Search - Reicha, Albert Schweitzer Quintet :: Complete Wind Quintets 1

This is the first volume of a very important series, the first complete recording of Reicha's Wind Quintets. Not only did Reicha invent this form (for wind-playing colleagues at the Paris Conservatory), he also wrote the largest body of substantial music in the form. Just listen to the gravity of the larghetto that opens the first piece on this disc, the Quintet, Op. 99, No. 2, and you'll realize immediately that a real composer is at work. These pieces are the closest wind equivalent to Beethoven's string quartets, and while they aren't that profound, they are full of good music. These performances and recordings are sensationally fine. --Leslie Gerber