Fandango: Music by Boccherini, Haydn, Pujol & Houghton

Classical guitar virtuoso teams up with Melbourne’s hottest string quartet in a display of passion and style for which they are both renowned. Schaupp and the Flinders do the composers proud, the well-judged tonal and timbral balance as much as the cleanly expressive interpretations ensuring that, frozen/suspended as they are, these performances will withstand repeated listenings. --Limelight Magazine

Boccherini: Flute Quintets Op. 19

'These are delightful works played with a persuasively affectionate period-instrument style, with a felicitous lead from the nimble and gently expressive flautist, Carlo Ipata. Hyperion do the players proud in their debut recording; we shall surely hear more of them' --Gramophone

'I was pleasantly surprised with this disc. The music is typical Boccherini, charming and with a certain amount of energy…but the performances by Auser Musici flow beautifully. They have both inner energy and a smile' --Fanfare, USA

'Listening to these six quintets, one is immediately captivated by a charm and invention that, while of a different nature, easily equals that of Haydn or Mozart … The playing is exceptional … Beautifully recorded in the Oratorio di S Domenico, Pisa, this is an auspicious debut for Auser Musici on Hyperion. Further recordings are planned - let's hope we don't have to wait too long for them' --International Record Review

The Baroque Album

There is no doubting that both technically and musically he is an outstandingly gifted player, able to command not only tonal beauty across the range of his instrument (his upper register has a violinistic purity), but also to prove himself more than a match for all of Boccherini's virtuoso tricks. --Fanfare

The Boccherini concerto is, of course, the work that achieved such notorious popularity in the vulgar hybrid version by Grützmacher. Needless to say (at least I hope it’s needless in this day and age), Wang plays the original score. There is no doubting that both technically and musically he is an outstandingly gifted player, able to command not only tonal beauty across the range of his instrument (his upper register has a violinistic purity), but also to prove himself more than a match for all of Boccherini’s virtuoso tricks. The first theme of the opening Allegro moderato is played with an easy elegance, while he draws beautifully sustained lines in the central movement, even if it is taken too slowly and with too much vibrato employed for my taste. The high-spirited Rondo finale is also very winning, Wang’s strongly accentuated upbeat on the main theme providing an excellent impetus maintained throughout the movement...

...Monn, an important figure in the development of the early Viennese symphony, was noted for his sound contrapuntal skills, here on particular display in the final Allegro non tanto. But the jewel of the work is the beautiful central Adagio, a 12/8 siciliana in E♭•played by Wang with great affection and searching expressivity. Throughout, the writing for the cello is fluently accomplished, the concentration on the instrument’s lower register enhancing the serious, at times uneasy mood of the outer movements... -- Brian Robins, FANFARE

MP3 320 · 123 MB