Virtuoso Winds

This program spotlights the wealth and variety of chamber music for winds in multiple combinations and introduces the former Principal Horn of the Berlin Philharmonic, Radek Baborák, to American audiences. The first half features duos for clarinet and bassoon, bringing these orchestral neighbors to the front of the stage in works that span more 100 years. The duos are interspersed with pieces highlighting the soloistic nature of both flute and horn with piano. One of Reinecke’s later works, the trio that begins the second half brings together an unusual combination of oboe, horn, and piano with lyrical melodies in the Romantic style, and all of the instruments gather at last for Poulenc’s Sextet, which he described as “an homage to the wind instruments I have loved from the moment I began composing.”