Beethoven: Quintet in E flat major for piano and winds, Op.16

Recording location: Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, October 1956 (KV 498, 452), June 1957 (Beethoven), September 1962 (M. Haydn), October 1963 (KV 581), October 1964 (KV 99)

This recording forms part of a series of 10 reissues celebrating the glorious Decca recordings from the 1950s-1970s of the Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet), made up of key principals from the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Five titles were released in September and the remaining five are released this month.

Receiving their first international release on CD are the Mozart Clarinet Trio, his Cassation (written when the composer was a mere thirteen!), and the piano-and-wind Quintets of Mozart and Beethoven. The ‘soloists’ within the chamber ensemble – if, as such, one might identify them – are one of the Vienna Octet’s founders, Alfred Boskovsky, and the Octet’s ‘house’ pianist, Walter Panhofer. The mellow writing for the clarinet in both the Mozart Quintets was inspired by the playing of Anton Stadler. This anthology is also unique in that it affords us the only recording on which Willi Boskovsky played the viola – in the ‘Kegelstatt’ Trio. Concluding this anthology is the delightful G major Divertimento by Michael Haydn (Joseph’s younger brother). Found in the British Museum and edited by the Vienna Octet’s bassist, it was often used by the group as a concert opener.

On this disc one of the world’s finest pianists encounters one of the world’s greatest wind quintets, performing two very special works: Mozart’s and Beethoven’s quintets for piano and winds. The unusual scoring has led these works to be performed less often than they deserve: indeed, in 1784 Mozart wrote about his work to his father Leopold stating ‘I myself consider it to be the best thing I have ever written’. Twelve years later, Beethoven composed his Quintet, which he also arranged for the standard piano quartet combination. Beethoven must have been familiar with Mozart’s work: the choice of the same key and the same formal structure (down to small details) cannot be purely coincidental.

The Wind Piano Quintet featured here is an exceptional group of talented young wind players which performs with pianist Herbert Schuch. All are winners of first prizes at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.