Karl Leister, for 34 years the distinguished Principal Clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic, has recorded all these Brahms clarinet works before, but it makes an ideal coupling having them in such stylish, warmly expressive performances, recorded in vivid, very immediate sound.
Some may criticize the closeness of sound, when it means that Leister’s pianissimos do not provide quite as sharp a contrast as they otherwise would. The expressiveness is what matters in performances that are the more involving for their immediacy. Leister’s partners are well chosen. The pianist, Ferenc Bognar, is strong yet never too dominant, and the cellist, Wolfgang Boettcher, matches Leister in imaginative interplay. I think of the mysterious, hushed scale passage in the central development section of the first movement of the Trio, a magical moment in no way spoilt by the closeness of sound.
If I have a criticism, it is that the very Brahmsian movements which take the place of scherzos – the Andante grazioso of the Trio, the Allegretto grazioso of the First Sonata and the Allegro appassionato of the Second, tend to be on the slow side and thus rather heavy. Yet Leister’s imagination never fails him, making this well-planned coupling most welcome.'