Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard [1] Strauss :: Dennis Brain

Dennis Brain Is Always Worth Five Stars

Robert I. Hedges | 11/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps the greatest horn player of all time, Dennis Brain died at the age of 36, but fortunately for music lovers everywhere he left an abundance of recorded works to treasure and savor. This CD is a collection of 15 pieces recorded by Brain in the 1940s when he was still quite young. The performances (particularly of the Mozart and Strauss pieces) are magnificent in every way, and deserve to be in the collection of any classical music devotee.



In every regard these are five star performances, but understand that due to the age and condition of the original source recordings, there is a degree of background noise present that listeners of modern digital recordings will find unfamiliar. The background noise isn't particularly objectionable, I just note here that it exists; don't let this issue dissuade you, though: this is an absolutely beautiful CD and deserves to be listened to repeatedly.

"

Not a great value

Michael Simpson | Austin, TX USA | 06/04/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Of course I love Dennis Brain; he inspired me to become a French horn player. Of course the recordings listed here are the best recordings there are. But each of these selections are included in more complete collections, and this album is just a re-re-re-release of the material. Like Brain Strauss's First Horn Concerto? You should hear the Second! You can get them both, together with the Hindemith Horn Concerto and Horn Quartet. Why get two Mozart concerti when you can get all four! Beethoven's Horn Sonata (not my favorite horn selection) is still available with Mozart's Divertimento for two horns and orchestra. And Mozart's horn quintet, the last of these five (not fifteen) selections, is found on a recording with Dukas's "Villanelle" and Brahms's Horn Trio.



I would not recommend this selection unless you have none of the works on it and don't plan to build a full Dennis Brain collection. If you do that, fine, but you're missing some of the top of the literature, particularly the Strauss Second, Mozart Fourth, and Villanelle.,"