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Brahms' Clarinet Quintet is a cornerstone of late Romantic chamber music, and this is the only period interpretation of the work using period instruments curently available. Jean Claude Veilhan plays a late C19th clarinet with a fine mellow sound that is more refined than a classical instrument but still more delicate than a modern one would sound. He is well supported by the string players (members of Quatour Turner who record for Harmonia Mundi), who use gut strings and a historically correct technique, ie:- they aim for a transparent sound with limited vibrato.
The Brahms quintet is a very different beast to Mozart's quintet for the same forces: after all, it was composed over a century later. The clarinet is truly integrated into the quintet, rather than having a solo concertante role. The quintet is generally calm in mood and all four movements go together well as a single entity. Together with the period sound, this makes for a pleasant listening experience.
The problem with the quintet is finding a suitable partner piece to fill a CD. Mozart's quintet is a common choice and is really unsuitable to partner the much denser Brahms piece. Here, the musicians have taken the brave step to introduce a nearly unknown piece by Stephan Krehl, written shortly after the Brahms quintet. Curiously in five movements, the arch-conservative Krehl's writing is more backward looking than Brahms, with the clarinet much more in conversation with the string quartet and less integrated. However, the piece has much to recommend it and is, at least, contemporary with the Brahms.
The sound quality of the disc is excellent with only the very occasional click from the clarinet's keys. Highly recommended!

Dank aan originele poster!