Klarinet Archive - Posting 000429.txt from 1999/07

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Naxos Clarinet CDs
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 09:19:16 -0400

Jim Lytthans wrote,
>I did a clarinet search on Amazon.com the other day and ordered several CDs.
Of the bunch received, three deserve a "Must Buy" rating from me....>
[snip]

Thanks very much for the reviews! I have that Budapest Clarinet Quintet
recording you mentioned and agree with your favorable opinion of it. I'd
also like to vote a round of applause for Naxos generally. The local Tower
Records stocks a lot of Naxos recordings. Among the ones I've bought, I've
found many gems and very few disappointments.

Two more fine clarinet chamber music performances to add to Jim Lytthans's
Naxos list:

Naxos 8.550439, Mozart Clarinet Trio K. 498 ("Kegelstatt") and Clarinet
Quartets K. 317d and K. 496, with Bela Kovacs and Jozsef Balogh, clarinets,
Jenoe Jando on piano, Gyorgy Konrad on viola and the Danubius Quartet.

Naxos 8.550390, Mozart Clarinet Quintet K. 581 and Clarinet Quartet K. 374f
with Jozsef Balogh on clarinet and the Danubius Quartet, along with the
Quintet for Clarinet, Basset-Horn and String Trio, KA 90 (580b), with Bela
Kovacs on clarinet, Jozsef Balogh on basset-horn and members of the Danubius
Quartet.

Balogh uses a mellow, non-reedy, non-shrill tone (dare I don asbestos and use
the term "dark"?) that's my personal preference in a clarinet tone and one of
the reasons that I bought a 1937 Buffet with a wide bore, instead of a modern
clarinet. (The other reasons -- which, let's face it, were more important
-- were money [lack of] and the fact that this clarinet practically rolled in
front of my face and wailed, "Rescue me!" at a really grubby flea market....)

Naxos gives a forum to so many exceptional musicians formerly not well-known,
in some cases I suspect because they're not winsomely photogenic little
prodigies. In valuing the music higher than star personalities, Naxos also
records quite a lot of music not often heard on radio stations with their
limited "Classical Top Forty" formats and their increasingly common (and to
my mind abominable) practice used by the local commercial classical station,
of playing single movements instead of whole pieces. (The local NPR station
here in Our Nation's Capitol -- a station whose beg-a-thons had already
annoyed me to the point where I became part of the problem by declining to
donate another damned dime because of the NPR's "you don't pay your share"
negative advertising campaign -- just did something even worse: quit playing
music in the early mornings, in favor of an all-blab format.) I enjoy
hearing the well-known stars of the music world who get the big, important
tours and the big, important recording contracts, too. Usually I think those
people deserve their success. More power to them. But the star system (the
"Three Tenors" syndrome) can muffle an awful lot of other voices equally well
worth hearing and Naxos is doing more than its share to bring those folks to
the attention of listeners. The technical quality of the recordings is
excellent, too, at affordable prices. Bravo.

Lelia

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org