Giulio Briccialdi - Wind Quintet, Op. 124 (Beijing Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet)

0:00 I. Allegro marziale 4:54 II. Andante 8:30 III. Allegro Beijing Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet are: Nikola Todor Atanasov - Principal Flute Jin Jingchun - Principal Oboe Keith Lipson - Principal Clarinet Liu Ke - Principal Bassoon Reynald Parent - Principal Horn The Italian flautist and composer Giulio Briccialdi was born at Termi in 1818 and had flute lessons from his father. After the latter's death he moved to Rome, avoiding family pressure to study for the priesthood and supporting himself by playing the flute in a theatre orchestra. In Rome he took lessons in composition and was by 1835 teaching the flute at the Academy of Santa Cecilia. The following year found him in Naples as flute teacher to the king's brother. His later career took him on concert tours throughout Europe. In London, where the firm of Rudall and Rose had the rights of Theodore Boehm's improved cylindrical flute, Briccialdi had a lower key added, extending the range to B flat. After this modification of 1849, Briccialdi made further changes in the flute, carried out for him in Florence, where he taught the flute at the Conservatory from 1870. He died in Florence in 1881. It was natural that Briccialdi should make significant additions to the repertoire of the flute. His Wind Quintet, Opus 124, opens cheerfully with an oboe melody, in which the flute later shares, before an ensuing operatic exchange between the instruments that continues with the introduction of a secondary theme. The slow movement starts evocatively, the flute leading the way to an oboe melody, followed by moments of operatic drama and lyricism. A repeated bass note forms the background to the start of the final Allegro, with its varied interplay between the instruments of the quintet, and a dramatically slower passage that leads to the brilliant conclusion.