MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

 

alternatively
CD: Crotchet
Download: Classicsonline


Danses et Divertissements
Paul TAFFANEL (1844-1908)
Wind Quintet in G minor (1878) [21:21]
Francis POULENC (1899-1963)
Sextet for piano and wind quintet (1932-39) [17:07]
André JOLIVET
Serenade for wind quintet with solo oboe (1945) [16:11]
Henri TOMASI (1901-1971)
Cinq Danses Profanes et Sacrées (1948) [12:52]
Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet: (Michael Hasel (flute); Andreas Wittmann (oboe); Walter Seyfarth (clarinet); Fergus McWilliam (horn); Henning Trog (bassoon)); Stephen Hough (piano)
rec. Dec 2004 (Poulenc) and May 2006, Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie Berlin, Germany.
BIS BIS-SACD-1532 [68:47]

Experience Classicsonline

Paul Taffanel was one of the founding fathers of the French flute school, working at the Paris Conservatoire and writing instructional methods and compositions for the instrument. He was established as a successful professional flute player, conductor and composer. His wind quintet in G minor is a charming work in three movements with strong melodic lines and Romantic-style harmonies. The melodic material is shared between the instruments equally, with each sound adding colour to the lines, particularly in the central Andante. The third movement is a fast-paced tarantella, which brings to mind Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony. The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet perform with comfortable ease, their individual tones blending well to create a polished overall ensemble sound which has the balance and sensitivity of an orchestral wind section.

Poulenc’s Sextet is an energetic and popular work with a modernist harmonic language, in comparison to the Taffanel, with strong neo-classical elements in the writing. The opening bars explode with vigour, and this is a highly convincing performance. The music settles into a more languid section, with expressive solos from each of the instruments and a hint of jazz influencing Poulenc’s style. The rest of the movement gathers momentum; this is an exciting rendition. The second movement is initially slow and brings to mind Stravinsky’s neo-classical works, before a comedic section breaks through with style. The final movement has dance-like elements and a sense of show-time grandeur, both of which are captured impressively in this enjoyable performance. This is a work which has become a repertoire standard, and this recording shows an excellent understanding of Poulenc’s style, with rapidly changing moods and a balanced sound. Stephen Hough’s piano playing complements this quintet well, providing a further dimension to the sound, giving punctuation to the rhythmic moments and blending well when required.

André Jolivet was a pupil of Varese and a contemporary of Messiaen in the group La Jeune France. His quintet features the oboe in a solo role and is in four short movements. The work was originally scored for oboe and piano as a test-piece for the Paris Conservatoire, but was later arranged for wind quintet. He has a distinct musical language which is both challenging and fascinating. This is a technically and rhythmically demanding piece, which exudes compositional flair. Another highly convincing performance, this is full of energy and sensitivity to style.

The final composer featured on this disc is Henri Tomasi, a composer who wrote frequently for wind instruments. His professional life included conducting as well as composing, and his music was influenced by folk and ethnic styles. He was compositionally concerned with melody, and this work is based around a series of dances with the intention of being accessible to an audience. This was in response to other composers of the time who he felt focused their attentions too much on the process of composition rather than the end result. His harmonies remind me at times of Holst, and there is a strong interest in tone colour in his writing. Opportunties are provided for each instrument to take centre-stage, and this is a work full of contrast and texture.

Throughout this disc, the most impressive aspect of this ensemble’s playing is the feeling of equality between the instruments. No single player is more important than any other within this quintet/ The individual sounds are allowed to flourish where appropriate, and then return to the accompanying sound to allow a colleague to take the lead. This is a fine example of chamber music playing, with some excellent repertoire heard at the highest standards.

Carla Rees 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.