Wind Quintet, FS100, Op. 43

The piece unfolds in three movements plus a finale that itself is a theme and variations, so listeners get four distinct chapters.

I. Allegro ben moderato: the five instruments, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, introduce themselves in shifting pairs and combinations, trading a genial, walking theme that never sits still for long. Listen for how conversational it feels, like five people talking over one another good-naturedly.

II. Menuet: a courtly dance turns quietly mischievous, with the woodwinds tiptoeing through the old-fashioned three-beat pattern before the middle section turns more songful.

III. Praeludium, Adagio: a slow, searching introduction, largely carried by the oboe, that leads without a break into the finale. This is the emotional center of the piece, spacious and reflective after the busier movements before it.

Finale, Tema con variazioni: a plain, hymn-like tune (Nielsen borrowed the shape of a chorale he had written) is passed instrument by instrument through eleven variations, each showing off a different player's character, from a skittish bassoon turn to a broad horn statement, before the theme returns settled and clear at the close.

Nielsen wrote the quintet in 1922 after hearing members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet rehearsing a Mozart quintet by telephone; struck by how differently each player's personality came through, he set out to capture that in music. He composed it with the five musicians in mind and dedicated it to them. The Copenhagen Wind Quintet premiered the piece in Copenhagen in 1922. Nielsen later began sketching a concerto for each of the five instruments, intending to showcase the ensemble's members individually, but he completed only two, for flute and for clarinet, before his death in 1931. The quintet itself quickly became one of the most performed works for wind ensemble of the twentieth century.