Mozart: Chamber Works

Advantages: Two outstanding peices of chamber music for an unusual combination of instruments
Disadvantages: On the surface quite contrasting works, listener must be openminded

...procedures, deriving new and original ideas influenced by the chamber music of old masters such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann. Ligeti was influenced by the music of fellow Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, who once stated that "Every art has the right to strike its roots in the art of a previous age; it not only has the right to but it must stem from it". This makes the pairing of one of Ligeti's finest works with the Brahms Op.40 Trio a very appropriate one. Both outstanding chamber works in their own rights and certainly the two best pieces composed for this unusual combination invented by Brahms, a good recording is essential, but hard to find. There are not that many recordings in existence of these works due to the technical complexity for performers and even acclaimed recordings such as the CD by Perlman, Ashkenazy... Read review

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Advantages: You could become a genius
Disadvantages: But then again you might not

...According to a website I visited recently, the illustrious President of the United States, George W. Bush (otherwise known as George W. Gump) has an I.Q. of 91. That may or may not be true – if it is, I didn’t realise it was that high. Mr Bush may be interested to learn (but probably isn’t) that he could increase his intelligence quotient by several points, according to researchers, by the simple expedient of – wait for it – listening to Mozart. There are many websites devoted to what is known as The Mozart Effect, notably http://www.mozarteffect.com and you can check them out for yourself. The basic premise is that anyone exposed regularly to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will benefit by increasing their brain-power. Actually, the music used for the research was his Sonata for Two Pianos, a delightful work that anyone can... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, easy to listen to
Disadvantages: Won't rock your world

...This is an elegantly packaged and well presented CD which pretty much does just what it says on the box. It is a re-release from EMI's excellent and superbly engineered back catalogue, well at this price what would you expect? The English Chamber Orchestra is ably marshalled by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who for all his genius as a solo violinist, never really achieved top-flight status as a conductor. And alongside him the flute playing from Samuel Coles is bright and suitably mellifluous. These are pieces you will know, even if you didn't know that you knew them. Their vintage puts them at the back end of the time before period instrument performances began to dominate the market in classical music. In that sense this is a refreshingly full-bodied listen, without the up-beat tempi, straight-edged strings and honking wind and brass... Read review

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