Bresnick/Powell/Roseman/Shapey: Woodwind Quintets

New York Woodwind Quintet The woodwind quintet is to the wind instruments as the string quartet is to the strings. Composers have treated the heterogenous ensemble of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn as a unity for so long now that it has become a musical commonplace. The challenge in composing for the woodwind quintet is to weave a consistent musical fabric while respecting the disparate characters of the five instruments. The four composers represented on this recording meet this challenge with imagination and mastery. Ronald Roseman (b 1933) studied with Henry Cowell, Ben Weber, Karol Rathaus, and Elliott Carter. The Double Quintet opens with a moody slow introduction followed by an Allegro energico, reminiscent of Stravinsky's Octet and Symphonies of Wind Instruments. Here neoclassical gestures are supplemented by several quasi-improvisatory and extended instrumental techniques. All ten players are given a chance to shine in solos, and there is plenty of virtuoso passagewor