The ensemble Lumas Winds plays contemporary music from Great Britain. The five-movement Wind Quintet by William Mathias (1934-1992) is… a fun and lively piece in neoclassical style, which makes for a lively and rousing start on this album.
Oliver Knussen’s Three Little Fantasies are more modern and demand great technical skill from the musicians, which Lumas can easily provide. The Wind Quintet by Elzabeth Maconchy (1907-1994) is again neoclassical, but with a greater number of expressive forms and moods than the Mathias Quintet, which leads to tonal and emotional indulgences that Lumas Winds knows how to shape effectively.
Thea Musgrave composed her Wind Quintet in 1992 and, according to her, the work should be played expressively without offering a programmatic background.
“Lumas Winds succeeds in giving a very rhetorical and exciting performance.”
Sally Beamish’s The Naming of Birds has five short movements, in each of which a different member of the quintet appears as a soloist…The central piece brings together the linnet and the corn bunting for a quizzical encounter more telling for its concision, before the barn owl is given a single and atmospheric piece informed by various ‘honks’ from the bassoon. The final piece highlights the bullfinch in all its grace and agility, drawing a suitably lively repartee from the ensemble.
“The interpretation is characterized by the greatest instrumental refinement and sensitivity.”
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“… Lumas Winds proves itself to be an outstanding ensemble that is up to any challenge and always ensures that the music speaks to the listener.”
