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"... there's a good deal of vim and vigour about the first movement's Allegro, the Andante's variations are amiably presented and there's a welcome sense of edgy tension at the outset of the finale ..." - Gramophone "The playing is excellent and, even more importantly, the performances are imbued with a spirit which I doubt could have been captured as effectively in a studio ... high standards are maintained throughout ... excellence is most certainly in evidence here ... just as evident is the sense of enjoyment that pervades the performance ... I enjoyed this expert and always smiling performance very much indeed and it’s evident from the vociferous applause at the end that the Southampton audience enjoyed it just as much ... recorded sound is very good ... with an hour and a quarter of delightful music in first rate performances this disc is a winner." - MusicWeb International Since winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the Young Artists Auditions in New York at the age of 17, clarinetist Emma Johnson has become one of the UK's most popular classical artists, selling over half a million albums worldwide. On these works by Schubert and Bernhard Crusell, recorded live in October 2014, she is joined by her special guests the award-winning Carducci Quartet, double bassist Chris West, horn player Michael Thompson and bassoonist Philip Gibbon. The six movement Octet shows Schubert at his most positive, profound and consistently inspired: it is astonishing, not only in sheer melodic invention but also in structural development and expressive narrative. During his lifetime, Crusell was considered one of Sweden's leading composers and one of the finest clarinetists throughout Europe. His mastery of the instrument is evident in the delightful, rarely heard serenade-like Concert Trio for clarinet, horn and bassoon.