MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK


A little Music for a Few Friends
Trad arr. David Beck Bobby Shaftoe
William BYRD (1543-1623) arr. Gordon Lewin Pavane - The Earl of Salisbury
Ede POLDINI (1879-1957) arr. Peter Husband Poupée Valsante
W. A. MOZART (1756-1791) arr. David Beck Rondo Alla Turca
Gordon LEWIN The Poacher
Edward MACDOWELL (1861-1908) arr. Peter Husband To a Wild Rose
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) arr. H. Cinquavento Humoresque
Serge PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) arr. Adrian Staines Gavotte from Symphony No 1 in D, 'The Classical'
Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) arr. Gordon Lewin Gopak
Nunzio MONTANARI (1915-1993) Five Inventions for Wind Quartet
Franco MANNINO (b.1924) Mini Quintet Op 74
Vittorio GIULIANI Divertimento for six instruments
Franco MANNINO (b.1924) A Little Music for Three Friends
Franco MARGOLA (1908-1992) Partita for Flute and Oboe.
Halle Wind Quintet (Roger Rostron (flute); Barry Davies; Richard Simpson (oboe); Martin Hardy (bassoon); James Gregson (clarinet); Michael Purton (horn)) with Michael Davies (violin); John Adams (viola); Ian Rudge (cello)
rec. 1975-1976, Manchester, England
CAMPION CAMEO 2076 [57:22]
Experience Classicsonline


The disc, the first in the Cameo Wind Series, begins with a charming arrangement by David Beck of Bobby Shaftoe. This makes excellent use of the ensemble and immediately stamps the authority of these high quality performers on the recording. Byrd's Earl of Salisbury Pavane is equally well suited to this combination, the varied instrumental colours creating interesting contrast. The disc contains a wide range of popular classics arranged for wind quintet, alongside some original compositions. Arrangements of Poldini's light Poupée Valsante and Mozart's Rondo alla Turca are programmed beside works by Franco Margola and Franco Mannino. The nine arrangements, commissioned by Irving Wilson, are universally successful. They are sensitively scored with understanding for the instruments and their relative strengths. The Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is wonderfully light and impressively balanced in an excellent arrangement by Adrian Staines, and Gordon Lewin's arrangements of Mussorgsky's Gopak has a wonderful sense of fun.

The Hallé Wind Quintet comprises principal players of the Hallé Orchestra; it is evident that they are used to working together and their sound is unified and well balanced. This disc includes arrangements from other members of the orchestra (David Beck and Adrian Staines), and the Italian composers featured here are linked to Manchester's players through film work Franco Mannino conducted and arranged the music for the Visconti films, Death in Venice and Ludwig.

Nunzio Montanari's Five Inventions for Wind Quartet make use of repeated rhythmic and melodic fragments in this carefully scored work. The cheerful opening movement gives way to a more sentimental chorale-style andante. The third of the inventions is a lullaby, with solo moments for each of the instruments embellishing the melodic line. The fourth movement is faster, and the fifth is faster still, providing the players with a sparkling display of ensemble virtuosity to bring the work to a close.

More modernist in style, Franco Mannino's Mini Quintet uses bitingly dissonant language to create an exciting opening movement, with rapid movement and an energetic character. The central chorale is based on a moving chord progression, once again using modernist harmonies to explore the sonorities of the wind quintet. The finale takes on the mood of a scherzo, and is a life-enhancing display of virtuoso technique. A wonderfully light-hearted movement, this is playful and boisterous throughout. A second work by Mannino, A Little Music for Three Friends, for flute, violin and viola, is in two movements. The allegro is particularly challenging for the flute, and demonstrates Roger Rostron's excellent control over his instrument.

The Divertimento for Six Instruments by Vittorio Giuliani is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and cello and consists of five short contrasting sections. Less modernist and more film-like than Mannino's work, this could easily be used as a cartoon soundtrack; the fast sections bustle with energy, while the slower sections are evocative and contemplative.

The disc ends with Franco Margola's Partita for Flute and Oboe, written in the form of a baroque dance suite. The individual movements are short and rather effectively fuse baroque and twentieth century compositional styles.

The pairing of arrangements of popular classics with contemporary Italian repertoire is perhaps somewhat unusual; this disc has the feeling of being two discs in one. That said, Cameo have provided us with a wonderful opportunity to hear the Hallé Wind Quintet on CD. The recordings are of a consistently high standard, with clear sound and some world-class playing from Manchester's former orchestral principals.

Carla Rees

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.