In his note to this record‚ Pierre Barbier comments that the Grand duo concertant ‘can be understood as a concerto without orchestra’. It would be fairer to say ‘double concerto without orchestra’‚ and it is certainly no sonata. I do not remember a performance in which the two soloists so fully respond to each other‚ in subtlety of rubato‚ in swift and witty changes of mood‚ in delicacy of balance between the instruments. It is a work that really needs the timbre of a contemporary piano‚ especially in the con molto affetto section of the finale‚ with its churning piano tremolos‚ but the players have such an attentive ear for one another (as well as a dashing individuality that can make them seem enthusiastic rivals)‚ that it all comes out as brilliantly as Weber must have intended when he wrote the piece for himself and his cavalier friend Heinrich Bärmann. The Quintet is rather less successful than this piece or the lighthearted Silvana variations. Pascal Moraguès’ clear‚ bright tone‚ with its French cut to it‚ attractively as he phrases and irresistibly as he brings off the cascading music of the closing section‚ can lack something of the warmth Weber admired in Bärmann’s playing. He is right not to make too much of the mock­horror moment in the finale: this is more of a joke than something resembling the dreadful shudders which Schubert can intrude into his sunniest music. Moraguès’ phrasing is sometimes unusual: it is difficult to tell which edition he is using‚ certainly not the scholarly version published by Schott last year‚ which makes sense of some of the ambiguities. David Shifrin (on Delos) also couples these three works (and throws in the feeble Küffner variations formerly attributed to Weber). While he is excellent in the Quintet he cannot‚ with David Golub‚ match the scintillating new performance of the Grand duo concertant.