Day 211: Music for Wind Ensemble II

BeethovenCD16Beethoven CD 16 begins with a militaristic fanfare. Quite rousing.

Makes me want to march off to war.

There are 12 different compositions on this CD, six very short (march-style) pieces at the start, following by:

Quintet in E Flat Hess 19

Adagio for 3 horns in F

3 Equale Wo030 for 4 trombones

Trio in C Op 87 for 2 oboes and cor anglais

Variations in C for 2 oboes and cor anglais on Mozart’s La Ci Darem La Mano.

Allegro and Minuet in G Wo026

Once again, the Ottetto Italiano performs, this time with members of the Orchestra da Camera di Genova.

Once I got past the march music in the first six tracks, I was treated to more delightful music for my favorite orchestra instruments, including the French horn. Plus, there are the Variations in C for 2 oboes and the English horn (cor anglais) from Mozart’s 1787 opera Don Giovanni.

Very pretty stuff.

Day 210: Music For Wind Ensemble I

BeethovenCD15Beethoven’s wind ensembles are fun, partly because I love the sound of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns playing together.

Octet in E Flat Op 103 is clever and lively. According to its entry on Wikipedia,

…it was written in 1792/1793, during Beethoven’s early period. Beethoven reworked and expanded the Octet in 1795 as his first String Quintet, Op. 4.

That means Beethoven was 22 or 23 when he composed this octet.

Rondino in E Flat Wo025 is more subdued, a pretty but somber composition. It was composed in 1793. Beethoven was 23.

Beethoven Sextet in E Flat Op 71 was composed in 1796. Beethoven was 26. I’ve heard this music before, probably on the local Classical music radio station. It’s pretty and clever and soothing and intriguing – especially Movement III (“Menuetto: Quasi allegretto”). The interplay between all of my favorite orchestral instruments is grand.

According to the IMSLP web site, Beethoven Three Duos Wo027 (No 1 in C, No 2 in F, No 3 in B flat), is

…of disputed authorship. Accepted as authentic in Kinsky, 1955, but but listed as ‘probably spurious’ in Kerman, 1983.

I must say this doesn’t sound like anything I’ve yet heard from Beethoven. It sounds bouncier, less textured.

What what do I know? I’m no musicologist.

All of the music on today’s CD was performed by Ottetto Italiano, which probably means Italian octet.

Just a hunch.