The woodwind quintet mostly consists of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn (an interloper from the brass section) and bassoon. Writing for the ensemble presents several problems for the composer, the main one being that, unlike the strings who can blend together nicely, each of the wind instruments has a very distinct tone colour and they will only blend, if at all, in certain parts of their range.
Acknowledged as one of the most successful works for the group is the quintet by Carl Nielsen. Nielsen uses the clever strategy of coupling the distinct sound character of each instrument to the the personalities of the original dedicatees, the Copenhagen Wind Quintet.
This ploy is most apparent in the finale which consists – after a prelude in which the oboist swaps to the cor anglais – of eleven variations on the composer’s own hymn tune, Min Jesus, lad min Hjerte faa en saaden Smag paa dig (My Jesus, make my heart to love thee).
00:00 Wind Quintet, Op.43
05:58 Menuet
10:32 Prelude
12:47 – Theme
13:30 1 Variation 1
14:10 2 Variation 2
14:45 3 Variation 3
15:19 4 Variation 4
15:48 5 Variation 5
16:24 6 Variation 6
17:06 7 Variation 7
17:44 8 Variation 8
18:26 9 Variation 9
19:39 10 Variation 10
20:29 11 Variation 11
21:27 Andante
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Iaago
The Art of Listening 