Hi-Res Downloads

192kHz/24-bit ALAC/FLAC, CKD 479 (supplied by www.linnrecords.com)

Most collectors will have discovered the Mozart Divertimenti and Serenades via Decca and its mono/stereo LP series with various Viennese ensembles, from the time of Willi Boskovsky. Linn’s enjoyable programme with the SCO players – pairs of clarinets, horns and bassoons – has more of an ‘outdoors’ style, fresh and open. The works chosen are varied in form: K375 has two menuetto e trio movements (KH has been mentioning one in recent reviews); the F major K253 has an opening set of variations; K252/240a includes a Polonaise. One oddity with Philips Hobbs’ production, I thought, is that you hear the bassoons (and a certain amount of key clicking) on the left, answered by clarinets on the right. But it’s easy to reverse channels if you think ‘treble’ ought – as with an orchestra – to be on the left. CB

Sound Quality: 90%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Recorded by Philip Hobbs at the Stevenson Hall, this is a clean 192kHz rendering with an excess of bandwidth to capture the ~30kHz extension of the clarinet’s upper harmonics. Dynamic range/headroom is also generous. PM