REVIEW

By Spencer Allman

HAY Music put on a concert of wind quintet music played by members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at Hay Castle. The group call themselves ‘Flourish’, deriving their inspiration for it rather splendidly from a roundabout by the same name in Cardiff.

The castle’s concert facility proved to be a perfect setting for some rarely (never before?) heard chamber works. The auditorium captured the ‘living room’ spirit of such music, which often fails to come across in larger venues.

There were pieces by some relatively unknown composers, such as the Hungarian Ferenc Farkas (1905-2000), the Austrian Karl Pills (1902-1979), and one Paul Taffanel, a 19th century French composer, whose Wind Quintet represented one of the more substantial compositions of the evening.

Much of the music highlighted the astonishing musicianship of these very experienced young players, even if it came as no surprise that some of the works played were rarely performed. The Serenade for Wind Quintet by Pills was billed as ‘the wind quintet Richard Strauss never wrote!’, though that accolade stretched the imagination somewhat.

The piece by Jacques Ibert (a composer we had heard of) was probably the most competently written work in the concert. The pastoral sound of solo flute and clarinet in the central movement was a gem.

The clarinettist Lenny Sayers introduced his own composition, Scenes for Wind Quintet, warning us first - albeit ironically - of its accessible rather than modernistic approach. Avant-garde it certainly was not, but its atmospheric flavour demonstrated just how fascinating good writing for this instrumental combination can be.

There is a general dearth of repertoire for the wind quintet line-up. The Nielsen and Hindemith quintets spring to mind – both were performed by this ensemble last year we were told - but there is surprisingly little of note before the 20th century.

May Flourish live up to their name and provide us with more successful recitals of music for these five very individual instruments in combination.