This is unusual repertory. The Kegelstatt Trio, for clarinet, viola and piano, is often coupled with the Clarinet Quintet, but here instead we have two works for clarinet and string trio. They are arrangements that Johann Andre published after the composer's death as ''per W. A. Mozart, Oeuvre 79me'' but which may have been made by Andre himself. Here the Quartet in B flat major has been further revised by the clarinettist Bela Kovacs, yet all of this music sits fairly comfortably in its new form.
However, the performances are only respectable, and I was put off by hearing a faint breathy hum from someone about eight seconds into the first movement of K498, the first of several such noises and a price the engineers pay for an over-close recording. If they record like this for fear of extraneous noises in the Budapest Unitarian Church (a popular Naxos venue), they should guard more carefully against others from the players that contribute nothing to the music. As it is, this first movement is too deliberate, and although the other two go better, the close sound adds heaviness and one longs for really soft tone and wider dynamics. This said, the sound is well balanced and the players' tone seems faithfully caught.
The other works please me in this form rather more than I expected, clarinettists may like to be reminded of them as alternative chamber pieces by this composer. For example, the finale of the Quartet in B flat goes nicely enough as a clarinet piece. But not all the writing sits so naturally on the clarinet (though some of the violin part is still given to the violin) and I don't think I am just being wise after the event when I say that some faster music strikes me as a touch strenuous. In the case of the Quartet in F, the work has been transposed down a tone so as to lie better for the instrument, and again there are things to enjoy here if this repertory interests you.'