Hard on the heels of Les Vents Français’ sparkling selection of five wind sonatas by Hindemith (those for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and althorn – Warner, 6/21) comes Brilliant Classics with what purports to be the complete set with piano accompaniment; accordingly, the lovely Canonic Sonatina for two flutes and majestic Sonata for four horns are omitted. The miniature flute-and-piano duet Echo (1942), however, does feature as an encore. The 1943 Althorn (or tenor horn) Sonata, included by Les Vents and on Melnikov’s splendid programme (Harmonia Mundi, 3/15), is only present here in its alternative version for alto saxophone; it is also playable on French horn, so for the set to be truly complete these alternative scorings should not perhaps be omitted. However, what we do have is performed by a generally splendid array of Italian soloists, anchored with finesse at the keyboard by Filippo Farinelli, who seems to have been the driving force behind the project.

There have been sets of the wind sonatas with piano accompaniment before (note that Glenn Gould’s CBS/Sony set only featured the five for brass – 3/93) but none is, strictly speaking, complete. For example, Dabringhaus und Grimm featured all 10 (with that for althorn played on French horn) in a seven-disc series with the Ensemble Villa Musica (nla). More recently, Arts – also with Italian soloists – featured them, again using the alto saxophone alternative (47122/3-2 – oas).

There are some very fine performances in this new set. If Claudia Giottoli’s rendition of the Flute Sonata is not quite a match for Pahud or Rampal, it nonetheless is a superb interpretation on its own terms. The same applies throughout the programme; the sonatas are arranged chronologically, with Luca Franceschelli’s of the Bassoon Sonata (1938) and Maria Chiara Braccalenti’s of that for cor anglais (1941) perhaps the pick. Mind you, David Brutti makes a very good case for the alto saxophone variant of the Althorn Sonata, though the use of a single speaker (Jana Theresa Hildebrandt) for what is meant to be a dialogue between the players reduces the authenticity of the performance somewhat. In Gianluca Grosso’s sensitive account, the Tuba Sonata (1955) has rarely sounded so lyrical and nimble.

For those unfamiliar with the Hindemith wind sonatas this is an inexpensive option, and the quality of sound and performance is very high indeed. True, there are preferable alternatives of individual sonatas (namely all Les Vents Français’ soloists and the comparisons listed underneath the review of their set – see page 70 of the June issue), but taken as a whole this is an excellent option if you want all 10 works gathered together.