Search - Johannes Brahms, Busch String Quartet, Rudolf Serkin :: Brahms: Clarinet Quintet/Horn Trio

My Cup Of Tea

Jeffrey Lipscomb | Sacramento, CA United States | 05/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I received some startling news yesterday. My morning tea leaves informed me (well, actually it was the indentations in my Lipton tea bag) that I will soon be departing for a desert island somewhere in the Pacific, and that I can only take along ONE recording each of my favorite classical chamber works. What a conundrum!



Well, at least in this case, the choice was easy. This 1933 recording of the Brahms Horn Trio with Aubrey Brain (father of Dennis), Adolf Busch and Rudolph Serkin is the only one I listen to anyway. It makes all other versions sound careful, studied, and rather dull. And this wonderful Clarinet Quintet from 1937 simply defines the "autumnal glow" that is so special to late Brahms. If there is a recording of ANYTHING that begins as ethereally as what clarinetist Reginald Kell and the Busch String Quartet give us here, I have yet to hear it. Pearl's transfers are wonderful, and Tully Potter's notes are uncommonly illuminating.



If you savor chamber music performed with grace, style, feeling and utter sincerity, this CD will surely be your cup of tea, too. Just watch out for those tea leaves.



Highest recommendation."