The centrepiece of London Winds’ vivid, vivacious disc is Nielsen’s great Wind Quintet of 1922, one of three works from the 1920s here, which are juxtaposed with two from the 50s. It’s a well thought-out and stylistically comprehensive survey, which throws an interesting, and conspicuously non-French perspective on a genre that came into its own in the 20th century. Apart from the Nielsen, the other substantial piece is Janáček’s Mládí, the 1924 suite evocation of youth that adds a bass clarinet to the quintet lineup, while Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik Op 24 No 2, is quintessentially extrovert neoclassicism. The two 50s pieces could hardly be more different: there’s Samuel Barber’s wistful Summer Music, full of elegant long-limbed melodic lines, and Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles, dating from the years when he was still coming to terms with the legacy of Bartók, though the spiky, quick-witted focus of each piece often anticipates where Ligeti’s music would go just a few years later.
