Melos Ensemble - Music Among Friends - Box Set 11CDs

Label : EMI
Format : Flac (image + Cue)
Cover : Yes

The Melos Ensemble was formed by musicians who wanted to play chamber music scored for a larger ensemble in a combination of strings, winds and other instruments with the quality of musical rapport only regular groups can achieve.

All its members were excellent musicians who held positions in notable orchestras and appeared as soloists. The clarinettist Gervase de Peyer, flautist Richard Adeney, viola player Cecil Aronowitz and cellist Terence Weil were the founding members.

Planned as a group of twelve players - string quintet, wind quintet with piano and harp - this could be expanded by other players to perform an enormous range of works from Mozart through the classics and romantics of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms to Bartók, Janá?ek, Nielsen, Poulenc and Khatchaturian. They also gave first performances and then recorded works by four then young British composers: Richard Rodney Bennett, Harrison Birtwistle, Gordon Crosse and Peter Maxwell Davies.

The principal musicians who joined the initial four were the violinists Emanuel Hurwitz and Ivor McMahon, double bass player Adrian Beers, oboist Peter Graeme, horn player Neil Sanders, bassoonist William Waterhouse, pianist Lamar Crowson and harpist Osian Ellis.

Many of the recordings are classics of the Gramophone and have been rarely out of the catalogue. Here is a set bringing together all their recordings made during those fifteen halcyon years of glorious music-making.

Bartók:
Contrasts for violin, clarinet & piano, BB 116, Sz. 111
Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Lamar Crowson (piano)

Beethoven:
Quintet in E flat major for piano and winds, Op.16
Lamar Crowson (piano), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet)
Sextet in E flat Major, Op. 71
Neil Sanders (horn), James Buck (horn), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Septet in E flat major, Op. 20
Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello), Adrian Beers (double bass), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Neil Sanders (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon)
Octet in E flat major, Op. 103
Peter Graeme (oboe), Sarah Barrington (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet),· Keith Puddy (clarinet), Neil Sanders (horn), James Buck (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Edgar Williams (bassoon)
Duo No. 1 in C major WoO 27/1
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon)

Bennett, R R:
Calendar
Richard Adeney (flute/piccolo), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Philip Jones (trumpet), Arthur Wilson (trombone), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello), Lamar Crowson (piano), James Blades (percussion), Stephen Whittaker (percussion)
John Carewe

Berwald:
Grand Septet in B flat major
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Neil Sanders (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello), Adrian Beers (double bass)

Birtwistle:
Tragoedia
Richard Adeney (flute/piccolo), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Neil Sanders (horn), Hilary Wilson (harp), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Sir Edward Downes

Bliss:
Oboe Quintet, Op. 21
Peter Graeme (oboe), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Clarinet Quintet
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Conversation No. 1: The Committee Meeting
Richard Adeney (flute), Peter Graeme (oboe), Eli Goren (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Conversation No. 5: In the Tube at Oxford Circus
Richard Adeney (flute), Peter Graeme (oboe), Eli Goren (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)

Brahms:
Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)

Crosse, G:
Concerto da camera
Christopher Hyde-Smith (flute), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Anthony Jennings (bass-clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Neil Sanders (horn), James Buck (horn), David Mason (trumpet), Philip Jones (trumpet), Alfred Flaszinski (trombone), Tristan Fry (percussion), Jack Lees (percussion), Manoug Parikian (violin)

Maxwell Davies:
Leopardi Fragments
Mary Thomas (soprano), Rosemary Phillips (contralto); Richard Adeney (flute/piccolo), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Philip Jones (trumpet), Arthur Wilson (trombone), Terence Weil (cello), Osian Ellis (harp)
Françaix:
Divertissement for oboe, clarinet & bassoon
Peter Graeme (oboe), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Lamar Crowson (piano)

Janacek:
Mládí (Youth), for wind sextet
Richard Adeney (flute/piccolo), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Stephen Trier (bass-clarinet), Neil Sanders (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon)
In the Mists
Lamar Crowson (piano)

Concertino, JW VII/11
Lamar Crowson (piano), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Neil Sanders (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon)

Khachaturian:
Trio for clarinet, violin & piano
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Lamar Crowson (piano)

Mendelssohn:
Octet in E flat major, Op. 20
Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Kenneth Sillito (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Iona Brown (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Kenneth Essex (viola), Terence Weil (cello), Keith Harvey (cello)

Milhaud:
Suite for violin, clarinet and piano, Op. 157b
Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Lamar Crowson (piano)

Mozart:
Clarinet Quintet in A major, K581
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat, K452
Lamar Crowson (piano), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet) Neil Sanders (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon)
Clarinet Trio in E flat major, K498 "Kegelstatt-Trio"
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Lamar Crowson (piano)

Nielsen:
Wind Quintet, Op. 43 (FS 100)
Richard Adeney (flute), Peter Graeme (oboe & cor anglais), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Neil Sanders (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon)

Poulenc:
Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon
Peter Graeme (oboe), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Lamar Crowson (piano)
Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon, Op. 32
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon)

Prokofiev:
Overture on Hebrew Themes, for clarinet, string quartet & piano, Op. 34
Lamar Crowson (piano), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)

Ravel:
Introduction & Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet
Richard Adeney (flute), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Osian Ellis (harp), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)

Reger:
Clarinet Quintet in A major, Op. 146: Vivace
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)

Schubert:
Piano Quintet in A major, D667 'The Trout'
Lamar Crowson (piano), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)
Adagio and Rondo Concertante in F major for piano, violin, viola and cello, D487
Lamar Crowson (piano), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola),· Terence Weil (cello)

Schumann:
Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Lamar Crowson (piano)
Märchenerzählungen (4) for Clarinet, Viola & Piano, Op. 132
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Lamar Crowson (piano)

Skalkottas:
Octet
William Bennett (flute), Peter Graeme (oboe), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)

Spohr:
Double String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 65 (String Octet)
Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Kenneth Sillito (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Iona Brown (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Kenneth Essex (viola), Terence Weil (cello), Keith Harvey (cello)

Weber:
Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, Op. 34, J182
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin), Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello)