horn player Martin Bramböck opens the work with a sung version of this song, the text being included in the booklet notes. The Vienna Wind Soloists on ECM are more fun than quintet.wien, swinging out with plenty of gusto in the pseudo-waltzes, the horn and bassoon reveling in raucousness and farty noises wherever possible. Despite all this larking around, their playing in the final chorale is also more moving than the quintett.wien. All this said, I am glad to see Pirchner’s name being aired once again, and listeners need not fear that they are getting a sub-standard performance on this new disc. quintett.wien have great fun with the score as well, and the allusion to Malcolm Arnold in John Quinn’s booklet notes is apt indeed, although there are also some moments which put me in mind of a kind of mad Aaron Copland.

I used to live near Monmouth, and it is good to see my former local record company Nimbus back on its feet again. With solidly excellent recordings like this we can hope for a great deal more in the future. This is one of the best wind quintet recordings I have heard for a long time: close and intensely detailed, but with plenty of air and space around the musicians as well, it is absolute demonstration quality stuff.

Dominy Clements






 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


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.