Several versions of Weber's Clarinet Quintet exist on records, but the other two works listed above are rarer; and they come off better here. Janet Hilton seems at her most relaxed and exuberant in company with Keith Swallow, who is indeed an accompanist of unusual and still insufficiently appreciated gifts. In the Grand duo concertant, the partners are equals: Weber composed the work for himself and the great Heinrich Barmann, to show off the virtuosity and musicianship of both of them. Hilton plays with splendid dash and vigour, and Swallow judges to a nicety the interplay with the clarinet. The skilfully written slow movement allows each player to come forward to the centre of the stage—it is a remarkably dramatic work—and Swallow is marvellously eloquent here as well as handling the often very tricky piano writing in the outer movements with a brio Weber himself would surely have applauded. Hilton makes light of the technical demands here and in the Variations, a work which stands up well to repeated performance. It may have been written in a hurry, but the invention is generally strong and capable of moving beyond the simple virtuoso decoration of a theme. Here the partnership between the artists is of a different order, though Weber cannot deny himself a piano variation and some passages where it is the keyboard as well as the clarinet which shines.
Janet Hilton is a little less at ease with the Quintet than in these delightful performances. She seems a little troubled by some of the passage-work, and she is inclined to take the piece more seriously than was possibly intended. It is a brilliant work, in the sense that it belongs in the brilliant world of Paris music-making rather than to the world that produced and was to produce the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Brahms. It therefore needs an extrovert, even theatrical manner, in the sensations of the slow movement no less than with the dazzling technical fireworks. Janet Hilton seems a little reluctant to let herself go, though she plays with a plesantly lyrical manner and no little enjoyment of the music. Gervase de Peyer on HMV plays it with rather more panache, and so in another manner does Antony Pay, the admirable clarinettist on the Nash Ensemble CRD record. The recording is clear and sharp, with piano and clarinet intelligently balanced for their roles. In sum, as a record of Weber's chamber music for clarinet this is much to be recommended, even if those who are after the Quintet alone may prefer de Peyer or Pay. De Peyer couples his performance with Mozart's Quintet, Pay with Weber's Flute Trio. '