SKU: HL.48181113

UPC: 888680862053. 9x12 inches.

The Little Negro was originally composed by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) for piano in 1909. The purpose was to write a great work that could also played by children. Eugène Bozza made the piece even more accessible in 1984 by arranging it for wind quintet. The Little Negro is marked Allegro and begins with a theme modelled on ragtime music, a style which was very popular at the time of composition. Jazz influences, the C major key signature, 2/4 meter and upbeat features make for an exciting and accessible piece for all the ensemble. Bozza's arrangement of Debussy's The Little Negro for a wind quintet made up of flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn is a thrilling addition to the repertoire.

SKU: FG.55011-509-5

ISBN 9790550115095.

Kimmo Hakola's Wind Quintet op. 96 (2017) was commissioned by the Kimito Island Music Festival. The composer sees that making the ensemble ultimately breathe and express itself as an organic, coherent subject should be the aim in composing for wind quintet. The normal chamber-music configuration is not a sufficient basis for me in composing a wind quintet: the instruments have to be compressed, reduced, even crushed together so that, in pairs and different combinations, they produce new, viable audio units. Collision often generates something new. Kimmo Hakola has gone through a number of styles and influences in his career as a composer, his idiom expanding at times to embrace Romanticism, Orientalism and klezmer. He has attained international recognition with an output that spans various genres from intimate solo works to full-length operas such as La Fenice (2011) commissioned by the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Many of his works are expansive and epic: his Piano Concerto (1996), for instance, clocks in at 55 minutes. Hakola says that he sees music as drama. His dramas explore almost Shakespearean extremes, from moments of raging sound and fury and violent battles to quiet moments of meditation and heart-rending monologues.