Wind Quintet Music
Wind quintet: I have been arranging music for wind quintet for some years.
I have a large number of arrangements on my score exchange pages
My quintet arrangements do not simply transcribe the music giving the top voicing/melody to the flute etc, which many people seem to do. I attempt to move the melody amongst all the players dovetailing it where needed.
I have arranged a mixture of classical, romantic and modern composers
My classical arrangements:
These arrangements of Mozart, Beethoven etc. may differ from other people's wind quintet arrangements.
Neither Mozart nor Beethoven wrote a quintet with the instrumentation that we have today. Their music was written in general for sextet or octet.
It was Anton Reicha's twenty-four quintets, begun in 1811, and the nine quintets of Franz Danzi that established the genre, and their pieces are still standards of the repertoire.
I am a horn player and made the decision to write the horn parts,as far as possible, as Mozart or Beethoven would have written them.(in their sextets/octets etc)
So, the horn parts are written in the key of the piece Eb,G,D,C or whatever, and as far as possible I limit the notes to that of the natural horn (i.e. no valves).
In my opinion this gives a more authentic sound to the music.
Of course, sometimes, if the music needs a particular tenor part/melody or harmony, I will write it for horn. BUT AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, I write for natural horn.
I also provide F horn parts for those players who can't/won't transpose.
I have also noticed that arrangements by other people have the horn player playing fast moving passages in the lower octave.This is difficult to play,doesn't sound very good and doesn't carry!! Far better to give that melody to a low clarinet or the bassoon, or move the melody up an octave.
My arrangements include Schumann's Kinderscenen (scenes from childhood),Mozart's Divertimento No.8 K 213 (originally written for wind sextet) and all the movts from Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite.
I have a lot of works by English and French composers.
Links to some of my more popular arrangements:
I have a large number of arrangements on my score exchange pages
My quintet arrangements do not simply transcribe the music giving the top voicing/melody to the flute etc, which many people seem to do. I attempt to move the melody amongst all the players dovetailing it where needed.
I have arranged a mixture of classical, romantic and modern composers
My classical arrangements:
These arrangements of Mozart, Beethoven etc. may differ from other people's wind quintet arrangements.
Neither Mozart nor Beethoven wrote a quintet with the instrumentation that we have today. Their music was written in general for sextet or octet.
It was Anton Reicha's twenty-four quintets, begun in 1811, and the nine quintets of Franz Danzi that established the genre, and their pieces are still standards of the repertoire.
I am a horn player and made the decision to write the horn parts,as far as possible, as Mozart or Beethoven would have written them.(in their sextets/octets etc)
So, the horn parts are written in the key of the piece Eb,G,D,C or whatever, and as far as possible I limit the notes to that of the natural horn (i.e. no valves).
In my opinion this gives a more authentic sound to the music.
Of course, sometimes, if the music needs a particular tenor part/melody or harmony, I will write it for horn. BUT AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, I write for natural horn.
I also provide F horn parts for those players who can't/won't transpose.
I have also noticed that arrangements by other people have the horn player playing fast moving passages in the lower octave.This is difficult to play,doesn't sound very good and doesn't carry!! Far better to give that melody to a low clarinet or the bassoon, or move the melody up an octave.
My arrangements include Schumann's Kinderscenen (scenes from childhood),Mozart's Divertimento No.8 K 213 (originally written for wind sextet) and all the movts from Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite.
I have a lot of works by English and French composers.
Links to some of my more popular arrangements:
- Mendelssohn: Nocturne from Midsummer Night's Dream
- Beethoven: Presto from Piano Sonata No 8 in F Op 10 No.2
- Mozart: Rondo alla Turca from Piano Sonata No. 11 in A
- Liszt: Christmas Tree Suite : various pieces