A Tribute to Janet.
The Britten Oboe Quartet here makes its recording debut with a programme of its core repertory. It naturally includes the great Mozart Quartet K.370 and Britten’s own Phantasy Op.2, but also two pieces that have a special resonance for the distinguished oboist Nicholas Daniel, because they were commissioned and premiered by Janet Craxton (1929-81), his ‘beloved teacher’ and inspiration, and her London Oboe Quartet. Thus Oliver Knussen’s Cantata (1977) and the delightful Cor Anglais Quartet of Jean Françaix add further variety to a fascinating anthology that also features Nicholas Daniel’s own completion of Mozart’s elegiac fragment K580a. © harmonia mundi