Date: 2019
Here is an arrangement of a very early wind quintet written by Edward Elgar while still based in Worcester in 1878-9, entitled "Harmony Music No.1", after the German Harmoniemusik, meaning music for wind instruments. His quintet group (in which he played the bassoon) consisted of two flutes, an oboe, a clarinet and a bassoon, which by modern standards is rather unusual (omitting the usual French horn). He agreed to write a quintet for the group once a week, and he claimed to have written most of them during the 25-minute sermons at St. George's R.C. Church, where he had taken over the organ-playing from his father (and where I ministered for three years in the 1990s, by the way!)
It is a wonderful, cheerful, tuneful short piece (4-5 minutes long), but the original version is rarely performed, perhaps because of its difficulty on several fronts. First it is very fast, challenging performers' ability to tongue rapidly. Secondly, it repeatedly leaves no time to breathe, especially for the flautists (meaning that it has to be performed even faster, in order to get through it.) Thirdly, Elgar's oboist must have been extremely versatile, as its part is very low indeed in places (several low B's played pp at speed.) Finally, published copies (mine is by Belwin Mills) seem to have rather a lot of editorial errors...
This arrangement was therefore created in the hope that the piece might become more accessible and be more frequently performed. Although the bassoon part remains Elgar's, the other four players are used imaginatively to overcome many of the difficulties of the original. For example, the original low oboe parts are here played by one of the clarinets instead, and the severe breathing problems are solved by sharing repeated quavers between the four higher instruments.
I hope you enjoy performing or listening to it!
Links: pdf - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6
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