Brahms: Chamber Music Transcribed for Woodwinds - New York Woodwind Quintet, Gilbert Kalish

New York Woodwind Quintet 
Samuel Baron, Flute 
Ronald Roseman, Oboe 
Charles Neidich, Clarinet 
Donald MacCourt, Bassoon 
Willam Purvis, Horn 

Gilbert Kalish, Piano

In recent years woodwind quintets have begun to seek out arrangements and transcriptions of great and challenging, music not originally conceived for wind chamber music. Samuel Baron's transcription of Johannes Brahms' String, Quartet in A minor, op. 5l, no. 2 is a major new addition to this growing library. Fittingly enough, woodwind sonorities do not seem strange or jarring, even to those who know the string quartet well. The transcription is based on Brahms own woodwind writing, of which there are so many beautiful and characteristic examples throughout his orchestral music. The Quartet is one of Brahms greatest chamber works. It is characterized by breadth and richness, both in its musical designs and in its emotional impact. The four movements stand independently of each other in regard to tempo, style, and form, yet they produce a powerful unity: and when the coda of the final movement is played, we feel strongly that the entire work, not just the last movement, is being brought to a satisfying conclusion.