• Danses et Divertissements
• Mozart & Beethoven
• Winter Songs (Four Seasons Cycle)
• Printemps (Four Seasons Cycle)
• Summer Music (Four Seasons Cycle)
• L'autunno (Four Seasons Cycle)
• Romantic Music for Wind Quintet
• 20th Century Hungarian Music
• Mozart - Music for Winds and Piano
• Franz Danzi Complete
• Franz Danzi Volume I
• Franz Danzi Volume II
• Franz Danzi Volume III
• IPPNW Live
• Spiegel im Spiegel

DANSES et DIVERTISSEMENTS 

Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet; Stephen Hough, Piano

1. Paul Taffanel Quintette en sol mineur (1878)
2. Francis Poulenc Sextuor pour Piano et Quintette (1932-39)
3. André Jolivet Sérénade pour quintette à vent avec hautbois principal (1945)
4. Henri Tomasi Cinq Danses Profanes et Sacrées (1948)

BIS SACD 1532
Total Playing Time 68:47

In 1991, three years after founding our quintet, we made a recording of French music – Printemps (BIS CD 536). Seventeen years and many hundreds of concerts later we are delighted to present four more works from this repertoire now on SACD.

"Poulenc's lyricism is treated with sensitivity and discretion, neither over-egged nor undernourished. Moments where the music might threaten to sound portentious are poignantly voiced. And there is ample wit and levity, Hough's lithe playing complementing the zest of the wind instruments in those passages in all three movements where the music irrepressibly bubbles along. This entire recital ... is perfomed with virtuosity and iridescent colour."

Daily Telegraph, London 07/2009

 

"the nimbleness of their playing is undeniably jaw dropping"

Classic FM,  10/2009

"Given the reputation of the performers, the listener will expect a thoroughly professional concert, and the Berlin Quintet delivers. They spit out the difficult licks with aplomb; capture the graceful, quirky, and virtuosic nature of Gallic wind music; the group boasts excellent balance, blend and intonation. They understand too the expressive demands of each composer, phrasing and dovetailing with great subtlety, but also knowing when to play with full force and fury. Hough completely owns Poulenc's difficult concerto-like writing, diving into the Sextet without trepidation, yet beautifully matching the winds in the more sensitive and reflective passages."

American Record Guide  -  September/October 2009

"One of the most exciting aspects of these performances is the outstanding sound quality created by the engineers .... one of the finest wind instrument discs in recent memory. This is a disc that is not to be missed."

hifi+ - 12/2009