Search - Andre Caplet, Alberic Magnard :: Caplet/Magnard: Wind Quintets

Exquisite Fin-de-Siecle Musique!...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 12/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Caplet and Magnard were part of the Franco-Belgian school of late-Romantic [i.e., Wagnerian] chamber music at the Fin de Siecle. These two works are very representative of their talents and ethos.



Mozart, of course, invented the Piano-Wind Quintet (his K.452); Beethoven used the same ensemble in creating his wonderful Op. 16--both in Eb.



Caplet and Magnard--being Frenchmen--substituted flute for horn in their Piano-Wind Quintets.



Both died prematurely as a result of hostile action: Caplet was gassed on the Western Front, and never fully recovered; Magnard shot with his rabbit-gun at some German infantry on his estate, and was killed in retaliation: members of the "lost generation.""