French Music For Wind Quintet

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Cat No: 8557356

Release Date: 12 January 2004

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313235629

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: FRENCH MUSIC FOR WIND QUINTET

Description
French Music for Wind InstrumentsFrancis Poulenc (1899-1963): Sextet for piano and wind quintetJacques Ibert (1890-1962): Trois pi?¿ces br?¿vesDarius Milhaud (1892-1974): La Cheminee du roi ReneJean Fran?ºaix (1912-1997): Wind Quintet No. 1Since the early nineteenth century French composershave shown a particular skill and deftness of touch inhandling wind instruments, following the pattern set atthe Paris Conservatoire by Anton Reicha (1770-1836),with his preference for the textures of the quintet ofdifferent wind instruments, as opposed to the traditionaldoubling in sextets or octets.Francis Poulenc only undertook formal musicaltraining in composition in 1921 from Charles Koechlin.He had studied the piano with Ricardo Vines andexplored the music of composers that he favoured,Bach, Mozart, Satie and Stravinsky, and came to beassociated with the group of friends known as Les Six,Honegger, Milhaud, Auric, Tailleferre and Durey,associates of Jean Cocteau, diverse in talent but allinfluenced to some extent by the eccentric andinnovative Erik Satie. Poulenc's early chamber musicincluded a number of works for wind instruments, apreference continued throughout his career, the onlyexceptions being his violin sonata and cello sonata ofthe 1940s. The Sextet for piano and wind quintet waswritten in 1932 and first performed the following year.It remained unpublished, and in 1939 Poulenc revisedit, completing the task as he awaited conscription. It hadits first performance in Paris in December 1940.Poulenc's own career as a performer had led, in 1935, toa partnership with the singer Pierre Bernac, and he tookpart in a recording of the Sextet during a tour ofAmerica in 1960. In an earlier recording, in 1952, thepiano part had been played by the composer JeanFran?ºaix.The Sextet opens with a vigorous flourish, propelledforward by its own energy, leading to a passage oflyrical melancholy introduced by the bassoon. There isa return to the pace and panache of the opening, beforethe movement comes to an end. The second movement,marked Andantino, has the descriptive titleDivertissement, with a rapider section at its centre. Theouter sections have an unmistakably French air ofpoignant lyricism, set off by the playful gaiety at itsheart. The mood changes at once as the final rondosurges forward, the form allowing opportunities for thecheerful display of each of the instruments, modified inthe last part of the movement.A winner of the Prix de Rome at the ParisConservatoire, Jacques Ibert was for a number of yearsdirector of the French Academy in Rome. Versatile andprolific, he contributed as a composer to many genres ofmusic, operas, ballets, film scores, orchestral works,songs and chamber music. In common with hiscontemporary compatriots he was able to writeidiomatically and skilfully for wind instruments, afacility demonstrated in his early Wind Quartet,originally for two flutes, clarinet and bassoon, amongother works.Ibert's Trois pi?¿ces br?¿ves (Three Short Piece
Tracklisting