Richard Basset

If you're a lover of chamber music then you can't do any better than this amazing 59 CD set. The overall price is steep but it averages out to be less than $5 per CD. Couple that with the truly legendary performances offered here and you have an incredible bargain that will not be around for long. The Westminster record label (1949-1965) was justly famous for it's "Natural Balance" recorded sound which was primarily the combined effort of producer Dr. Kurt List and engineer Karl Wohlleitner. Centered in Vienna, they had access to some of the finest chamber musicians in the world through the city's various orchestras.

Mozart?s concerto actually began life as a concerto for basset horn (not basset clarinet) and was written in the key of G. The manuscript ended abruptly after the 191st measure of the first movement. Mozart rethought his plan, decided to recast the concerto in A, and overhauled the solo part for basset clarinet, an instrument developed by his friend Anton Stadler The version that entered the repertoire after Mozart?s death was an adaptation of the original.

The two concertos performed here by Michael Collins and the Philharmonia Orchestra were both intended for a specific player – Mozart composed his for Anton Stadler and Richard Birchall for Michael Collins himself. Both works – as well as Mozart's Clarinet Quintet – were also written for a particular instrument: the basset clarinet, a slightly larger and deeper clarinet than the one in A which soon after Mozart had written his concerto became the standard. At the very core of the clarinet repertoire, the two works by Mozart have until recently been played on the A clarinet, with necessary adjustments being made to the solo part. Nowadays, however, they are more and more often performed on the instrument they were intended for.

Unquestionably, the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Brahms have earned time-honored and well-deserved places in the repertoire of clarinetists worldwide. In the informative and well-written annotations by Eric Hoeprich, we read that “they embody the maturity, depth, experience, and possibly even a premonition of an otherworldliness soon to be experienced firsthand.”

The chamber orchestra MusicaAeterna was founded by Teodor Currentzis in 2004, while he was music director of the Novosibirsk State Opera and the orchestra was involved in Opera and Ballet performances at the theatre. On this CD the orchestra are described as the ‘orchestre de chambre de l’Opéra de Novosibirsk’, but in January 2011 Currentzis became Artistic Director of the Perm State Opera and Ballet and MusicaAeterna are now based in Perm.

John Lewis - Orchestra U.S.A. The Debut Recording (1963) {Lone Hill Jazz LHJ 10117 rel 2004} (ft. Eric Dolphy)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 393 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 179 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963, 2004 Lone Hill Jazz | LHJ 10117
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Piano

Lewis, the director of the Modern Jazz Quartet until his death in 2001, moved away from improvisation into composition when he formed Orchestra U.S.A. for this 1963 recording. John Lewis formed Orchestra U.S.A. as a vehicle to potentially explore any composed or improvised music, blending elements of jazz and classical music by recruiting some first-rate players from both worlds. The result is one of the more successful third stream recordings. There are two string quartets, plus woodwinds, brass, and a rhythm section present. Collaborating with Gunther Schuller, who conducted the group and did some of the orchestrations, Lewis expanded his work "Three Little Feelings" from its original chart for brass, featuring outstanding solos by alto saxophonist Phil Woods and guitarist Jim Hall.