HD REUPLOAD Woodwind Quintet No. 2 "Four Winds" [2017] by Elaine Fine

Performed live on September 23rd, 2023
Hosted by Media Arts Council
Woodwind Quintet No. 2 "Four Winds" [2017] by Elaine Fine (b. 1959)
I. Zephyrus, The West Wind
"Now Spring restores the balmy heat, now Zephyr's sweet breezes calm the rage of the equinoctial sky." (Catullus)
II. The East Wind
"There's an east wind coming, Watson."
"I think not, Holmes. It is very warm."
"Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a
good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.
III. The South Wind
For the South Wind and Sun,
Each so loves the other one,
For all his jolly folly
And frivolity and fun
That our love for them they weigh
As their fickle fancies may,
And when at last we love them most,
They laugh and sail away.
(From James Whitcomb Riley’s “The South Wind and the Sun.”)
IV. The North Wind
It is the great north wind that made the Vikings. (Scandinavian proverb)
Faith Wasson, flute (artist in residence)
Mary Robinson, oboe
Beth Vilsmeier, clarinet
Martina Adams, horn
Rick Barrantes, bassoon
Full performance available here:
faithwasson.com/events/092323
Program Notes from the composer:
The material for this woodwind quintet comes from music I wrote for viola d’amore and piano, an ensemble with a rather small audience, between 2009 and 2017. The woodwind quintet mirrors the physical and timbral range of the viola d’amore, and hopefully this re-working will bring this music to a larger audience. This ten-minute piece might work well in an educational setting as well as in a concert setting. It is not “simple” music, but it is organized in a straightforward way, so that it might appeal to audiences of school-aged children as well as audiences of adults.
Any musical interpretation of this piece can be informed by learning about the personalities of the four winds. The most popular references to the personalities connected with the winds are from Greek mythology, but the winds have blown (and continue to blow) through all time and through all cultures. There are wind deities from European cultures (Basque, Norse,
Celtic, Lithuanian, Sami, and Slavic), and there are wind deities in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Iranian mythologies. There are Hindu wind deities, Maori wind deities, Mongolian wind deities, Philippine, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese wind deities. There are also wind deities specific to
the mythologies of the many Native American cultures: Anishinaabe, Astek, Cherokee, Iroquois, Inuit, Lakota, Mayan, Navajo, Pawnee, Quechua, and Taino.
Transforming viola d’amore music into wind music has been extremely interesting. I have enjoyed re-working the material and exploring ways to musically illuminate the “personalities” of the four winds.
When I began this program note, the north wind was howling. Now a gentler wind is coming from the west. April 6, 2017