Hindemith / Barber / Larsson / Janacek: Wind Quintets

Harris:Thompson We

Regular: £11.49

Sale: £11.49
Regular

Out of Stock

Unit Price: per

Cat No: 8553851

Release Date: 01 February 2000

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099485128

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: HINDEMITH / BARBER / LARSSON / JANACEK

Description
PaulHindemith: Kleine Kammermusik, for five wind instruments, Op. 24 No.2SamuelBarber: Summer Music, Op. 31 Lars-ErikLarsson: 'Quattro tempi' - Divertimento for wind quintetLeos Janaček:Mladi (Youth) for woodwind sextet Highlyrespected amongst musicians, but too little known or understood by the public,Paul Hindemith was one of the major composers of the twentieth century. Hisoutput ranges from solo works to operas and his style from satirical and jazzto neo-Romantic and most of all a sort of neo-Baroque. Hindemith created a newform of utilitarian music which he called Gebrauchsmusik, relating themusician to society, but his satire and new ideas led him into conflict withthe Nazi party in Germany. By 1937 he had fled to Switzerland and then in1940 to the USA. He becamean American citizen in 1946 and those later years see him relaxing into a moreeasily acceptable style in large-scale neo-romantic works. He died back in Germany in 1963. Despite thedifficulty of some of his earlier works, the series of Kammennusik, begunin the early 1920s, contains much of Hindemith's finest music Although the KleineKammermusik is often considered to be outside the main series, it shares anOpus 24 number with the first. Hindemith was a famous viola-player but couldplay all the instruments he wrote for, thus making the music an enjoyment forboth players and listener alike. The five movements of this particularlyeasy-going and light-hearted piece begin with a jolly march based on a repeatedfour-note figure. This is followed by a waltz movement with a rather ghostlyhushed undercurrent of a hurdy-gurdy type of fairground music The central slowmovement is a quiet moment of repose and flowing melody; in its central section,the soloists alternate in a broad theme against repeated bass figures A note ofaggression or impotence surfaces in the brief scherzo that acts as abridge to the merry antics of the finale In contrastto the modernism of Hindemith, Samuel Barber was a conservative and lyricalcomposer. His works are few but often gems of craftsmanship and at least one,the famous Adagio, has become a standard of twentieth century music, beit as the slow movement of a string quartet or in its arrangements for stringorchestra or chorus. Composed in 1956, the wind serenade Summer Music, oneof his smaller-scale works, is in one short movement, changing tempo and moodbut always retaining a feel of the open air Flourishes for flute and clarinetagainst horn and bassoon set the scene before a lyrical theme on the oboeappears The tempo speeds up and staccato passages contrast with lyricalsections until a climax is reached before the short finale at the earlier tempobrings the work to a close. Summer Music is one of the most immediatelyattractive of twentieth century wind pieces and well deserves repeatedlistening. Amongst themany Scandinavian composers so little known outside their own country,Lars-Erik Larsson is one of the most agreeable. Born in 1908,
Tracklisting