Ludwig van Beethoven

15 Bagatelles

In terms of music history, the wind quintet genre is caught between two schools: 18th-century composers preferred the sextet or octet instrumentation with two equal instruments each for their wind divertimentos and serenades, whereas the Romantic composers preferred the warm sound of the string instruments - which only left a short period of transition for the mixed wind quintet. There was hardly any great classical music written for this tonally charming genre. The present arrangement of several selected bagatelles by Beethoven shall help to fill this gap in the classical repertoire. Besides, it is precisely the genre of the small intimate bagatelle which Beethoven cultivated his whole life that is able to create its own new charm as wind chamber music.