SCO Winds - Beethoven: Music for Winds - BBC Radio 3 ‘Record Review’

[Here's] a recording of Beethoven from the wind soloists from the SCO. It’s tempting to head straight to the famous Beethoven octet but that would mean skipping over the E flat sextet and you really mustn’t. Just listen to the character they bring to the middle movements, starting with Peter Whelan on bassoon.

<Plays: Sextet in E flat Op. 71, 2nd mvt: Adagio & Sextet in E flat Op. 71, 3rd mvt: Menuetto >

All the wit and character of all the individual players coming through but yet still at the service of the whole ensemble. Something close to a perfect balance of individuality and team spirit. It works just as well in Beethoven’s more celebrated octet. Between them you have clarinettist Maximiliano Martín joining Peter Whelan for the clarinet and bassoon duo making it a considerably entertaining intermezzo than I ever suspected it was before. Recorded in a church acoustic and attractively resonant, you’ll find Beethoven’s Music for Winds on Linn Records, new this week.