THE MUSIC
The Wind Quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon) was
established as ensemble in the very beginning of the 19th century. The
first half of the century saw the composition of a total of some 90 wind
quintets by composers including Reicha, Danzi and others. Interest in
this ensemble form abated during the later nineteenth century, despite
the existence of superb ensembles that maintained the tradition in France,
England and Germany.
None of the more prominent nineteenth century composers wrote works for wind quintet, whereas the twentieth century saw the expansion of the repertoire with pieces by the truly outstanding composers of the period, including Schönberg, Nielsen, Hindemith, Milhaud, Ibert, Villa-Lobos, Barber, Denisov, Henze, Berio, Stockhausen, Ligeti, Carter and others.
There is, however, a dearth of pieces for wind quintet plus one additional, non-wind instrument, particularly if we disregard the handful of pieces for quintet and piano, including ones by Poulenc, Roussel, Jacob and a few others.
The Östersund Wind Quintet has during the recent years commissioned and brought to first performance a number of wind quintets with soloists, and presents on this disc four new pieces by Swedish composers.
Jan Tolf
[1-4] FRETS OF PREY (1995) 10'00
Mats Bergström, guitar, Östersund Wind Quintet
Anders Nilsson
[5-7] SERENADE (2000) 19'15
Ola Karlsson, violoncello, Östersund Wind Quintet
Örjan Sandred
[8] DANQUAH CIRCLE (1997) 9'08
Love Derwinger, piano, Östersund Wind Quintet
Sven-David Sandström
[9-15] SE, ÖARNA (1998) 26'54
Marianne Eklöf, mezzo, Östersund Wind Quintet
Staffan Larson, conductor
Texts by Katarina Frostenson
