The eternal popularity of Beethoven's Septet makes it one of the most frequently recorded chamber works: its fluency of invention and freshness of instrumentation provide the ever-tempting opportunity for groups to offer new insights. In the present instance, the Walter Boeykens Ensemble reveal the work's exquisitely proportioned balance between its six movements. Though not as dynamic nor as fluid as the Vienna Chamber Ensemble, the Boeykens do play with stronger determination and brilliance than the Gaudier. In the first movement, for example, the Boeykens' focused ensemble sounds lively and spontaneous, enhanced by a pronounced contrast of tempo between the adagio slow introduction and the following allegro. The Gaudier's relaxed, civilized approach is clear and well balanced, but it lacks the panache of either the Vienna Chamber Ensemble or the Boeykens versions. If, however, the Vienna Chamber Ensemble's mellifluous, smoothly recorded sound is not to your taste, try the Boeykens – most notably in the fourth movement variations and virtuoso finale – whose incisive edge highlights the textural diversity of the music's different instrumental combinations with natural clarity.
Beethoven wrote his Op. 11 Trio in 1798, and its scoring is identical with that of the composer's own 1805 arrangement of the Septet. For the Trio clarinettist Walter Boeykens is joined by Roel Dieltiens on cello and Robert Groslot on piano in a performance of engaging verve and energy. The joyous final movement – an unusually freely elaborated set of variations on the popular trio ''Pria ch'io l'impegno'' from Weigl's opera L'amor marinaro – will leave you wanting more.'