Kalevi Aho: Wind Quintets Nos. 1 & 2 Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin

• Kalevi Aho (1949- ): Wind Quintet No. 1:
• 1 I. Agitato - Cantando 05:11
• 2 II. Vivace, leggiero - Allegro marcato 05:11
• 3 III. Marziale, pesante - Furioso - Tempo I 04:37
• 4 IV. Andante, con tristezza 07:08
• Wind Quintet No. 2:
• 5 I. Ruhig beginnend - Bewegter - Meno mosso... 11:09
• 6 II. Schnell, wild 05:13
• 7 III. Ruhig fließend 08:47
• 8 IV. Lebhaft 05:58
• Total Runtime 53:14

Info for Kalevi Aho: Wind Quintets Nos. 1 & 2

With 17 symphonies in his list of works, not to mention operas and concertos, it is easy to forget that Kalevi Aho also composes chamber music. He has in fact written some ten quintets alone, for various combinations of instrument. Two are ‘normal’ wind quintets and it is these that the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet (BPWQ) perform on the present disc. The ensemble came into contact with the Finnish composer’s Wind Quintet No. 1 in 2010, and was immediately struck by the qualities and challenges of the score. The composer himself has described the difficulties in writing for wind quintet, in terms of achieving a balanced and homogeneous sound and soft dynamics. In his first quintet he therefore included unison passages and sometimes even reduced the music to one or two parts. In the fourth movement he also added a spatial dimension by having all of the players perform from offstage at some point. Having played the work a number of times on their many tours, the BPWQ decided to commission their own quintet, and in 2015 they gave the first performance of Wind Quintet No. 2. This time, Aho found another solution to the inherent difficulties – by making the flutist and oboist change instruments to piccolo or alto flute and cor anglais at various points, the piece achieves an even wider spectrum of unusual and innovative tone colours and moods.

Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin

The Philharmonic Wind Quintet of Berlin
was founded in 1988, in the era of Herbert von Karajan. The ensemble has constantly received musical inspiration and stimulation from the Berlin Philharmoniker’s exceptionally productive and influential musical partnerships, with Karajan and his successors as principal conductor, Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. As members of the orchestra, they have naturally also benefited from collaboration with the other great conductors of this period, from Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber and Sir John Barbirolli, by way of Günter Wand, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Muti, to James Levine and Daniel Barenboim, to mention only a few.

Audiences worldwide are constantly astonished by the Philharmonic Wind Quintet’s variety of expression, its spectrum of tonal colours, and the stylistic assurance of its interpretations. Listeners and critics agree that the ensemble has succeeded in virtually redefining the sound of the classical wind quintet. Along with the entire breadth of the quintet literature, the ensemble’s repertoire includes works for augmented forces, for example the sextets by Janáček and Reinicke and the septets by Hindemith and Koechlin. In recent years, its collaborations with the pianists Stephen Hough, Jon Nakamatsu, Lars Vogt and Lilya Zilberstein have assumed increasing importance.

Booklet for Kalevi Aho: Wind Quintets Nos. 1 & 2