Truth in packaging is stretched by this release from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Soloists: one of the works here is probably not by Beethoven at all, and another is likely an arrangement by Beethoven of music by Haydn. Nonetheless, an enjoyable hour of light wind music is on offer. All the pieces comes from early in Beethoven's career despite the high opus numbers of two of them; they were published only later in the composer's life. These two works are naturally the strongest. Sample the Presto finale of the Octet ...
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Truth in packaging is stretched by this release from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Soloists: one of the works here is probably not by Beethoven at all, and another is likely an arrangement by Beethoven of music by Haydn. Nonetheless, an enjoyable hour of light wind music is on offer. All the pieces comes from early in Beethoven's career despite the high opus numbers of two of them; they were published only later in the composer's life. These two works are naturally the strongest. Sample the Presto finale of the Octet in E flat major, Op. 103, to experience the Scots' natural horns in full display (really there are not that many players who can pull passages like these off and not let us see them sweat), and also the clear, unfussy sound from Linn. The Duo for clarinet and bassoon, WoO 27, No. 1, was known in the 19th and 20th centuries only from a Parisian publication of the 1820s; it's hard to believe it could have been accepted as genuine Beethoven. More convincing is the Rondino in E flat...
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