Beethoven’s Harmoniemusik

Naxos Classical Spotlight

Beethoven certainly has the wind in his sails with this tremendous release of music for wind ensemble, a genre that formed a regular part of entertainment in the composer’s day. Included on the recording, for example, is his Sextet for winds in E flat major that was well received by a critic at the time for its “splendid melodies, leisurely harmonic flow, and wealth of new and surprising ideas.” The works on the programme have never before been recorded by such a distinguished line-up of players. With professorships at leading institutions such as the Yale and Manhattan Schools of Music, the Juilliard School, Adelphi University and others, this is as influential a team of wind players as you could imagine. The recording, of course, forms part of the Naxos 90-CD box set of Beethoven’s complete output (8.500250) that marks next year’s 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.