French composers always
seem to have had a special affinity
for woodwind instruments, whether in
the context of orchestral or solo and
chamber music. Collected on this disc
are four particularly delectable examples,
all by important 20th century
figures. If you are tempted to think
that a whole disc of such music might
be heavy going, put that out of your
mind – this is gorgeous stuff, and there
is enough variety to avoid any chance
of monotony. All four composers represented
have strongly individual personalities
and styles, and the presence of the
piano in the Poulenc provides contrasting
sounds and textures.
That said, I found
the performance of the Poulenc the least
impressive on this disc, carefully prepared
though it is. There is a balance problem,
in that the horn playing of Henning
Due Hansen seems to come from some way
away, and this detracts badly from the
instrument’s many delicious moments.
I sympathise, as balance is a perennial
difficulty of this piece, in live performances
as much as in the recording studio.
Things are far better
in the wind-only works. Ibert’s exquisite
short pieces are played with wit and
style, with a particularly expressive
duet for flute and clarinet in the middle
movement. The same qualities persist
into Milhaud’s masterly neo-classical
(or more strictly neo-renaissance) suite
La cheminée du roi René,
evoking the golden era of King René
of Provence, who reigned there during
the 15th century. Though
externally simple, there is a lot more
to this music than is at first apparent,
and the Danish players characterise
the sequence of short movements sharply.
Typically piquant is the fourth movement,
La Maousinglade; this
is a well-nigh untranslatable Provençal
word – the nearest thing in English
is probably ‘higgledy-piggledy’ – which
refers to the part of Aix-en-Provence
where Milhaud was brought up. Gently
repetitive, swinging rhythms give rise
to a succession of melodies in upper
woodwind; music of great charm, and
captured well by this ensemble.
But for me, the prize
item on the disc is the wonderful Wind
Quintet no.1 by Jean Françaix.
Though of a more recent generation than
the other three composers, he inherited
from Les Six - of which group Poulenc
and Milhaud were leading members - a
dry humour, a neo-classical outlook
and an entertaining unpredictability.
As in the Milhaud, it is easy to underestimate
this music because of its surface charm.
But I would urge you to listen carefully
and repeatedly, for, though not perhaps
profound, this is a most cunningly and
intricately wrought piece. As so often
with Françaix, there is a gossamer,
dream-like quality to the music, with
elements of the circus too. At the very
end, an unaccompanied horn solo outlines
a sequence of notes that seems to lie
behind much of the earlier music; a
pause, then just a little gurgle like
water disappearing down the plug-hole,
and the piece is over. Wonderful, and
a conclusion that surely would have
appealed greatly to Poulenc, who loved
just this kind of throw-away ending.
A fine disc then, and
an immensely entertaining one. And if
the Wind Quintet of the Danish National
Symphony Orchestra don’t always achieve
that authentic Gallic flavour, well
who can honestly blame them; after all,
they’re not French!
Gwyn Parry-Jones
The Wind Quintet of the Danish National Symphony
Orchestra/DR; Ralf Gothóni (piano) 
