Reicha: Complete Wind Quintets (10 CD BOX)

Anton Reicha, this very individual artistic personality of the early 19th century, made a lasting contribution to music history in two areas. Firstly, as a historical pioneer of the wind quintet in the classical instrumentation of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and secondly as a conservatory teacher of composition Composition lessons. His chamber music literature for wind instruments, overflowing with thematic ideas and colorful sound creations, is a musical monument, and this complete recording closes an important gap in the repertoire. born in Prague in 1770, Reicha's stations were Bonn, where he became friends with Beethoven, who was the same age, Hamburg, Vienna and finally Paris. Having become known in opera circles there, he became acquainted with the leading first wind players in the Parisian opera orchestras: Joseph Guillou (flute), Gustav Vogt (oboe), Henry (bassoon) and the legendary natural horn virtuoso Louis Francois Dauprat. The first 6 wind quintets op. 88 were written for these soloists in 1813/14 and premiered in 1815 in the foyer of the Théatre Favart with overwhelming success. By 1820 Reicha had written a total of 28 quintets for this exquisite team. With the first complete recording, which took place in 1986-89, the then young Albert Schweitzer Quintet came onto the scene with a bang. International prizes followed hot on their heels. In order to give an insight into the expressive diversity of the themes, the varied sound combinations and playing techniques on each individual CD, the members of the Albert Schweitzer Quintet have generally combined three different pieces into a single program unit.