Brahms Complete Quintets. Thomas Friedli (cI); cRaphaei Oheg (va); aphilippe Bianconi (p1); Sine Nornine Quartet (Patrick Genet, Francois Gottraux, vns; Nicolas Pache, va; Marc Jaermann, vc).

Claves ® fD CD50-9608/9 (two discs, oat: 79 and 55 minutes: DDD).

CD50-9608: Piano Quintet in F minor,

Op. 340, Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. II CD50-9609: String Quintetse - No. I in F, Op. 88; No. 2 in G, Op. ill.

Selected cotupot-isun - coup/cd a., oh()':

Haas, Berlin Phil Octet (8/95) (PHIL) 446 172-2PM

String Quotets - selected comparisons.

Trampler, Juitliard Qt (12/96) (SONY) 5K68476 Caussd, Hagen Qt (5/97) (DO) 453 420.2GH

Clarinet Quintet selected comparison:

Leister. Leipzig Qt (5/97) (M DG) MDG3O7 0719-2

Piano Quintet - selected comparison.

\Tirsaladze. Boractin Qt (5/95) (TELD) 4569-97461-2

Excellent teamwork, solid musicianship and pleasantly ambient if occasionally rather hard-edged sound quality earn this comprehensive survey of Brahms's quintets a qualified recommendation.

88 Gramophone Av.'ards issue 1L#,)7

Both the Clarinet and Piano Quintets feature sensitive solo work nicely blended into the overall texture. Try 655" into the first movement of the Clarinet Quintet and you will witness an impressive weight of tone from the Sine Nomine Quartet's lower strings, though their phrasing thereafter is just a mite breathless. Thomas Friedli's clarinet burbles playfully at 134" into the Scherzo (an image that is especially well caught by the engineers) whereas I found Philippe Bianconi's contribution to the Piano Quintet just a trifle under-powered - though his soft playing at, say, I 128" into the Andante is worthy of note. The first movement (with repeat) is spirited enough but lacking in muscle; the third, jaunty and incisive though the cello at the beginning of the Trio (at 305") is over-prominent - and the finale's darkhued opening is well sustained. The main body of the movement is strong and judiciously paced, the coda firmly held. Both string quintets include their respective first-movement repeats and feature vibrant, forthright playing (the opening of No. l's Grave e appassionato second movement or 1051" into No. 2's opening Allegro non troppo are good places to sample).

Occasionally, I felt that the group's approach to rhythm was too sedate (in the Second Quintet's Andante, for example), but clarity is a consistent virtue - especially in the finale of the Second Quintet. if all this sounds a trifle nit-picking, that is simply because competition is very strong, especially from the bargain end of the catalogue, with a neat Philips Duo offering precisely the same repertoire in marginally superior performances. My full-price, single-disc recommendations all project a rather stronger interpretative personality than the artists here, but if you happen to chance upon these CDs and find the couplings congenial, then I cannot imagine that you will be seriously disappointed. RC