This is a marvellous record which does the fullest justice to the art of Dennis Brain, whom Boyd Neel called ‘the finest Mozart player of his generation on any instrument’. This 1957 recording of the Mozart Horn Quintet surely bears that out. Brain has warm support from the English String Quartet, particularly in the lovely slow movement, but here his playing consistently dominates the ensemble lyrically, while the closing Rondo is sheer joy. So is Marais’ delectable Le Basque. James Galway has subsequently made this piece his own on record, but Brain uses it as a witty encore, without showing off. Needless to say, the performance of the Brahms Horn Trio is very fine indeed. The infinitely sad, withdrawn atmosphere of the slow movement created by Brain’s gentle soliloquy (track 11, 1'57'') is unforgettable; and again the infectious hunting-horn whooping of the finale carries all before it. The recording is distanced in a resonant acoustic and is not ideally clear, but one soon forgets this.
The Dukas Villanelle is an arch-romantic piece which all horn players feature for the want of something better, and Dennis Brain’s ardour all but convinces us that it is fine music. But the highlight of the programme is the Beethoven piano and wind quintet in which Brain shows himself the perfect chamber music partner. Without wishing to dominate, he can’t help making his mark at every entry. And his colleagues join him to make a superb team. This recording was made at the 1957 Edinburgh Festival in front of a live audience, but they are mercifully quiet, and the balance is quite perfect. The recording, too, is astonishingly real. It might even be stereo: one can visualise the five players sitting just out behind one’s speakers – Leonard Brain (oboe), Steven Waters (clarinet), Cecil James (who is recognisably and inimitably playing a French bassoon), Wilfrid Parry (piano) and of course Dennis Brain. The very opening, not loud, nevertheless makes one sit up. The blending is so perfect, and Parry’s pianism is not only the bedrock of the performance – the playing itself is very beautiful indeed; and it is recorded with total naturalness. The performance overall is simply Elysian.
Until now I have always felt that Beethoven’s Quintet, so closely modelled on the similar work by Mozart, lacked Wolfgang’s magic touch. But not here: it is sheer delight, particularly the way the players echo each other in the development section of the first movement; and how splendidly they play the coda (with a superb flourish of triplets from Brain). The piano opening of the slow movement is wonderfully poised, and the first wind entry is gloriously full; the finale, not pressed too hard, is delightfully jaunty. In short, this is the performance against which all others must now be judged. How fortunate we are that the BBC has preserved so much that is indispensable in its archives.'