Review: Britten Oboe Quartet: A Tribute To Janet: Daily Classical (Netherlands)

‘So surprisingly good that it is the only ?option for our Daily Classical Choice […] a good excuse to serve you up an hour of delicious music.’

A Tribute To Janet – chamber music with oboe and cor anglais by Mozart, Britten, Knussen and J. Françaix – Nicholas Daniel/Britten Oboe Quartet; 1 CD Harmonia Mundi

Nicholas Daniel formed the Britten Oboe Quartet in 2005 together with his friends and colleagues violinist Jacqueline Shave, viola player Clare Finnimore and cellist Caroline Dearnley.

Their joint contribution is not only an achievement of the highest musical standards but also of many years of experience of playing together, making the end result not only warm,  expressive but also especially fun. Their aim is to provide the audience with music of the highest quality and to explore less well-known repertoire, as well as playing standard classics.

In addition to performing new commissions, the quartet enjoys the challenge of programming as balanced and attractive repertoire as this. In the meantime, the quartet has performed throughout the UK, from Aberdeen to the Gregynog Festival in Wales, Swaledale and Wimbledon Festivals, Oxford, Brighton and Wigmore Hall to Kings Place in London.

Daily Classical finds this new English oboe quartet refreshing,  and their first disc, ‘A ?Tribute ?To Janet’ on the Harmonia Mundi label is so surprisingly good that it is the only option for our Daily Classical Choice.

For oboist Nicholas Daniel, this CD is a tribute to Janet Caxton, his “beloved teacher”. For Daily Classical it is an excuse to serve you up an hour of delicious music.

Redactie Daily Classical, 5 August 2017

Read this review online (in Dutch)

Read this review online (in Dutch)