Brahms Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 115.

Greg, thanks for your recommendation. With my limited knowledge of EMI branding, it seems that the most of EMI Reference releases are mono recordings. Please confirm.

Again, thank you all.

Otto

Beautiful piece indeed! Op.115 was the first time that a major composer wrote a clarinet quintet after Mozart's masterpiece. Talk about confidence in your work.

I second the recommendations of the Harold Wright and Reginal Kell recordings; however as far as the Kell goes I prefer his recording with the Fine Arts Quartet on Decca (DL9532), somewhat more poetic playing IMO. Yes, it is a mono recording, but very tonally natural. I don't know if it is available on CD.

My very favorite however is the Karl Leister recording with the Amadeus Quartet on DG (DG139354). Beautiful playing all the way around and I particularly like the way that the clarinet was recorded.

This is mostly, but not all, speculation on my part; but I suspect that Leister's style and approach to the instrument is closer to what Brahms heard in the playing of the great clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld that so impressed and inspired him to write the piece. As great as Wright and Kell were in their own right, they are each the product of different schools of clarinet playing; Kell the English school and Wright the American school. Obviously, this is not necessarily a handicap, but there are very important differences in each of those schools that can possibly give clues as to what exactly the composer had in mind when he conceived the work; details that get lost or forgotten over the generations of players. Even the instruments used are different; American and English clarinetists use the Boehm system clarinet, German players use the Albert system clarinets. A great composer always takes into account the idiocyncracies, strengths, and limitations of the instrument he is writing for, and that in turn can shape the composition; although in this case the technical differences between the instruments are relatively minor and not as important as the general differences in concept of tone production and phrasing that exist between German, American, and English clarinet players.

Happy Holidays

Otto, you are right, it's indeed a mono recording from the late '30s and available on CD (or was...). As Frogman notes, it's sonically bearable.

Frogman, I'll have to check out the Leister w/Amadeus version (esp. vs the Vermeer!)-- thanks for the recommendation!

Thea King and the Gabrieli Quartet on Hyperion are superbly recorded, and the performance will move you, especially the Adagio, which has made me cry.

I tried the Philips duo version of this piece and didn't care for it. Can't remember the group or principal. I like many other issues in this series. It might be the best classical bargain available. Many of their recordings from mid-60's to late 70's are unsurpassed, and the performances are frequently first rate.

Hyperion also has a double CD bargain line available, and the Brahms quintet might be in one. I bought mine years ago as a single disc which includes Brahms clarinet trio.

I've owned a few other unmemorable versions over the years.

I appreciate the recommendations in this thread, as the piece is one of my favorite chamber works. I first became acquainted with the piece through a chamber music course in college, and the version I bought back then, a Columbia Masterworks recording of the Budapest String Quartet with David Oppenheim, has always been my favorite performance (it always seems that way, the first version you hear becomes a benchmark), although the recording is a typical bright Columbia effort. I've been looking for better recorded versions of excellent performances of this piece, generally being disappointed (the Reference Recordings version, for example--well-played and recorded but somehow didn't move me), but there are plenty of new ones to try (including a Decca reissue on vinyl I haven't opened yet, gotta try that one), thanks to you all.