August 25, 2002 Program
Giuseppe Maria Cambini: Quintet No. 2
David Maslanka: Quintet No. 2
Endre Szervánszky: Bläserquintett-Fuvósötös-I. Adagio/Allegro

	The Bergen Woodwind Quintet Gro Sandvik, flute Steinar Hannevold, oboe Lars Kristian Holm Brynildsen, clarinet Ilene Chanon, French horn Per Hannevold, bassoon Musician Web Site

David Maslanka and Quintet No. 2 for Winds
"I was a wind player to start with, but the quality of wind sounds just struck me as sharply distinct and characterized and full of life. Part of the process of the 20th century has been the bringing forward of these individual wind, brass and percussion sounds as equally useful and valid as string sounds." Composer David Maslanka (b. 1943) has written for many different wind and percussion ensembles - including unusual combinations such as saxophone quartets and sax duo with marimba - but the wind quintet on today's program is one of two for this more traditional grouping. A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and educated at Oberlin College Conservatory, Salzburg's famed Mozarteum, and Michigan State University, Maslanka was a wind player himself, and grew to appreciate the special qualities of wind instruments while playing in Oberlin's wind symphony as an undergraduate. Although he's written many traditional choral and orchestral works, he's become enchanted by the challenges as well as the possibilities of wind instruments. "The difficulty in writing for winds and the thing that makes it very different than orchestral writing and the hazard that most composers shy away from is the fact that there are so many clashing colors within the ensemble. I've done a lot of experimenting over time to find how to write a true soprano voice in the wind band. It's very lacking in a true soprano voice of any flexibility and character. And how to write a true, flexible, powerful bass voice in that ensemble. In my earlier music I tended to go for raw power, [but] I'm more and more intrigued with the character of the individual sounds and colors that can be produced."

David Maslanka currently lives and composes in Missoula, Montana.

Notes on Quintet No. 2
Quintet No. 2 for Winds was commissioned by the Manhattan Wind Quintet and premiered in 1987 at Carnegie Hall. The first movement opens quietly but becomes more intense and driven and includes a central fugue worked out in the traditional way. The second movement again opens gently, becomes more insistent, and gradually mellows back into the opening mood. The third movement is a Baroque chaconne - a set of variations based on a simple repeated chord pattern set out in the opening.

The quotations above are excerpted from David Maslanka's interview with Russell Peterson on November 30, 1998. For the full interview see Russell Peterson's Web page. The notes on Quintet No. 2 are excerpted from David Maslanka's notes for the Manhattan Wind Quintet's recording, When Angels Speak: Music by Zaimont, Susser, Wisner & Maslanka (Albany Records/Troy 246).