Piccolo Quintet is short for the

Quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

op. 26 of

Graham Waterhouse Graham Waterhouse (born 2 November 1962) is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, ''Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' and ''Variations for Cello Solo'' for his own instrument, and string ...

, composed in 1989 for

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

and

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

and published by

Zimmermann Zimmermann is a German occupational surname for a carpenter. The modern German terms for the occupation of carpenter are Zimmerer, Tischler, or Schreiner, but Zimmermann is still used. ''Zimmer'' in German means room or archaically a chamber wi ...

in 2002 as Quintet for piccolo, 2 violins, viola and violoncello.

History

In 1989 the composer Graham Waterhouse was a cellist of the orchestra of the

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist Justus Frantz. In 2006, the 21 ...

, conducted by

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as ...

. The piccolo player of the orchestra suggested a quintet composition, Celibidache influenced the work. The quintet in one movement of about 16 minutes is in

sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...

, framed by a slow introduction which reappears toward the end. A virtuoso

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

concludes the work. The sound of the piccolo is combined with the strings similar to wind instrument and strings in

clarinet quintet Traditionally a clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. Now the term clarinet quintet can refer to five B clarinets; four B clarinets and a ...

s. The Quintet was first performed on 1 January 1990 in a private concert in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 2002 the Quintet was published by

. It was performed in Munich at the ''1. Sergiu Celibidache Festival'' on 13 October 2002 in a lecture concert, showing the influence of Celibidache on the composition. The performers were Katharina Kutnewsky, Daniel Nodel, Anja Traub, Gunter Pretzel and Graham Waterhouse. The first performance in the UK was on 5 November 2002 in a composer portrait concert in St. Cyprian's Church, London, marking the 40th birthday of the composer. Monica McCarron played the piccolo with the Tippett String Quartet. The concert was also the premiere in the UK of the trio ''

Gestural Variations ''Gestural Variations'', Op. 43, is a trio composition by Graham Waterhouse in 1997 originally for oboe, bassoon and piano. Later versions are scored for clarinet, cello and piano (1999) and flute, cello and piano (2009). Movements The c ...

''. On 5 October 2003 the Quintet was performed in a composer portrait concert in the Kleiner Konzertsaal of the

Gasteig Gasteig is a cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig. Most of the events of the Fi ...

, Munich.

Yaron Traub Yaron Traub ( he, ירון טראוב born 1964) is an Israeli conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. Traub was Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Valencia Orchestra from 2005 to 2017. Throughout the 1990s he served as Daniel Baren ...

conducted music for one to ten players. The concert was the premiere of the composer's Bassoon Quintet. Ulrich Biersack played piccolo,

Lyndon Watts Lyndon Jeffrey Frank Watts (born 19 January 1976) is an Australian bassoonist. He is principal bassoonist of the Münchner Philharmoniker and an academic teacher. Professional career Watts studied the bassoon from 1988 and completed his senio ...

bassoon, the string quartet for both works was formed by Odette Couch, Kirsty Hilton,

Isabel Charisius Isabel Charisius is a classical violist and an academic teacher. She was a member of the Alban Berg Quartett and a teacher at the universities of music of Cologne and Berlin. Career Charisius is focused on chamber music. She was the viola playe ...

and the composer. Piccolo Quintet was recorded in 2007 by Gudrun Hinze and other members of the

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

on a CD ''piccolo concert'', together with Allan Stephenson's ''Concertino'' for piccolo, strings and harpsichord, Mike Mower's ''Sonata'' for piccolo and piano,

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

's ''Concerto'' for flautino in C major, RV 443, and

Erwin Schulhoff Erwin Schulhoff ( cs, Ervín Šulhov; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the N ...

's ''Concertino'' for flute, viola and double Bass.

References

External links

Graham Waterhouse
website

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

Ulrich Biersack

Münchner Philharmoniker The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Rad ...

Isabel Charisius

Universität der Künste Berlin The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

, violist of the

Alban Berg Quartet The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after Alban Berg. Members Beginnings The Berg Quartet was founded in 1970 by four young professors of the Vienna Academy of Music, and made its debut in ...

2005 until 2008
Gudrun Hinze
solo piccolo of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig since 1993 {{italic title Chamber music by Graham Waterhouse Contemporary classical compositions 1989 compositions Compositions for piccolo