Weber wrote some of his most unfettered, ear-tickling music for the clarinet, and his quintet for that instrument and strings is no exception. Here is a vibrant, fine-tuned performance that’s as good as they come, captured in sonics that cradle you between the string players. My only reservation concerns Eduard Brunner’s clarinet tone, which to my taste is overly strident and lacking in warmth. Such qualities lend themselves better to Hindemith’s rarely heard Piano Quartet, with its spiky brand of neo-classicism. What a marvelously assured and characterful reading, highlighted by Natalia Gutman’s perpetually singing cello lines and crystalline support from pianist Katia Tchemberdji. The chamber works bookend a 1994 recording with Sviatoslav Richter playing Weber’s Third Piano Sonata, one of the late pianist’s specialties. Richter effortlessly commands Weber’s killer double notes and swirling passages, if not matching his awesome 1966 version (available in Philips’ authorized Richter Edition) for sheer speed and suppleness.
