Quintet in B-flat Major for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, and Piano
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Born March 18, 1844, Tikhvin
Died June 21, 1908, Lyubensk

When we think of Rimsky-Korsakov, we do not think of chamber music-we think instead of opulent orchestral scores and of grand operas on Russian subjects. And so this charming Quintet for Winds and Piano comes as the best possible surprise, a reminder that sometimes there are sides to composers that we know nothing about.

In 1876 the 32-year-old Rimsky-Korsakov was struggling to make his way as a composer. He had gotten out of the navy three years earlier and was now working as the inspector of Russian navy bands; he was also conducting, composing, and studying orchestration and counterpoint. That year, the Russian Music Society sponsored a chamber music competition, and for it Rimsky-Korsakov composed two pieces. First he wrote a String Sextet, and then he tried something completely different: a Quintet for Winds and Piano. Mozart and Beethoven had written such quintets, but they had scored them for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano. Rimsky-Korsakov adopted that general form, but dropped the oboe used by those composers and substituted a flute.

The competition produced mixed results for Rimsky-Korsakov when the pieces were performed (anonymously) that fall. The String Sextet was awarded an honorable mention, but the Quintet won nothing: the performers assigned to play it were so inferior that they broke down in the course of the performance and were unable to finish the piece. The composer, who believed strongly in this music, was furious, and he took great pleasure in its success when it was subsequently performed by the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society. The Quintet is rarely performed today, doubtless because it is so unusual to have this particular combination of instruments available.

When Beethoven composed his Quintet for Winds and Piano in 1796, he freely admitted that he had been influenced by Mozart's Quintet (1784). Rimsky-Korsakov in turn was quick to admit the influence of Beethoven on the opening movement of his Quintet. This movement, in sonata form, is marked Allegro con brio, a marking that was a particular favorite of the young Beethoven. Listeners, however, may be more struck by this movement's occasional echo of themes from the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Quintet gets off to a jaunty start, with winds singing energetically above steady accompaniment from the piano. The second subject is a chorale for winds (this is the point where one senses the influence of the Ninth Symphony), and after a lengthy development a coda speeds this movement to its close on a grand B-flat from all involved.

The Andante begins with a long solo for horn that will form the thematic basis of this movement, and gradually the other wind players take up this theme. An unusual feature of this movement comes in its central episode, where Rimsky-Korsakov recasts his opening theme as a fughetto (perhaps he was trying to demonstrate to the judges of the competition that he was capable of accomplished counterpoint); the opening material returns to bring the movement to a quiet close.

The finale is a rondo, and it gets off to a fun start: the metric unit is a short 3/8, and the movement begins with the bassoon's playful octaves, over which the clarinet announces the absolutely infectious main subject (try forgetting this theme!). Rimsky-Korsakov marks this grazioso, and graceful it certainly is, but one is more likely to be taken with its sauciness and playfulness. There are some surprises along the way here, too. At one point, the winds step aside and allow the piano a long solo passage, and then Rimsky-Korsakov writes cadenzas for the horn, the flute, the clarinet, and finally the piano (Mozart did something similar in the finale of his Quintet for Winds and Piano). Soon, though, that inescapable opening theme makes its bouncy (and welcome) return, and a Più vivo coda drives the Quintet to its close, once again on a ringing B-flat.

That poor première performance may have blinded the judges to the many virtues of this music, and its unusual instrumentation has made for few performances since then. But Rimsky-Korsakov's Quintet for Piano and Winds is an absolute charmer, and-132 years after that disastrous first performance-we can take pleasure in discovering this music and hearing it fresh.