WINDS OF CHANGE: VIENNA, ST. PETERSBURG, PARIS

MAY 17, 2017
Italian Academy of Columbia University

Benjamin Hochman, piano
Joseph Anderer, horn
Alexander Bedenko, clarinet
William Short, bassoon
Anna Urrey, flute
Katherine Needleman, oboe

Illustrated talk by Stephen Johnson

PROGRAM

Mozart Quintet in E flat major for piano and winds, K452
Rimsky-Korsakov Quintet in B flat major
Poulenc Sextet for piano and wind quintet, Op. 100

Three masterpieces of the chamber wind repertoire by three epoch-making composers. Mozarts sublime Quintet, K452, in his own opinion  the best work I ever composed, combines the essence of Viennese Classicism with the composer’s distinctive operatic magnificence. Rimsky-Korsakov, one of the five composers who made up St Petersburg’s Mighty Handful, brought his experience as an Inspector of Russias naval bands to bear on his writing for winds and brass. His exuberant and brilliantly colourful Quintet in B flat is all too rarely heard. The concert ends with Poulenc, leading member of Les Six, the unconventional group of composers active in 1920s Paris. All his flamboyant wit and wistful poetry is captured in the Sextet, Op. 100.