Posing in front of a view of the city of Salzburg with grins on their faces, the cover of Les Vents Français’ new album almost looks photoshopped. With Emmanuel Pahud on flute, François Leleux on oboe, Paul Meyer on clarinet, Radovan Vlatković on the horn, Gilbert Audin on bassoon and Éric Le Sage on piano, Romantique was recorded in the Bavarian Radio Studios in Munich.
The album features three wonderful surprises; the first is the lovely Quintet in C major written by August Klughardt (1847-1902), a composer who knew Liszt and conducted Wagner’s Ring Cycle, an exquisite, loquacious and melancholic work of the utmost quality.
The next surprise is George Onslow (1784-1853), a composer from the Auvergne region of France with English roots who is perhaps a little more well-known than the last as he was greatly admired by Berlioz. He left behind an extensive catalogue of chamber music including the bright and upbeat Wind Quintet, which was first discovered in 1953. Elegant and virtuosic, it didn’t take long before the quintet was being played by orchestras across the world.
The third surprise is the oldest work in this delightful album, the Quintet for Piano and Winds, Op. 52 composed by Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859) in 1820. The piano is the prima donna in this piece, according to Chopin, who played it ten years later in Warsaw just before leaving for Paris, its part is “pretty but unbearably difficult and awkward to play”. Here, Eric Le Sage plays it with confounding ease. © François Hudry/Qobuz