Blog Post No. 6: Woodwind Quintet No. 3
In 2021, I wrote this third woodwind quintet. (Not counting the one I scribbled in red and blue magic markers when I was a kid trying to figure whether to keep playing clarinet, switch to bass clarinet ( I wanted an instrument that matched my voice which was starting to change). My teacher said bassoon has more interesting parts to play. She also had me study oboe for a while... Bassoon took over. As a teenager, it bothered me that Hans von Bülow referred to bassoon as the clown of the orchestra. Ironic since I write humor.))))))) --what can I say, I like parenthetical expressions.
I was happy with my quintet of 2021... yet periodically, I wondered why I did not love it.
In August 2025, the changes I had long sought began to materialize. Yesterday, after many hours composing, I had the urge to work more after dinner. I was beyond tired. (That often does not stop me. I write this not to show off, but to let you know that I struggle with OCD — my friends call it Obsessive Composing Disorder... In all seriousness, mental health in our society needs more attention... so I am trying to do my little part to wake us up to one of the things which is urgently needed.)
An anecdote popped to mind: a man in a mental hospital was hoarding towels. The doctors couldn't figure out how to cure his OCD. An intern suggested giving the patient way too many towels, then to keep. delivering them every hour. The residents laughed. At their wits end, they decided to try this novel approach. After two days of non-stop towel deliveries, the man waited outside his room for the next batch. When they arrived, he asked the orderly to please take the extra towels out of his room...
So I tried it: I allowed myself to think of way too many possible changes. I liked all of them. Not being able to decide what to put in the score (or more importantly to take out), I decided to watch a movie. When I awoke this morning, the answers were clear... go buy towels.
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Sadness, bordering on despair for the
state of the world.
Oboe feels, despite the catastrophic situation, that
no good can come unless we lighten up as a
prelude to pragmatic optimism. Thus begins banter
interwoven throughout the movements.
Oboe sings the flute solo from
Debussy's "Prelude to An Afternoon of the Faun," an in joke for the Flute player.
Oboe then waxes nostalgic with a lyrical melody from
Barber's soulful. 'Summer Music' (My favorite woodwind quintet).
Flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon also have solos. They take turns listening to what each other has to say.
Hidden throughout are variations on fragments from the
"Saint Anthony Chorale "via Brahms, via Haydn.
Saint Anthony devoted himself to help the less fortunate.
