Frédéric Berr was a leading clarinettist of his time who worked with Rossini at the Théâtre Italien in Paris in the 1820s. There is no evidence that Rossini sanctioned these arrangements; had he done so‚ he would no doubt have pointed out to Berr that there were six sonatas‚ not just the five then in print. I have to say that I don’t care for the idea of transcribing for winds these charmingly offbeat string quartets‚ interesting as the experiment will no doubt be to wind specialists. The original scoring for two violins‚ cello‚ and double­bass allows for a homogeneity of texture from which the most intimate forms of conversation can emerge. What we are left with in Berr’s transcriptions is a clutter of competing voices. (I dislike just as much the more familiar arrangements for string orchestra which also destroy the character of the quartets as witty and sentimental conversation pieces.) The item which works best here is the Andante e tema con variazioni‚ the fill­in for the absent sonata. The playing – Michael Thompson’s virtuoso horn­playing in particular – has much to commend it‚ though the rather too immediate recording does the flute (breathy) and clarinet (clattering keys) no favours. This is Naxos’s third recording of the sonatas in arrangements of one kind or another. Fourth time lucky perhaps? Not that Naxos are the only villains of the piece. Down the years‚ Philips‚ owners of the classic Accardo­Gazeau­Meunier­Petracchi recording (4/81 – nla)‚ have persistently reissued the ‘wrong’ recordings of these gorgeous but‚ in their original form‚ sadly neglected pieces.