Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet

Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet in rehearsal for a performance at Duke University in Durham North Carolina September 29th, 2007. This video shows them rehearsing bits of several pieces they would play that night.

Walter Seyfarth, clarinet
Michael Hasel, flute
Andreas Wittmann, oboe
Fergus McWilliam, horn
Henning Trog, bassoon
The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet (Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin) was founded in 1988, during the era of Herbert von Karajan, the first permanently established wind quintet in the famous orchestra's rich tradition of chamber music.

Having maintained their original membership right from inception, they are living musical witnesses to the hugely productive and influential musical partnerships of the Berlin Philharmonic not only with Karajan, but also with its two most recent Musical Directors: Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. Naturally, as members of the Berlin Philharmonic, they have also enjoyed important collaborations with every other major conductor of their times, whether Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber, Sir John Barbirolli, Günter Wand, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, James Levine or Daniel Barenboim, to name only a few.

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet continues to astonish audiences worldwide with their range of expression, their tonal spectrum and their conceptual unity. Indeed many listeners and critics agree that the ensemble has succeeded in virtually redefining the sound of the classic wind quintet. Their repertoire covers not only the entire spectrum of the wind quintet literature but also includes works for enlarged ensemble, i.e. the Sextets of Janácek and Reinicke or the Septets of Hindemith and Koechlin. In addition, collaboration with pianists such as Lars Vogt, Stephen Hough, Jon Nakamatsu and Lilya Zilberstein have intensified in recent years.

The ensemble's commitment to the wind quintet repertoire is passionate and in 1991 they found the perfect partner for their recording plans, the Swedish company BIS Records, already well known in its own right for its uncompromising standards. The results of this long and exclusive collaboration have received critical accolades worldwide - indeed many of these recordings are already widely held to be "definitive" or "reference" performances.

In addition to their concert appearances throughout Europe, North and South America, Israel, Australia and the Far East, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet are also popular guests at international festivals such as the Berliner Festwochen, the Edinburgh Festival, the London Proms, the Quintette-Biennale Marseille, the Rheingau Festival and the Salzburg Festival. Their television productions and radio broadcasts are seen and heard throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

In recent years the members of the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet have intensified their teaching and coaching roles with youth; they give chamber music workshops and instrumental instruction in many countries, with a particular commitment, for example, to the youth orchestra program of Venezuela.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Berlin
• Philharmonic
• Wind
• Quintet
• Clarinet
• Flute
• French
• Horn
• Oboe
• Basson
• classical

[b2r1o0o6k8e8]

Do not EVER replace horn with alto saxophone!

[flutendancelover]

as many people have mentioned, the horn is NOT both a woodwind and a brass, but rather is included in the woodwind quintet (aka wind quintet) because it blends in well with the other instruments, and also because it serves as a sort of "base" to the music with its lower range and rich sound to balance the higher, somewhat "thinner" tones of the woodwind instruments

[MartinoDondievelo]

what piece is this?

[MarcoAJuarez]

@mrptech90 ...these are members of one of the best orchestras in the world...

[barimusicman]

@drifteromega exactly. i think a bari sax can blend very well if played properly.

[barimusicman]

@Rodier1128

[mrptech90]

Beautiful, quite impressed with the melody and chromatic steps and half's, great tone and dynamics, keep it up.

[drifteromega]

@Rodier1128

It's not the truth that Saxophone doesn't blend well with strings. Just because some or most saxophone players can't blend well with strings or other instruments doesn't mean that the saxophone itself cannot blend well. Many of the problems you might be familiar with are due to mouthpiece choices among other reasons.

[Katiebugggie]

@b2r1o0o6k8e8 exactly. tenor sax is fine....but alto....ehh

[hornalicious]

Fergus McWilliam, who is the horn is also the founder of the quintet. The horn blends with many types of ensembles, there are many times when they are the only wind instrument with strings as well......it's an extremely versatile instrument with it's range. 4+octaves! :)