Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Zefiro, Alfredo Bernardini
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Arcana
Catalogue: A901
Release: 2021
Size: 726 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Octet in E-Flat Major, Op. 103 “Parthia”
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Andante
03. III. Menuetto – Trio
04. IV. Finale (Presto)
05. Variations on “Là ci darem la mano”, WoO 28
06. March for Military Band, WoO 20
Wind Quintet in E-Flat Major, Hess 19
07. I. [Allegro] (Fragment)
08. II. Adagio mesto
09. III. Menuetto (Allegretto) (Fragment)
Trio in C Major, Op. 87
10. I. Allegro
11. II. Adagio cantabile
12. III. Menuetto (Allegro molto – Scherzo) – Trio
13. IV. Finale (Presto)
14. Ecossaise for Military Band, WoO 22
15. Polonaise in D Major, WoO 21
16. Rondino in E-Flat Major, WoO 25: Andante
Ludwig van Beethoven’s devotion to wind musical instruments dates already from his young life in Bonn, as proved from the correspondence between his teacher Josef Haydn and the Elector of Bonn Maximilian Franz: here the composition of his Parthia dans un concert, or wind Octet op. 103 is mentioned as a work written before his arrival in Vienna and therefore as the earliest piece he wrote for winds. The remarkable Rondino for the same instruments, using the recently invented mutes for the horns, might have been part of the same Parthia in an earlier version.
Once in Vienna, Beethoven was impressed by an ensemble consisting of just 2 oboes and cor anglais and wrote for them the extended and virtuosic Terzetto op. 87 in 1794 and the Variations on Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 1796. Also from 1796, a quintet with the unusual scoring of one oboe, three horns and bassoon survives incomplete.
The picture of Beethoven’s output for winds wouldn’t be complete without his military music, commissioned around the year 1810. According to the Austrian tradition, with remote Turkish influence – the so-called janissary music – the scoring here includes also trumpets, contrabassoon and a rich variety of drum instruments such as a bass drum, side drum, triangle, cymbals and Turkish crescent.