Benny Goodman Plays Classics (1989)

The booklet for this release gives no recording dates and includes a description of jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman's pioneering activities in the classical field in the 1930s, when he recorded with the Budapest String Quartet and even commissioned a trio from Béla Bartók. The buyer might conclude that they came from the same period, but in fact they are later recordings, made in the mid-'50s, that have bounced around in a variety of packages ever since then. They're worth hearing, and the remastering on this round by the ... Read More

The booklet for this release gives no recording dates and includes a description of jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman's pioneering activities in the classical field in the 1930s, when he recorded with the Budapest String Quartet and even commissioned a trio from Béla Bartók. The buyer might conclude that they came from the same period, but in fact they are later recordings, made in the mid-'50s, that have bounced around in a variety of packages ever since then. They're worth hearing, and the remastering on this round by the Musical Heritage Society is acceptable. For the newcomer to Goodman's classical recordings the earlier performances, despite dicey sound quality, are probably preferable; the Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581, lay easily under the clarinetist's fingers. Here he takes on the black-belt items in the clarinet chamber catalog: Brahms' late pieces of clarinet chamber music and Weber's Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, Op. 34, along with the lighter Beethoven Trio for piano,... Read Less