# Wind quintets



## Olias

I love wind quintets (playing them, listening to them, composing them, whatever). Right now I'm in love with the Reicha Op 88 #2 Eb Major Quintet. The finale has everyone's fingers flying. Anyone have wind quintet favorites?


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## Polednice

I don't actually know many wind quintets, but I love Dvorak's Wind Serenade.


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## Olias

Polednice said:


> I don't actually know many wind quintets, but I love Dvorak's Wind Serenade.


One of my favorites too. Love how the march theme in the 1st movement comes back in the finale.


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## elgar's ghost

Off the top of my head I only have three works that qualify - the wind quintet by Carl Nielsen, the Kleine Kammermusik fur 5 Blaser by Paul Hindemith (both of which I like very much) and the Trois pieces breve by Jacques Ibert (which I'm not so familiar with).


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Ligeti: Bagatelles for Wind Quintet. They are arrangements he made from some of the movements of his "Musica Ricercata" for piano. They sound much better for wind quintet. Here's the first one:






And here's the last one:






I think they sound a bit like Bernstein actually.


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## Ukko

Nielsen's. He composed other music composed (or in at least one case arranged) for wind quintet.

It's all good.


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## Meaghan

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Ligeti: Bagatelles for Wind Quintet. They are arrangements he made from some of the movements of his "Musica Ricercata" for piano. They sound much better for wind quintet. Here's the first one:


I love those! I have played them.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Meaghan said:


> I love those! I have played them.


What do you play?


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## Meaghan

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> What do you play?


Clarinet. I was in a woodwind quintet in high school. I miss it.


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## Ukko

_Meaghan_ is one of my favorite TC members, about 20% because she plays the clarinet.


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## Olias

Meaghan said:


> Clarinet. I was in a woodwind quintet in high school. I miss it.


I know what you mean. I'm a hornist and I just got back into a wind quintet a few months ago. Loving it right now. We've got a Valentine's Day gig soon.


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## Sid James

It's a really good genre of chamber music. Added to those above, these come to mind -

Barber's Summer Music
Janacek's Mladi (Youth)
Schoenberg's Wind Quintet
Carter Woodwind Quintet


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## Ukko

Olias said:


> I know what you mean. I'm a hornist and I just got back into a wind quintet a few months ago. Loving it right now. We've got a Valentine's Day gig soon.


There is some fine wind quintet music out there. I have several recordings from the New York Wind Quintet; good stuff. Also some things by that group Peter Serkin played with, the name of which my unruly mind refuses to cough up.


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## Olias

Here is a link where you can download public domain free scores and parts to all 24 of Reicha's Wind Quintets:

http://www.idrs.org/scores/lehrer2/reicha/index.html


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## norman bates

i love this one by John Harbison






and a movement from the first woodwind quintet of Alec Wilder


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## matsoljare

The Swedish-Finnish Einar Englund wrote a superb wind quintet, no samples of it online that i can find though. It's really worth trying to find it though, it's pretty much the piece that turned me on to woodwinds overall!


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## Olias

matsoljare said:


> The Swedish-Finnish Einar Englund wrote a superb wind quintet, no samples of it online that i can find though. It's really worth trying to find it though, it's pretty much the piece that turned me on to woodwinds overall!


Ah, thank you. I will certainly look for a recording.


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## starthrower

Why does a wind quintet contain a brass instrument?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

starthrower said:


> Why does a wind quintet contain a brass instrument?


I know it's a little confusing at first, but the horn is actually more closely related to the woodwind than the brass. It's the same reason why in orchestral scores the horns are put above the trumpets and below the bassons. I can't exactly remember how it's more closely related to the woodwind though. :lol:


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## Lunasong

Horns are wind instruments, as are trumpets, trombones, and tuba 

The (wood)wind quintet has been around with this lineup for more than 200 years and, unlike the string quartet or the brass quintet, only two of the instruments share the same sound-producing mechanism, and even those two don't sound much alike. The oboe and bassoon are both double reeds; the clarinet is a single reed; the flute has a sound-hole; the horn...well you buzz your lips into this impossibly tiny mouthpiece.

Considering that the horn is better represented by number than any other wind instrument in orchestral personnel, AND has the option of utilizing an assistant or associate principal horn AND is represented in both wind and brass quintet AND has this consistent reputation as "one of the more difficult instruments to play well," I'd say their PR rep is doing his/her job...


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## starthrower

Sorry, I had wood on my mind. lol! Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the Borealis wind quintet next month.


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## Lunasong

Well if that's how you are thinking, why is a flute considered a woodwind?

I have this CD and like it very much.








to see what happens to the horn, check here.

I will be seeing (hearing?) the Imani Winds in February.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Lunasong said:


> Well if that's how you are thinking, why is a flute considered a woodwind?


Flutes were originally made out wood. They only began being made out of metal sometime in the 1800s I think.


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## starthrower

I wish they were going to play some Poulenc when they come to town.


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## Olias

The reason the "Wind Quintet" has the instrumentation it does is because the orchestra at the time the first wind quintets were written (late Classical period) contained only those five instruments as "regulars" in the wind section. Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon were the standard wind instruments for the orchestra. Trumpets and trombones had been used sometimes but were not in regular use.

The genre came about because of two reasons:

1) the development of more well-made wind instruments and improvements in wind instrument technology
2) the popularity of the string quartet in music publishing created a demand for a similar genre in wind instruments


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## Olias

Wind Quintet rehearsal tonight! Getting ready for the big Valentine's gig we're playing tomorrow evening.


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## Lunasong

Olias said:


> Wind Quintet rehearsal tonight! Getting ready for the big Valentine's gig we're playing tomorrow evening.


What's your program? I think it would be lovely to enjoy a woodwind quintet as a Valentine's treat.


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## Olias

Lunasong said:


> What's your program? I think it would be lovely to enjoy a woodwind quintet as a Valentine's treat.


Wind Quintet transcriptions of:
Cosi Fan Tutte Overture
Summertime and I Got Plenty of Nuttin' from Porgy and Bess
New World Symphony Largo
The Entertainer - Joplin
Alexander's Ragtime Band - Gershwin
Plus some tangos, waltzes, and polkas for fun.

Here's our publicity photo. The group is called Quintessence. (I'm the ugly horn player in the middle of the four gorgeous ladies).


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## Lunasong

I like your group name and you are indeed fortunate to be in the company of four lovely ladies to make music together  Good luck tonight.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Olias said:


> Wind Quintet transcriptions of:
> Cosi Fan Tutte Overture
> Summertime and I Got Plenty of Nuttin' from Porgy and Bess
> New World Symphony Largo
> The Entertainer - Joplin
> Alexander's Ragtime Band - Gershwin
> Plus some tangos, waltzes, and polkas for fun.
> 
> Here's our publicity photo. The group is called Quintessence. (I'm the ugly horn player in the middle of the four gorgeous ladies).
> 
> View attachment 3122


Eh? Where's the *Ligeti* bagatelles in that program? I think they would work with those pieces perfectly.


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## poconoron

I've long been fascinated by Mozart's piano and wind quintet K452:









The Beethoven quintet was modeled after Mozart's effort, most experts believe. It is also quite good.


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## Ukko

Olias said:


> The reason the "Wind Quintet" has the instrumentation it does is because the orchestra at the time the first wind quintets were written (late Classical period) contained only those five instruments as "regulars" in the wind section. Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon were the standard wind instruments for the orchestra. Trumpets and trombones had been used sometimes but were not in regular use.
> 
> The genre came about because of two reasons:
> 
> 1) the development of more well-made wind instruments and improvements in wind instrument technology
> 2) the popularity of the string quartet in music publishing created a demand for a similar genre in wind instruments


There may have been a third reason for the absence of the trumpet. By the time of the classical period, most trumpeters could produce reliably only the basic overtones on the (valveless) instrument. There is also, of course, the factor that the trumpet is a soprano instrument - as are the oboe, clarinet and flute usually employed.


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## Olias

Hilltroll72 said:


> There may have been a third reason for the absence of the trumpet. By the time of the classical period, most trumpeters could produce reliably only the basic overtones on the (valveless) instrument. There is also, of course, the factor that the trumpet is a soprano instrument - as are the oboe, clarinet and flute usually employed.


True, and most of the time trumpets were only used for celebratory or military evocations.


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## Olias

poconoron said:


> I've long been fascinated by Mozart's piano and wind quintet K452:
> 
> View attachment 3207
> 
> 
> The Beethoven quintet was modeled after Mozart's effort, most experts believe. It is also quite good.


Yes, love K452. The Berlin Wind Quintet has a gorgeous recording of it (minus their flute player obviously).


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## superhorn

Excuse me for nit-picking, but the Janacek piece is a sextet, not a quintet. It's still a terrific work.


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## Lunasong

I saw the Imani Winds in concert last night. Very eclectic performance; nothing what you might consider typical chamber music or wind ensemble repertoire. They performed works from the two composers in the group (Flute/Horn); also pieces which the group has commissioned. Unfortunately I promptly lost the program, so I don't know the names of all the works! The program was called "West to East" (or similar). They opened with a world premiere performance piece (composed by Jeff Scott), then played a commissioned suite by Jason Moran called _Cane_ that was Cajun in flavor. The next suite was written in honor of Josephine Baker by Valerie Coleman and included elements of St Louis and French jazz, and dance. Then, interval.
After interval, the group played another original piece by Coleman that contained gypsy elements. They next went totally off program with a quintet version of Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_. They finished with another off-program piece that was _klezmer_ inspired and really gave the clarinet player a workout!
I would have loved to seen the scores for these pieces as none except the final piece had any element of regular count. It was a very energetic and intense performance by five individuals with a cohesive performance style.








Valerie Coleman, flute; Mariam Adam, clarinet, Monica Ellis, bassoon; Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe; Jeff Scott, horn.
I walked away with a new concept of wind quintet potential and a (purchased) CD signed by all five members.


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## Olias

Quintet rehearsal tonight! Woohoo!


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## Norse

As far as music for wind quintet goes, Milhaud's La cheminée du roi René seems well-known. It's a seven movement suite (1939) based on music for a film set in the middle ages, which e.g. Honegger also contributed to. It's all nice and accessible, probably some might find it a little too sweet and simple. I think it's pretty cosy.  Apparently a BBC radio show uses parts of it as its opening tune.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Norse... Great avatar! Paul Klee's _Paukenspieler_... I wish I'd thought of it. Klee was an absolute lover of music. A great many of his paintings were attempts to discover an analogous abstract form in art to that of music.


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## Norse

Thanks. I really like Klee, except maybe for a few paintings where he gets a bit too 'smudgey'. Apparently he was somewhat of a wunderkid on the violin. He was also involved with Der Blaue Reiter, I guess Kandinsky also could have been an influence with his 'painting as music'.


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## Olias

I just finished this promotional video for our group:


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## Lunasong

^^Nicely done. While watching this I noticed that there is another wind quintet named Quintessence, but yours is the Quintessence Wind Quintet!


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## Olias

Lunasong said:


> ^^Nicely done. While watching this I noticed that there is another wind quintet named Quintessence, but yours is the Quintessence Wind Quintet!


I saw that too. We may need to change to "Carolina Quintessence" or something like that.


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## Lunasong

Nah, I think as long as you are called THE Quintessence Wind Quintet, it's like OSU being THE Ohio State University


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## PetrB

Seconding the Barber 'Summer Music'









Carter ~ Eight Etudes and a Fantasy

Irving Fine ~ Partita









Darius Milhaud ~ Wind Quintet, Op.443 -- 1973 (his last opus no. -- and a very fine piece.)


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## PetrB

Hilltroll72 said:


> There is some fine wind quintet music out there. I have several recordings from the New York Wind Quintet; good stuff. Also some things by that group Peter Serkin played with, the name of which my unruly mind refuses to cough up.


The group Serkin fils worked with is named Tashi....


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## PetrB

superhorn said:


> Excuse me for nit-picking, but the Janacek piece is a sextet, not a quintet. It's still a terrific work.


I'll join in that nit-pick, the incredibly fine Mozart K452 is a wind quartet with piano, and this is a thread about winds only... but, well o.k. its a precedent set up for the Beethoven.


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