Beethoven: Piano & Winds Markus Becker & Ma'alot Quintett

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Piano Concerto in E-Flat Major, WoO 4:
• 1Piano Concerto in E-Flat Major, WoO 4: I. Allegro moderato (Arr. for Piano and Wind Quintet)09:57
• 2Piano Concerto in E-Flat Major, WoO 4: II. Larghetto (Arr. for Piano and Wind Quintet)08:27
• 3Piano Concerto in E-Flat Major, WoO 4: III. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo (Arr. for Piano and Wind Quintet)07:40
• Four Pieces for a Mechanical Flute Playing Clock, WoO 33:
• 4Four Pieces for a Mechanical Flute Playing Clock, WoO 33: No. 1. Allegro con più molto (Arr. for Wind Quintet)03:54
• 5Four Pieces for a Mechanical Flute Playing Clock, 33: No. 2. Adagio assai (Arr. for Wind Quintet)05:52
• 6Four Pieces for a Mechanical Flute Playing Clock, WoO 33: No. 3. Scherzo. Allegro (Arr. for Wind Quintet)01:44
• 7Four Pieces for a Mechanical Flute Playing Clock, WoO 33: No. 4. Allegro ( Arr. for Wind Quintet)01:51
• Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon in E-Flat Major, Op. 16:
• 8Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon in E-Flat Major, Op. 16: I. Grave - Allegro, ma non troppo12:50
• 9Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon in E-Flat Major, Op. 16: II. Andante cantabile06:52
• 10Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon in E-Flat Major, Op. 16: III. Rondo. Allegro, ma non troppo05:51
• Total Runtime01:04:58

Info for Beethoven: Piano & Winds

One can easily find a great number of outstanding chamber music works for string instruments; on the other hand, chamber music repertoire for woodwinds on a similar high level of composition is relatively sparse. By the 1800s, string instruments and the piano had achieved a high standard in terms of playing technique and construction; wind instruments, however, lagged somewhat behind.

Woodwinds still sounded uneven across their registers and suffered from technical constraints, including limitations in terms of musical keys: all of this must have exerted a counterproductive influence on a generation of Romantic composers who wanted to expand music’s horizons in terms of dynamics and harmony.

The Ma’alot Wind Quintet has teamed up on this album with pianist Markus Becker in works by Ludwig van Beethoven for piano and woodwinds, supplemented by several of Beethoven’s charming works for flute-playing clock, arranged by clarinetist Ulf-Guido Schäfer for woodwind quintet.

The main raison-d’être for this choice of program lies in the fact that Beethoven himself composed an excellent large-scale original work for four woodwinds (oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon) and piano – a work which, in terms of musical proportions and compositional ingenuity, rose far above the standard of what was otherwise being written for winds at the time when it was premiered (1796).

That original composition is coupled on this CD with another work by Beethoven for which we no longer have the original instrumentation, but which can be reconstructed, thanks to a series of circumstances, to a point of departure from which Ulf-Guido Schäfer has been able to arrange it as a chamber-music Concerto for piano and wind quintet. (from Booklet Notes by Andreas N. Tarkmann)

Ma'alot Quintett

Ma'alot Quintett
founded in 1986, is one of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles. International acclaim came through winning first prizes in four renowned chamber music competitions. The winning of the 1989 ARD Munich Competition promoted international concert tours, radio broadcasts and invitations to many important music festivals. The Quintet has played all over the world, tours include the USA, South East Asia, South America.

The ensemble’s repertoire embraces music from the classical period to the Avantgarde. The unique and wonderful arrangements of the ensemble’s clarinet player Ulf-Guido Schäfer are perfectly written for the quintet and can be heard on CD. Ma’alot’s long term collaboration with the eminent recording label “Dabringhaus & Grimm“ (MDG), has led to numerous prestigious award winning recordings including two “Echo-Klassik“ prizes in 2006 and 2010 for their Dvorak and Rossini CD’s.

The members of the quintet are principal solo players or professors in some of the world’s leading Orchestras and music Academies. They have also created dynamic relationships with contemporary composers in their search for new ideas and passion to realize modern music. Artists with whom they have had close artistic relationships include the composer Detlef Glanert, the actor Dominique Horwitz, the Tenor Christoph Pregardien, and the pianist Markus Becker, among others.

Since 2011 the Ma’alot Quintet has it’s own chamber music festival combining interesting and musically all encompassing programs, and hosting artists from all over the world. The quintet have worked closely together with, and been supported financially by, institutions such as the “Kunststiftung NRW“ and the “Deutschlandfunk (DLF)“, who have hi-lighted Ma’alot Quintet as one of the most important chamber music ensembles of the present day.

Booklet for Beethoven: Piano & Winds