DANZI: Wind Quintets

Fowke, Philip, Michael Thompson Wind Ensemble, Thompson, Michael

8.553570

Danzi must have been encouraged by the response to the Opus 56 Quintets for soon afterwards he composed a further six works for the same combination of instruments. This time, however, they were published by Johann Andre of Offenbach, who was famous for his pioneering editions of Mozart's works and under whose imprint a few of Danzi's works already appeared. The new sets, which again demonstrate the composer's facility with attractive melodies and gently chromatic harmonies, appeared around the end of 1823 or early in 1824 as Opus 67 and 68 with consecutive publisher's plate numbers but no dedications. • When Breitkopf and Härtel advertised Danzi's Sonata for Horn and Piano in E flat, Op. 28 in the November 1804 edition of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, they also offered a cello part as an alternative to the horn line. This canny sales pitch was probably adopted because of the sheer novelty of the medium; although the horn was well established as a concerto soloist, there was no tradition of it being accompanied by piano. Franz Süssmayr had abandoned a work for the two instruments, but Beethoven had found their contrasting characteristics easier to cope with and it is likely that his sonata for horn and piano which had been published in 1801 was the model for Danzi's own work in the genre.

CD

9.08.1999

730099457026