Another Beethoven
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 05/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Beethoven, the boon companion, or at least the provider of boon music for companionship. Beethoven, the bassoonist's buddy and the oboist's benefactor. Beethoven, the craftsman of delightful sounds. Beethoven, the musical frolic.
This is a sparkling compendium of Beethoven's wind ensemble music, both for woodwinds and for brass. If the only Beethoven you know is the symphonic titan or the sublime composer of quartets, this CD may come as a great surprise. Hardly any jollier music was ever composed, yet the control of rhythm, counterpoint, and modulation that made Beethoven's quartets so powerful is to be heard here also, even in the little Pinocchio dance of the trio for two oboes and bassoon. Picnic music! Or music to hear as you drive along the Rhine."