When it came time to program the 1999-2000 season, we thought (okay, JANET thought) we should present a series of concerts demonstrating what we play - in order, we play transcriptions (mostly mine), we play the great music of the past, and we encourage and perform new music. Thus, the "Three Faces of Arcadian Winds" concerts. For the second program "The Twentieth Century: A Fond Farewell," we wanted to program the greatest works for wind quintet of the recently-deceased century. But how to identify these compositions?
In the great tradition of ESPN and USA/Today, we took a poll. With no discussion, we each submitted a slate of pieces, which I assembled and sent to the membership with instructions to vote for eight, with a ranked order. Order of what? Importance (perceived or otherwise), interest, playability? Eventually we said "Your criteria for picking pieces are your own. You might think "most important", "most influential", "most popular", "most resembling actual music", etc."
Each player's first choice was given 8 points, 7 for the second and so on, and we tallied the results. Here then are our top ten choices for wind quintet repertoire from the twentieth century
We ended up creating a program of Barber, Poulenc, Ligeti, and Harbison.
On a personal note, what I find striking about this list would be its comparison to a similar list of string quartets. What would we find there? Schönberg perhaps, but accompanied by Bartók, Shostakovich, Debussy, Ravel? Perhaps Bartók and Shostakovich alone would account for the top ten string quartets of the twentieth century! Think about this comparison regarding the nineteenth century! Danzi and Reicha vs. Beethoven and Schubert? For much of the past two hundred years, string and piano chamber music has expressed a composer's deepest thoughts and feelings, while wind chamber music has inspired - divertimenti. As wind players, we owe it to ourselves to educate our contemporary composers about the technical and emotional range of our instruments and the wind quintet as an ensemble. That's the true legacy of a performer's career - the compositions it has inspired.
P.S. Would someone (with more money than we have) PLEASE commission another quintet from Mr. Harbison? Thanks.
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