Martinu's delightful Nonet has been available for a while now in a fresh, precise and highly enjoyable performance by the Dartington Ensemble on Hyperion. The newcomer isn't quite so pleasingly recorded—high wind writing has a tendency to hardness and the horn booms in fortissimo (it even distorted slightly on my equipmentf but for vitality, sharp-edged wit and melodic appeal I think it has the edge. And some of the most memorable playing occurs in the Andante: the singing cello and darkly atmospheric violin and viola figures create expectations which aren't to be disappointed—the flute and oboe song-theme in thirds towards the end has just the right blend of affection and fluency.
I've no reservations about the sound in the Spohr (but then there's little of Martinu's cutting high woodwind writing here) and the performance is a treasure, to be frank, it's the first time that I've really understood why this piece has survived so well. The Vienna-Berlin Ensemble obviously relish Spohr's masterly and resourceful scoring, and they bring out the warm melancholy of the Adagio without any suggestion of special pleading. One of the best moments to sample their style is at the beginning of the Scherzo, where a mysterious veiled opening (strings alone) turns beautifully to wind-enriched brightness control enhancing rather than diminishing the poetry. I agree with JW that Consortium Classicum on Orfeo/Harmonia Mundi ''probe a little deeper'' into the Spohr, but it would still be this new version that I would come back to in the end. Recommended.'