Trios Pièces Brèves
Jacques Ibert
(Born in Paris in 1890; died in Paris in 1962)
Trois Pièces Brèves
1. Assez lent, allegro scherzando
2. Andante
3. Allegro
French composer Jacques Ibert was one of the early 20th Century composers to rediscover the wind quintet as a form, though he composed only one. In the wake of a turbulent new millennium and World War I which thrust the Western world into a new modernity, composers began balking at the excesses of the Romantic Era of music. No longer did gargantuan orchestras and extremely long, pathos-driven music seem appropriate for composer or audience. So some looked backwards and Neo-Classicism was born. This was a return to simplicity, clean lines and structural forms, wrapped in 20th Century harmony. Ibert, one of “Les Six” of French composers looking for new musical expression, was for a time at the forefront of Neo-Classicism. In 1930 he turned to the Classical promise of the wind quintet, and from that was born one of his most cherished chamber works: Trois Pièces Brèves.
Ibert’s charming Quintet shows him at his colorful and inventive best. Ibert fashioned it so that its movements could be played in any order or independently, without any compromise to the work as a whole. He found the five-wind ensemble to be an opportunity to show boundless colors in simple combinations. He also delighted in writing works as sheer entertainment, which Trois Pièces Brèves provides brilliantly. The rather puffed-up, and lovely, introductory fanfare of the first movement becomes gently sarcastic when it devolves into a bird-call passage. More wittiness follows when the sprightly march-like theme evolves into a waltz. The march and waltz then battle for supremacy, and Ibert chooses the dance. The second movement is a surprise in color and beauty from only two instruments, the flute and clarinet, ending by adding a few more instruments to prepare for the jocular third movement. In the finale, Ibert again flexes his talent for sonority – all five instruments here combine for some wonderful colors and a whirlwind of whim and fun. A slightly drunken jig-like theme is punctuated with vocalistic roulades (a flurry of quick notes just before the next note in a melody), and hints of good old-fashioned 1930’s dance hall music. Trois Pièces Brèves is a delicious wonder.
Milonga Sin Palabras
Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla
(Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921; died in Buenos Aires in 1992)
From the time Argentinian-born Ástor Piazzolla was given the large keyboard accordion known as a bandoneón at around the age of eight until his death, Piazzolla was irretrievably drawn into the world of the tango. He became famous for his “Nuevo tango” in the 1960’s, a reinvigoration of Argentina’s “national” music that he derived from his formula of “tango + tragedy + comedy + whorehouse.” Though Piazzolla’s large output of music rests mainly on tango music with its distinctive dance rhythms, he was indeed a musical polyglot. Bach, Stravinsky, Hindemith, klezmer, jazz, popular music and a keen interest in traditional folk music all figure into his works, and so it was that he turned to his hometown of Mar del Plata to investigate its famous folksong and dance, the milonga.
The milonga had become popular in the 1870’s, growing out of a wonderful folk tradition called payada de contrapunto, a several hour to several day competition between two payadors (singers), who exchanged dueling verse to each other’s questions of life and love, usually ending with insults. Dance began to accompany the song form as it morphed into the milonga, and the combination of dance and milonga became regarded as an “excited habanera.” Piazzolla originally composed his Milonga Sin Palabras (“milonga without words”) for his wife in 1979 for bandoneón and piano. It soon became immensely popular and it was arranged for wind quintet by William Scribner. In Milonga Sin Palabras, Piazzolla again treats an old form through the filters of newer popular music. His Milonga wafts pensively but casually, with the rhythms and flickers of dance infusing it, yet its gentle lyricism adding depth and soul and timelessness. Beautifully crafted, Piazzolla’s Milonga seems to be returning to this old form, heard through the ears of ghosts who, while nostalgically remembering the old vocal competitions, infuse it with both new harmonies and melancholy.
Quintet in B-flat, Op. 56
Franz Ignaz Danzi
(Born in Schwetzingen, Germany in 1763; died in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1826)
Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 56, No. 1
1. Allegro
2. Andante con motoa
3. Menuett – Trio
4. Allegro
After Giuseppi Cambini “invented” the wind quintet ensemble in the early 1800’s, two composers in particular took a keen interest and were influential in establishing the genre in the concert hall. First was Czech composer Anton Reicha (1770 – 1836) who composed 24 Quintets not long after Cambini’s, followed by German composer Franz Danzi and his 9 Quintets that were written most likely in the period 1820-24. These 33 works have become the foundation of the repertoire. Danzi was a highly respected cellist, composer and teacher in a long career that was witness to Mozart’s last years and Beethoven’s entire career, as well as being a mentor to Carl Maria von Weber. As a composer in his own right, he contributed to nearly every genre of the day and often with impressive works. Most impressive and most memorable are his Quintets, and his first three published as Opus 56 have remained deservedly popular.
The Wind Quintet No. 1 (of Op. 56) is an impressive and sparkling little masterwork in its genre, imbued with that wonderful late Classical spirit, light and airy, masterfully balanced and full of energy. The harmonies are clearly looking forward to the Romantic era, and the themes, breezy as they appear, are rich and often hint at something much deeper than just light entertainment. The second movement is quite the gem, featuring the double reeds (first oboe, then bassoon), in a rather wistful funeral cortege that is filled with ambiguity and bittersweet sentiment. Then the double reeds hands the baton to the flute and clarinet, creating a wonderful changing of light and color in the ensemble. Likewise, the Trio (middle) section of the third movement presents a masterful sequence as the theme is exchanged between each member of the quintet. The entire work is ripe with these ingenious techniques, and as charmingly as they fall upon our ears, the work is equally heady. Most impressive still is how Danzi, the cellist, captured the capabilities of each wind instrument with remarkable idiomatic wisdom.
Quintet in C, Op. 79
August Friedrich Klughardt
(Born in Köthen, Germany in 1847; died in Rosslau, Germany in 1902)
Wind Quintet in C-Major, Op. 79
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Allegro vivace
3. Andante grazioso
4. Adagio – Allegro molto vivace
Despite Danzi’s contributions to the quintet repertoire, the string quartet still held considerable cache with composers. But at the turning of the 20th Century, two important musical forces were underway. First was the war that raged over the future of music – the “New German School” of music (the tone poems of Liszt and the operas of Wagner) vying with the “Conservative” composers (the symphonies of Brahms and Schumann). The second transformation was at once mechanical and musical. Technological advancements to wind instruments were making them more agile, with wider ranges, transforming the music they could play.
Into this mix came August Klughardt who, in his youth, adored Liszt. But late in his life he began to appreciate deeply the Conservative path. The result was something magical producing a wonderful combination of both ideologies. With the richness and nimbleness now available in wind instruments and his growing fondness for conservative musical structures, Klughardt wrote his Wind Quintet between 1898-1901. It has become one of the cornerstones of the repertoire for both its Classical clarity and its deeply Romantic underpinnings.
Perhaps as no other composer, Klughardt understood the possibilities of this particular set of instruments and how “orchestral” they could sound, and how they could also bridge the gap between the two “Schools.” The first movement delves into lush melodies over rich and complex harmonies – a nod to his New German School forebears. The second movement, simple and bucolic, acknowledges Conservative aesthetics. The third movement is a magical mix of both Schools, where instrument pairings and inventive timbres create a folktale-like atmosphere – the music is never heavy and yet manages to be richly sonorous. The finale nods to the early Baroque with a somber and beautiful slow introduction, but what follows is an exploitation of just what these five wind instruments can do when set loose, virtuosic and breathtaking to the end.
Highlights from Porgy and Bess
George Gershwin
(Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1898; died in Hollywood, CA in 1937)
Selections from Porgy and Bess for Woodwind Quintet
1. Overture: Catfish Row
2. Summertime
3. A Woman is a Sometimes Thing
4. My Man’s Gone Now
5. I Got Plenty O’ Nuthin’
6. It Ain’t Necessarily So
7. There’s a Boat Dat’s Leabin’ Soon for New York
8. Oh, Lawd, I’m On My Way
Just on the heels of his extraordinary success with Rhapsody in Blue in 1924, Gershwin launched a new musical, Oh, Kay!, in 1926. In the throes of its rehearsals, Gershwin found he couldn’t sleep one night, and he picked up the new and hugely popular novel, Porgy (1924), by American author DuBose Heyward (1885-1940). The composer was enthralled with Heyward’s story about the Gullah-speaking African-Americans living in Charleston hoping to find fishing work on “Catfish Row.” Heyward’s main character, Porgy, was based on a real character he knew named “Goat Sammy,” a crippled man who got his way through town riding a cart pulled by a goat. The novel had all the elements for great theatre: crime, love, the little guy rising up to win the day, and so Gershwin immediately wrote Heyward asking to turn Porgy into an opera he hoped to call Porgy and Bess.
Since his teenage years, Gershwin had been enamored with the idea of writing an opera as the best way to get “popular” music into the Classical world. For various reasons, it would take him another nine years after reading Porgy to complete Porgy and Bess and to premiere it in 1935 in Boston. Historically speaking, it was a triumph of firsts, using an all African-American cast and bringing such a racially-charged piece onto the stage, but it didn’t win over the critics initially. Today, however, the opera Porgy and Bess is recognized as an American masterpiece, and its wonderfully singable songs and arias have been extremely popular in their own right. There is probably no other aria in the American song book as beloved as “Summertime,” and the opera’s almost embarrassing wealth of great music virtually begs to be played in any combination possible. Tonight’s arrangement for woodwind quintet is yet another example of the timeless appeal of Gershwin’s music.
