# Q vs Q



## drpraetorus

String quartets or Woodwind quintets, Which do you prefer? As a hornist, I'm partial to the quintet, personally.


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## clavichorder

I know the string quartet repertoire better. The pieces written for it that I know are more serious, heavy duty compositions. But Woodwind Quintets sound better!

But I really like Viol Consorts the best.


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## Lunasong

Woodwind quintet. I like the blend of different timbres.
Brass quintet is also nice. 
Horn players are welcome in both groups.


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## Ukko

If you are willing to equalize forces... the string quintet with double-bass pleases my ear, as does the quintet with two cellos; the 1st cello is freed to roam. But it is all a matter of music; Nielsen's wind quintet is a marvel.


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## Mephistopheles

The woodwind has the better sound, but the string has the better music.


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## Klavierspieler

I like strings.

Yaaaaank!


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## Taneyev

I'm a string quartet fanatic. Have probably about 200.


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## Olias

WIND QUINTET! I much prefer the sound of a wind quintet but I admit the string quartet repertoire is much more plentiful.


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## drpraetorus

it seems to me that much of the WW quintet music is too cute. Some are of the opinion that only a string quartet can be taken seriously. I blame the Buffoon/Bassoon and the Sorcerers Apprentice.


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## principe

For all the good features one may attribute to the Wind Quintet, the String Quartet is the best medium in Chamber Music and one of the most profound in the whole Classical realm. 
While few composers embarked on the Wind Quintet's repertory, the vast majority and almost all of the great ones dedicated at least a String Quartet to the vast repertory of this genre. Besides, some of the greatest and most profound music has been written for this format: Beethoven's Late ones (while even the Middle and Early ones are masterworks), Mozart's six dedicated to Haydn, Haydn's enormous opus (at least from the pivotal op. 20 and onwards), Brahms, Bartok and Shostakovich, even Verdi's!
As for the String Quintets: Mozart's Six monumental ones, Schubert's the sublime one and only (with two celli), Mendelssohn's two striking masterpeices and at least Brahmns' exquisite op.111 are among the best music in the whole Chamber field.
Regarding the Wind Quintets, Reicha was a generous composer. Nielsen wrote a masterpiece, but also more for the String Quartet format. And, then...Perhaps, the graceful Quintets for Piano and Winds by Beethoven and Mozart, if anyone remembers them, either to perform or listen.
Unfortunately, composers were attached to Strings. So are the audiences!

Principe


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## Head_case

> For all the good features one may attribute to the Wind Quintet, the String Quartet is the best medium in Chamber Music and one of the most profound in the whole Classical realm.


Yay!

The string quartet is head and shoulders above other forms of classical music for me. Although I play the alto flute and concert flute, I can't say I really like flute music on CDs. Live - it's a different matter. The flute's resonance is just superb if you're playing it.

On recording, it's just a nightmare to get the sound engineering done well. Even a badly played live flute sounds more authentic and real than a virtuoso concert flute recorded on a tinny wispy shrill CD. There are some fantastic flute pieces, but by far, the string quartet seems to have innovated within its strict classical form, rather than becoming confused and throwing in more instruments (like orchestras) for volume; or throwing in permutations of instruments (like piano quintets and wind quintets) for variety; or reducing the form to a trio (which can sound great....but still isn't as malleable and transformationally zesty as a string quartet proper).

Yeah - string quartets it is


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## Head_case

Might like this:


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## jurianbai

String
String
String
String quartet! 


btw, if you get favorite wind quartet/quintet please share here, I really looking into, I am so bored with my Mozart, Beethoven repertoire of the genre. the closest is something obscure like Ruthland Boughton Obeo quartet, Arthus Bliss oboe conversation. I also remember some of Brahms chamber works with the winds.


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## Taneyev

Works for winds?

Holst: quintet op.14.
Gordon Jacob:Sextet op.6-
Ibert:three short pieces.
Francaix:quintet Nº1.
Milhaud: "La Cheminee du Roi Rene" op.205.
Jean-Michel Damase: 17 variations.
Pierneastorale op.14/1
Poulenc: Novelette Nº1.
Faure: Berceuse from "Dolly"
Debussy: Le petit negre.

Have also several quartets for saxes.


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## principe

I presume at least the last three works mentioned in your post, odnopossof, are thranscriptions, not original compositions. In this case, they cannot be considered as "works for Wind Quintet". In the same vein, Sextets or Saxophone Quartets are different mediums.
Of course, I don't have to mention how many works have been transcribed for String Quartet (there is an abridged version of the whole Don Giovanni for String Quartet!).

Principe


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## Klavierspieler

Odnoposoff said:


> Works for winds?
> 
> Holst: quintet op.14.
> Gordon Jacob:Sextet op.6-
> Ibert:three short pieces.
> Francaix:quintet Nº1.
> Milhaud: "La Cheminee du Roi Rene" op.205.
> Jean-Michel Damase: 17 variations.
> Pierneastorale op.14/1
> Poulenc: Novelette Nº1.
> Faure: Berceuse from "Dolly"
> Debussy: Le petit negre.
> 
> Have also several quartets for saxes.


Janacek - Mladi


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## Head_case

It's still a fascinating list. Yes I thought the Debussy piece was originally for piano, but maybe that too is a transcription?


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## hocket

Generally I suppose I favour the String Quartet, but Reicha's Wind Quintets are wunderbar.


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## jurianbai

That's great Reicha got meantioned, he wrote many wind in chamber.


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