Beethoven Wind Quintet

Antoine Reicha, born Antonín Rejcha in Prague, moved in adolescence with his family to Bonn, playing violin and flute under the direction of his uncle in the court orchestra in which Beethoven also served. In 1794 he moved to Hamburg, where he took up teaching and composition instead of performance. In 1799 he tried for operatic success in Paris, but when this failed he moved to Vienna, renewing acquaintance with Beethoven and Haydn. Here he won considerable success, returning to Paris once more in 1808 where he enjoyed esteem as a composer and, above all, as a teacher at the Conservatoire. His pupils included Berlioz, Liszt and, for a short time, César Franck. He was the author of a number of important theoretical treatises.

Antoine Reicha, born Antonín Rejcha in Prague, moved in adolescence with his family to Bonn, playing violin and flute under the direction of his uncle in the court orchestra in which Beethoven also served. In 1794 he moved to Hamburg, where he took up teaching and composition instead of performance. In 1799 he tried for operatic success in Paris, but when this failed he moved to Vienna, renewing acquaintance with Beethoven and Haydn. Here he won considerable success, returning to Paris once more in 1808 where he enjoyed esteem as a composer and, above all, as a teacher at the Conservatoire. His pupils included Berlioz, Liszt and, for a short time, César Franck. He was the author of a number of important theoretical treatises.

One or more of these 1995 thru 1997 recordings have been, and/or still are, available separately. NCA has conveniently and, it must be said, quite elegantly repackaged them in a handsomely appointed foldout set. The first disc in this set, the op. 56 quintets, was reviewed as far back as 10 years ago by John Bauman in 23:6 in all of three brief paragraphs. Franz Danzi, (1763-1826) an almost exact contemporary of Beethoven, perhaps deserves a bit more than that, but frankly, not a lot more. He got it in 31:3 from Steven E. Ritter who reviewed a three-CD BIS set of Danzi's complete wind quintets performed on modern instruments by the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet that were recorded half-a-dozen years earlier than these NCA releases.

Postcards from Vienna: drawn largely from the supreme players of the Wiener Philharmoniker, collected here are the Decca recordings of Viennese chamber music ensembles, including the New Vienna Octet, Vienna Wind Soloists, Wiener Waldhornverein and Vienna Flute Trio, many making their first international appearance on CD. Led by clarinetist Alfred Boskovsky, the first line-up of the Vienna Octet made it's last recording for Decca in 1972, but Boskovsky was behind the revival of the group's name, having already chosen the young members of the Vienna Philharmonic who would carry on the work of the ensemble and it's traditions of superbly mellifluous, silver-toned playing.

This music was recorded by Ashkenazy and the London Wind Soloists in 1966, quite early in his career outside Russia. It is outstanding in every way, not the least of which is the balance among the instruments, all of which have rewarding music to play. I have heard much more recent recordings of chamber groups that don't achieve this kind of balance. The Mozart Quintet dates from 1784, when he was at the peak of his powers, and this particular mix of instruments had not been tried before. It is a good-natured work, lively in the outer movements, with each player getting a chance to take the lead, so to speak, and the blended textures are arresting and appealing.

This music was recorded by Ashkenazy and the London Wind Soloists in 1966, quite early in his career outside Russia. It is outstanding in every way, not the least of which is the balance among the instruments, all of which have rewarding music to play. I have heard much more recent recordings of chamber groups that don't achieve this kind of balance. The Mozart Quintet dates from 1784, when he was at the peak of his powers, and this particular mix of instruments had not been tried before. It is a good-natured work, lively in the outer movements, with each player getting a chance to take the lead, so to speak, and the blended textures are arresting and appealing.

With the vast majority of Beethoven's works being frequently performed as part of the modern canon, we can sometimes forget those few pieces that often lie dormant. This Hyperion album, featuring the Nash Ensemble, celebrates three such works. The program opens with the Op. 104 C minor String Quintet, which keen listeners will instantly recognize as a transcription of the Op. 1/3 Piano Trio. The quintet version came into being as a sort of "oneupsmanship" after an amateur composer submitted his own transcription. Beethoven, who accurately assessed that he could do better, rewrote it and published it as Op. 104. If you're not already familiar with the piano trio, you may never know that the string quintet began its life in a different genre. Beethoven's writing is highly idiomatic while preserving almost the entire original score of the trio. The Nash Ensemble's performance is equally refined and stunning, making it all the more curious why this piece is not performed more frequently.

The Beethoven wind music is, happily, already well represented in the catalogues. None of the pieces listed above has needed the help of the composer's bi-centenary to achieve a recording; and only, I believe, the doubtfully attractive Trio for piano, flute and bassoon is not otherwise at present available. Indeed the catalogues go better than this, producing in addition to the above list the Duos for clarinet and bassoon, the Trio for two oboes and cor anglais (both of these a happier sound than you might think), the Trio for piano, clarinet and cello, the Octet Rondino, and some flute oddities perhaps most likely to appeal to connoisseurs of that instrument.

What could more enticing than two masterpieces written by composers still in their twenties? In a letter to his exacting father, Leopold, Mozart said he thought his recently completed quintet, K452, was his best work yet. And this in the midst of an extraordinarily purple patch, even by his standards. Beethoven's quintet (for the same instruments and in the same key) was written in deliberate imitation of Mozart's, perhaps in as much a spirit of friendly competition as homage.

Franz Danzi was not the creator of the wind quintet, which emerged out of various earlier forms of wind ensemble music and was crystallized by Beethoven Antoine Reicha. Danzi, an Italian-born associate of both Mozart and Beethoven, was inspired to take up the genre by the works of Reicha, which are a lot more Beethovenian in their harmonies and in their general level of seriousness. The nine wind quintets and three quintets for piano and winds recorded here are, in the main, genial and gentle works.