Wind for weapon

It may not be the way that soldiers battle with woodwinds but it would be a better world.  This day our ADFA colleagues were playing at Wesley as they do a few times a year and they had woodwinds in their hands, so a Sax and Clarinet quartets and a mixed Wind quartet and one duo of oboe with (dare I say, not wind) piano.  And the whole was a wonderful outing.  The compositions were sometimes lesser known, too, so the Sax quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) played two Andante and scherzo by Bozza, then that duet playing Poulenc from his oboe sonata, Clarinets with Saint-Saens Dance Macabre and a lively and ingenious work by Jean Francais, another lesser known to me, 3 movements of his Wind Quintet no.1 by the Wind Quintet of flute, oboe, bassoon, (French) horn and clarinet.  The woodwinds must enjoy their time away from the larger ensemble; I certainly do.  The tones are different out from full outings that I hear with strings, or perhaps they play with rhythm section and brass.  Those sinuous, flappy tones are blissful and often difficult to play and they have my admiration and pleasure when I record them and the repertoire is often different.  Always looking forward to the ADFA band making an appearance.

Woodwinds from the Band of the Royal Military College (Duntroon) played Bozza, Poulenc, Sain-Saens and Francais at Wesley.  The two named players of the program were Keelie McKenzie (oboie) and Nam Tran (piano) playing the Poulenc Oboe sonata, movement 1, Elegie.