With the performers on this disc, you would expect first-rate performances of Dvorák's Violin Concerto and his Piano Quintet. Unfortunately, no matter what you think of the performances, the sound quality of the recording will leave you disappointed. In both the concerto and the quintet, the sound from everyone is rather thin and flat. The depth of the vibratos, the reverberation of the strings, and the orchestra in general are all very shallow.

David Maslanka (August 30, 1943 – August 7, 2017) was an American composer who wrote for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music, and symphony orchestra. Best known for his wind ensemble compositions, Maslanka published nearly 130 pieces, including ten symphonies, eight of them for concert band, over 15 concerti, and a full Mass.

This first "live" recording of the Prazák Quartet was made in February, 2000 to commemorate the ensemble's 2000th concert. The Prazáks are joined by violist Hatto Beyerlé, best known for his dozen years as the violist of the Alban Berg Quartet. Together, they match the finest performances of these masterpieces on disc. Here is playing with intensity and power that does not exclude delicacy and genuine feeling.

These quartets were recorded in sumptuous sound from December 1967 to the middle of ’68. Remastering can lead to shrillness which undermines intonation – but not here. This sounds fabulous above the stave.

…[O]utstanding…with Perahia's playing wonderfully refreshing in the Andante and a superb response from the four wind soloists… Clearly all the players are enjoying this rewarding music.

In their general layout and their style, the three quintets recorded here illustrate Boccherini’s formal variety and freedom: whether first violin and first cello are deliberately highlighted, or the roles are distributed in more balanced fashion, this composer had an unrivalled ability to use the group of instruments to create a limpid, shimmering soundscape, traversed by fleeting zones of shadow and sudden bursts of light.

Quatuor Ebène welcomes a favourite colleague, viola player Antoine Tamestit, for two of Mozart's six string quintets - No 3 in C major, K 515 and No 4 in G minor, K 516. Their last joint album, 'Round Midnight, won a 2022 Gramophone Award for it's thrilling exploration of diverse strands of 20th century music. .When a fifth member joins the ensemble it is always cause for celebration," explains Pierre Colombet, first violinist of Quatuor Ebène,.especially if it's an additional viola to bring further roundness and warmth to the middle voices: the sound grows in substance and vibrancy - the quartet gains a marvellous complement.

Sergey Taneyev's music was acclaimed by some as a 'model of pure style and sublime art', but he was a loner whose supreme mastery of European Classical technique placed him outside the more nationalist trends of the day. The Violin Sonata in A minor is neo-Classical in its reserved and often song-like moods and expressions. It contrasts with the grand scale of the Piano Quintet in G minor in which the virtuoso nature of the piano writing reflects Taneyev's own prowess, and the brilliant integration of the works' themes cumulate into an overwhelming conclusion.

This is a very familiar and yet purely rhetorical question, as proven by the centenary anniversary of the composer’s death. Wherever you go you can find concerts of his works and events or exhibitions in tribute of the great German musician. Brahms was very fond of Switzerland, particularly of Thun and the region around its lake, often finding musical inspiration on his long hikes here. It is thus particularly appropriate that Claves honor this gentle man and giant composer by symbolically presenting him with two bouquets of flowers to accompany some of his most beautiful chamber music. French painter Bernard Cathelin (born in 1918) has kindly allowed us to use two of his paintings for the covers of these two compact discs. His exquisite pictures visually capture the perpetual youth and colors of Brahms’ music.

Quintets with double bass? The combination is rather rare, but to Boccherini, court composer to the Infante Don Luis and then to Charles II in Madrid, it must have had a special significance, because these three works are unique among his 125 string quintets.

This new album of two piano quartets by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) consists of pianist Lars Vogt's last recordings. Before his premature death and between treatments, Lars Vogt was able to record a multi-award-winning album of piano chamber music works by Schubert together with Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff, as well as albums of Mozart's and Mendelssohn's piano concertos. However, a project to record Brahms' complete piano quartets was left unfinished after the studio recording of Piano Quartet No. 2 was completed.

The most comprehensive collection of music by Luigi Boccherini ever issued, 52 CDs brimming with charm, elegance, wit and catching melodies!

Louise Farrenc was a woman in a man’s world: 19th-century musical Paris. Clara Schumann had previously been the only woman to be praised for her compositions and performances; it was generally considered that to earn money from music was a masculine pursuit. Farrenc not only achieved the near impossible of getting her music published, leading to Robert Schumann’s praise of her work, but was awarded a piano professorship at the Paris Conservatoire. Compositions for piano formed a part of her oeuvre, alongside works for chamber ensemble and orchestra. These pieces gradually fell out of the repertoire and only began to be revisited towards the end of the 20th century.

Mozart really liked the number 5. Aside from the group of six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, just about all of his greatest chamber works are quintets, and some of them are very unusual too. This particular set contains three magnificent late string quintets, the ever popular Clarinet Quintet, and weirdly wonderful Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola and Cello. A glass harmonica, by the way, is a set of water-filled glasses that you set spinning and play with moistened fingertips. It was invented (or at least perfected) by Benjamin Franklin, and was wildly popular in Mozart's day, particularly among amateur female performers. An excellent collection in every respect.

If I could pick a musical premiere out of the past that I could have attended, I would probably choose one of those evenings when Mozart and Haydn took the two viola parts in the first performances of Mozart's string quintets. It's something to wonder at, anyway. The string quintets are not only Mozart's greatest chamber music, they are among the most profoundly inspired pieces of music by anyone for any instruments. Three of them can be found on this budget priced set, superbly performed, along with the Horn Quintet, and the Quintet for Piano and Winds, which inspired Beethoven to compose a not quite as successful sequel. Greatness, folks, pure and simple.