Vienna Octet - Schubert: Octet, Mozart: Divertimento (1988)

Suffice it to say that these recordings are both classics of the recorded chamber music repertory. The Schubert Octet, the second version recorded by Willi Boskovsky's original Vienna Octet, is one of the great recordings of the octet, surpassed only by the ensemble's earlier mono recording (where more repeats were observed). It is full of life, and was a truly ground-breaking release back in 1957. Decca's recording still sounds wonderful - only a hint of hardness in the violin sound betrays its age. To some listeners the Vienna sound may be an acquired taste, but for me, the Vienna Octet recordings are of great importance both musically and historically. The ensemble achieves the light and dance-like sound that has always remained the essence of Viennese performance practice, unmatched in its essentials by similar chamber ensembles from German or England. The Vienna Octet was the original specialist chamber group of the post-war era, and it inspired imitators in Berlin, London and elsewhere. While the Viennese oboe sound is uniquely nasal (one hears it distinctly in every Viennese ensemble from the Vienna Philharmonic to Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus with period instruments), the smooth, almost vibrato-less clarinet playing of Alfred Boskovsky (Willi's younger brother, and co-founder of the Octet) is incomparably beautiful. (Try to hear his two recorded versions of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet, one mono and the other a stereo remake from 1963 - two of the finest ever recorded).