French Touch

Description

For its first album, Klarthe Quintet turns to French music and draws a parallel between two eras: the end of the 19th century, with two major works from the wind quintet repertoire, the quintets by Paul Taffanel and George Onslow, jewels of lyricism and phrasing specific to these instruments and this period. Then the 21st century, with two pieces commissioned for this recording, where rhythm, contrasts and colors that the wind quintet can bring will predominate. The use of percussion by the quintet musicians themselves in Jean-François Verdier’s Amazonian Dreams describes a world that is sometimes meditative, sometimes tribal, but above all an invitation to travel toward new sonic landscapes unheard of for this ensemble, while Karol Beffa’s Five o'clock is part of a pulsating, motoric, almost mechanical vein, highlighting the typically “clock” rhythmic element.