Description
Brilliantly stimulating, rich in allusions and a joy to listen to: Ulf-Guido Schafer's music was composed especially for his nearest and dearest chamber music partners, including top-notch woodwind ensembles Trio Rouseau and Ma'alot Quintett. The friends and highly experienced performers are sparked by their desire to share the diversity of colour, the immense virtuosity and sheer beauty of their instruments.
Inspired by his wife and fellow performer Rachel Frost (oboe), two pieces evoke her name in a sequence of notes which form the central musical element: Reminiscences for cor anglais and string trio and Five Bagatelles, in homage to Gyorgy Ligeti's work for wind quintet. Dyade means togetherness and is the title of four duets for oboe and clarinet which Schafer performs together with his wife.
The eponymous Three Winds is a three-movement work for oboe, clarinet and bassoon and refers to the instrumentation & form and also three meteorological currents and the tempestuous weather conditions that they bring. Quint-Essences are five movements for five players revolving around the interval of the fifth.
As a clarinettist, Schafer knows both his instrument and his ensembles intimately to compose music to best suit himself and showcase the strengths of his fellow performers. The extremely versatile artist (composer, arranger, clarinettist and painter), is also renowned for his legendary arrangements, such as his woodwind trio versions of Mozart's operas, as entertaining as they are virtuosic.
