K. 361

Principal players of the London Symphony Orchestra display their virtuosic talents on this album of concertos for wind instruments by Mozart, recorded in concert with conductor Jaime Martín in the excellent acoustic of the Jerwood Hall at LSO St Luke’s.

The performances of the music here are excellent, but the whole package matters, and it does not disappoint. The set comes in a good sturdy box. The 16 CDs are in similar study slipcases, with beautiful artwork on the front. There and full track listings and artist info on each one, so no rummaging in the booklet to find what is on the discs.

The armonia ensemble, made from the ranks of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the MDR Symphony Orchestra wind sections, dishes up a veritable explosion of sound on their new GENUIN CD. At the heart of their exploration of Harmoniemusik, music for an ensemble of woodwinds, horns, and double bass, is Mozart's "Gran Partita," the opus ultimum of the genre. In addition, the elite wind players allow us to discover three works by Salieri, whose material was crafted just for them: An opera overture, an " Armonia per un tempio della notte,” and a "Piccola Serenata." The armonia ensemble produces a dense, historically informed sound that beautifully showcases the splendor of these four extraordinary works.

30 years after his death, DG commemorates the quintessential Kapellmeister with a 42-CD set of Complete DG Orchestral Recordings presented in original jackets. In addition to the complete symphonic cycles of Bruckner (the first ever complete recorded cycle), Beethoven and Brahms, this set offers the entire Jochum orchestral recordings for DG for the first time. Several recordings appear on CD for the first time including recordings of Weber, Mozart and Beethoven.

Postcards from Vienna: drawn largely from the supreme players of the Wiener Philharmoniker, collected here are the Decca recordings of Viennese chamber music ensembles, including the New Vienna Octet, Vienna Wind Soloists, Wiener Waldhornverein and Vienna Flute Trio, many making their first international appearance on CD. Led by clarinetist Alfred Boskovsky, the first line-up of the Vienna Octet made it's last recording for Decca in 1972, but Boskovsky was behind the revival of the group's name, having already chosen the young members of the Vienna Philharmonic who would carry on the work of the ensemble and it's traditions of superbly mellifluous, silver-toned playing.