Bassoon concertos, played by Laurence Perkins, with the Manchester Camerata.
Contains: Concerto in B flat major, K. 191, by Mozart; Concertino in B flat makor, by Michael Haydn; Concerto in F major, by Stamitz; and Andante e Rondo Ungarese op. 35, & Concerto in F major op. 75, both by von Weber.

Bassoon Concertos, by Antonio Rosetti, with Albrecht Holder, on basson with the New Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
Antonio Rosetti (died 1792) is more known for his horn concertti.
The concerti on this disc are for bassoon and small orchestra, the first three being world premiere recordings. According to the custom of the time, Holder has added his own embellishments to repeated dequences. Cadenzas are written by Professor Eberhard Buschmann of Wurzburg.

Bassoon Bon-bons, played by Daniel Smith, with varied accompaniments.
Unlike the other two CDs featured here, many of these works have been arranged for bassoon (rather than original compositions). INcluded are many classical favourites such as Golliwog's cake-walk (Debussy), Vocalise (Rachmaninoff),
Winter, second movement (Four seasons, Vivaldi) and Liebesleid, (Kreisler).
The library also has a disc with Daniel Smith playing Vivaldi concerti for bassoon.

Clarinet concertos by Aho and Nielsen played by Martin Fröst, clarinet with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra .
"Until you've heard Martin Fröst, you really haven't heard the clarinet. This young Swedish musician becomes the clarinet. His entire body moves and breathes with the instrument - and he creates sounds the likes of which you will go a very long way to hear...It's a mark of Fröst's imagination and genius that he chose the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho to write him a clarinet concerto...a work of beguiling beauty and huge excitement." - The Times UK.

Clarinet quintets, by Mozart and Weber. Played by Eduard Brunner and the Hagen Quartett.
Contains: Quintet in A major, K. 581, by Mozart; Quintet in B major, op. 34, von Weber.

Sonatas for clarinet and piano, op. 120, by Brahms, with Gervase de Peyer, on clarinet and Gwenneth Pryor on piano.
The first performance of these sonatas with the composer at the piano was given in January 1895. Brahms enjoyed the experience so much he joined with Muhlfeld the clarinettist to make many subsequent performances in Germany and Austria, and gave him the manuscripts and all performing rights during his lifetime.

The Virtuouso clarinettist, played by Colin Bradbury and Donald Watson on clarinet and Oliver Davies on piano.
This features works from the nineteenth century - the heyday of virtuous clarinet music. At the same time developments were made to the instrument (e.g. additional keys were added). This is demanding music to play, but refreshing to listen to. Composers include Spohr, von Weber, Donizetti, Rossini and Panizza.

Clarinet Masquerade, played by the Thurston Clarinet Quartet.
This contains a variety of styles, ranging from classical to light, written specifically for clarinet ensemble.
The Thurston Clarinet Quartet have been active in Great Britain since 1985.

The great flute concertos, Played by Jean-Pierre Rampal.
Contains sparkling concertos by Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach and Telemann.
The library has many CDs by Rampal whose recording career spanned many decades.

Rampal, Kudo and Ritter play Telemann, Kuhlau, Bach, Mozart and Doppler flute music.
Instruments like the flute and piano/harpsichord were relied on to supply background easy listening in middle class drawing rooms, and these numbers fit that bill.

Flute quintets, by Boccherini and Kraus; played by Aurele Nicolet and the Athenaeum Enesco String Quartet Paris.
While Boccherini - a most "classical" of classical composers - is known today, Kraus (1756-1792) is virtually eclipsed by the others from the period.
Kraus became Court Director to the King of Sweden and Haydn once called his C minor symphony "brilliant".

Complete flute sonatas, by Johann Sebastian Bach, played by Lisa Beznosiuk and Richard Tunnicliffe.
The flute replaced the pre-eminence of the recorder in the woodwind family during the Baroque era. Bach himself shows this transition as earlier works call solely on recorders, but by 1725 this is relatively rare (his Brandenburg concerto no. 4 is the exception that proves the rule). Lisa Beznosiuk is an early flute specialist performer.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT Flute concertos by Dalbavie, Jarrell, Pintscher played by Emmanuel Pahud, flute ; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France ; Peter Eötvös (1st work), Pascal Rophé (2nd work), Matthias Pintscher (3rd work), conductors.
Swiss-French flautist Emmanuel Pahud, named as "one of the finds of the decade" by Gramophone magazine, is one of today's most exciting and adventurous musicians. Appointed Principal Flute of the Berliner Philharmoniker aged just 22, his solo albums have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide ... and he now brings his repertoire up to date with a programme of contemporary works commissioned especially for him. (drawn from Amaxon.co.uk)