Suite for Wind Quintet

Description

Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Horn in F, Bassoon — Amanda Harberg’s Suite for Wind Quintet was commissioned by the Dorian Wind Quintet in 2017. The piece was the result of a conversation in a bar between Harberg, Dorian’s flutist Gretchen Pusch and Pusch’s husband Richard Bayles, on the occasion of Dorian’s clarinetist Ben Fingland’s 40th birthday party. A year and a half later, the Dorian Wind Quintet gave the world premiere of Harberg’s quintet at Bargemusic, and has incorporated it into their repertoire ever since. Suite for Wind Quintet is in four movements- 1. Cantus, 2. Furlana, 3. Fantasia and 4. Cabaletta. The melodic material heard in the very opening of the piece can be heard recurring and transforming throughout the four movements, until it unites triumphantly in the final coda with the theme of the concluding movement. The piece was inspired by the concept of placing Renaissance and Baroque-inspired dance suites into Harberg’s idiom as a 21st century composer. The depth and charming inventiveness of Harberg’s Suite can only be described as remarkable. Each movement has a degree of archaic inspiration (seen in the movement titles), newly stirred up into dramatic, exciting sounds and stories. Cantus begins with the imitative entries of Renaissance motets and maintains a modal flavor. Furlana plays on the Italian folk dance rhythm in 6, punctuated by lots of unexpected 5’s. Fantasia hints at being a lullaby with an animated middle section, and the closing Cabaletta is true to its 19th-century meaning of an ornate closing section following beautiful lyricism.