Clarinettist Leslie Craven returns to Music Concepts after his successful release with Stepjan Hauser and Yoko Misumi and recording of the Christopher Ball Clarinet Concerto with a new album of Romantic Clarinet Quintets alongside the Victoria String Quartet. The album features the only recording of Arnold Cooke’s Clarinet Quintet. Leslie Craven, a child prodigy who made his debut with the London Philharmonic at age 11 was the long-standing Principal Clarinetist of Welsh National Opera. Since his retirement, Leslie Craven has also become an instrument maker, and this album features performances on a clarinet of his own making.
“Craven’s eloquent phrasing, as if across the barlines, brings a kind of peripatetic rubato to the playing. Contrapuntal lines in the scherzo, as are Craven’s acrobatic roulades. Well characterised and balanced and not over-pressed, the finale coheres well” —Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
“Leslie Craven and the Victoria String Quartet have released a lovely recording of the Brahms, Weber, and Cooke clarinet quintets in their album Romantic Clarinet Quintets. … Together, Craven and the quartet have added their unique take on three commonly performed clarinet quintets. … The recording quality is particularly good and well balanced. The works are presented with musical astuteness by Craven and the Victoria String Quartet in this delightful album of Romantic Clarinet Quintets.” —Karen Dannessa, The Clarinet
