RSNO Chamber, 20/10/2019
Poulenc : Sextet
Zemlinsky : Humoreske
Rimsky-Korsakov : Quintet for piano and wind instruments
Katherine Bryan, flute
Adrian Wilson, oboe
Timothy Orpen, clarinet
David Hubbard, bassoon
Martin Murphy, horn
Scott Mitchell, piano
The wind quintet, with or without added piano, is a peculiarly satisfying formation, with a really appealing variety of sound which is also very homogeneous, and today's players are well-practiced at achieving that homogeneity. For the first of the season's RSNO Chamber concerts, they presented a fresh and lively little selection of works, all of it very well played.
The Poulenc Sextet, which adds piano to the mix, dates from 1939, mid-career for Poulenc. Like many French composers of his time, Poulenc was quite content to showcase the remarkable French school of wind-playing, and there are many examples in his catalogue, from the earliest days to the latest. In some respects the Sextet is one of the more traditional forms, though not in Poulenc's handling of the material. The Stravinskian influence is quite strong here, particularly in the outer movements, but it's the quieter passages that really bear Poulenc's stamp; the slow section of the first movement, introduced by a very eloquent bassoon solo, was particularly striking.
Outside of his operas, I know very little Zemlinsky, but there's a respectable corpus of chamber music, including, notably, four string quartets. The Humoreske for wind quintet is one of his very last works, a fairly brief rondo in a somewhat Straussian (Richard, not Johann) idiom. For a piece also from 1939, it may come across as a little retrograde compared to the Poulenc and its sharp, quirky rhythms, but its smiling and easy charm is very attractive.
The Rimsky-Korsakov Quintet was the most substantial piece of the concert. Again, one doesn't tend to think of Rimsky-Korsakov in terms of chamber music, but he was an extraordinary orchestrator, which means that he understood all the instruments to a remarkable degree, and the writing for each part here is as inventive as in his orchestral scores. The oboe is removed from the line-up in favour of the horn, which gives the ensemble a rounder, warmer quality. It's more ostentatiously virtuoso than the Poulenc and Zemlinsky; Rimsky-Korsakov wrote it for a competition, so he was probably deliberately showing off the individual instruments (in the last movement, all but the bassoon get little cadenzas of their own), though that may have worked against him for the competition, because he subsequently complained bitterly of the inadequacy of the pianist! Not a problem today, fortunately. It's a joyous, uplifting piece, particularly in the delicious, lolloping rondo finale, and was well served by the RSNO players.
[Next : 22nd October]
Zemlinsky : Humoreske
Rimsky-Korsakov : Quintet for piano and wind instruments
Katherine Bryan, flute
Adrian Wilson, oboe
Timothy Orpen, clarinet
David Hubbard, bassoon
Martin Murphy, horn
Scott Mitchell, piano
The wind quintet, with or without added piano, is a peculiarly satisfying formation, with a really appealing variety of sound which is also very homogeneous, and today's players are well-practiced at achieving that homogeneity. For the first of the season's RSNO Chamber concerts, they presented a fresh and lively little selection of works, all of it very well played.
The Poulenc Sextet, which adds piano to the mix, dates from 1939, mid-career for Poulenc. Like many French composers of his time, Poulenc was quite content to showcase the remarkable French school of wind-playing, and there are many examples in his catalogue, from the earliest days to the latest. In some respects the Sextet is one of the more traditional forms, though not in Poulenc's handling of the material. The Stravinskian influence is quite strong here, particularly in the outer movements, but it's the quieter passages that really bear Poulenc's stamp; the slow section of the first movement, introduced by a very eloquent bassoon solo, was particularly striking.
Outside of his operas, I know very little Zemlinsky, but there's a respectable corpus of chamber music, including, notably, four string quartets. The Humoreske for wind quintet is one of his very last works, a fairly brief rondo in a somewhat Straussian (Richard, not Johann) idiom. For a piece also from 1939, it may come across as a little retrograde compared to the Poulenc and its sharp, quirky rhythms, but its smiling and easy charm is very attractive.
The Rimsky-Korsakov Quintet was the most substantial piece of the concert. Again, one doesn't tend to think of Rimsky-Korsakov in terms of chamber music, but he was an extraordinary orchestrator, which means that he understood all the instruments to a remarkable degree, and the writing for each part here is as inventive as in his orchestral scores. The oboe is removed from the line-up in favour of the horn, which gives the ensemble a rounder, warmer quality. It's more ostentatiously virtuoso than the Poulenc and Zemlinsky; Rimsky-Korsakov wrote it for a competition, so he was probably deliberately showing off the individual instruments (in the last movement, all but the bassoon get little cadenzas of their own), though that may have worked against him for the competition, because he subsequently complained bitterly of the inadequacy of the pianist! Not a problem today, fortunately. It's a joyous, uplifting piece, particularly in the delicious, lolloping rondo finale, and was well served by the RSNO players.
[Next : 22nd October]