Vents debout with the Winds Art Orchestra, wind octet with contrabassoon - Classical concert Programme : Mozart: Serenade in C minor KV 388 Beethoven: 7th Symphony in A major, Op.92 (transcription of 1816)
Without doubt, the catalogue of chamber music for strings contains the greatest musical works ever written. Even a casual glance at Beethoven's last quartets is enough to make you fully aware of this.
But do these inescapable masterpieces eclipse music written for wind instruments? Absolutely not! And none of the composers would disagree. One of Mozart's greatest friends was a clarinettist, and Beethoven maintained a musical and friendly relationship with the famous Bohemian horn player Giovanni Punto.
Under the impetus of conductor Julien Bénéteau, musicians from several French orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris, Orchestre Les Siècles, Orchestre National de Montpellier) have come together in a small musical assembly, the Winds Art Orchestra, to perform here a jewel of the wind ensemble repertoire, the Serenade KV388 composed by Mozart in 1782 or 1783: a mysterious, complex and elaborate work, far removed from the musical genre of the serenade usually associated with light entertainment.
An exceptional 1816 transcription of Beethoven's 7th Symphony for wind ensemble illustrates a practice that was widespread among performing composers at the time: the virtuoso clarinettist and Kapellmeister to Prince John I of Lichtenstein, Wenzel Sedlak, managed to preserve the profound essence of the German master's music through his virtuoso writing, while transforming this symphony into a genuine piece of the wind repertoire.
But do these inescapable masterpieces eclipse music written for wind instruments? Absolutely not! And none of the composers would disagree. One of Mozart's greatest friends was a clarinettist, and Beethoven maintained a musical and friendly relationship with the famous Bohemian horn player Giovanni Punto.
Under the impetus of conductor Julien Bénéteau, musicians from several French orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris, Orchestre Les Siècles, Orchestre National de Montpellier) have come together in a small musical assembly, the Winds Art Orchestra, to perform here a jewel of the wind ensemble repertoire, the Serenade KV388 composed by Mozart in 1782 or 1783: a mysterious, complex and elaborate work, far removed from the musical genre of the serenade usually associated with light entertainment.
An exceptional 1816 transcription of Beethoven's 7th Symphony for wind ensemble illustrates a practice that was widespread among performing composers at the time: the virtuoso clarinettist and Kapellmeister to Prince John I of Lichtenstein, Wenzel Sedlak, managed to preserve the profound essence of the German master's music through his virtuoso writing, while transforming this symphony into a genuine piece of the wind repertoire.
