Review by Simon Jenner, 25th June 2025
The wind quintet is quintessential summer music: the title Samuel Barber gave to his wind quintet. It holds for nearly all its repertoire. That’s from the late 18th century onwards. So late June and The Regent Wind Quintet, these newly-formed ‘very highly commended’ prize winners at the Royal Academy of Music, already look to carve a large niche for themselves.
Chiara Guijarro-Grela (flute), Grace Tushingham (oboe), William Hammond (clarinet), Runs Kosberg (horn) and Francesco di Matteo (bassoon) individually stand out but blend superbly. This is a crack ensemble.
The repertoire is all relatively unknown. Unfairly so. William Mathias (1934-92) was one of the 29th century Welsh breakthrough composers (along with the tragically short-lived Morfydd Owen, Grace Williams (the best known), Dylan Thomas’ friend Daniel Jones and Mathias’ older contemporary Alan Hoddinott).
He was a lyrical composer with as the quintet say “vibrant rhythmically driven” open to fresh influences but not twelve-tone, after his student days. His style recalls those British composers from Tippett, Rawsthorne, Alwyn through Britten to composers like Peter Racine Fricker and (Australian) Malcolm Williamson. In many of these composers the echo of Hindemith is turned to lyrical purpose.
Mathias’ perky Introduction and March gives way to an off-kilter Waltz and bright insistent Scherzo. It’s bubbly but like a whisky sour too. There’s a kick.
It’s the Elegy slight affinity with the Barber cones close: and with Grace Williams. It’s also the longest movement that impresses with its lyrical regret. There’s a pure cantilena. The Recitative and Dance is pure Mathias. A tart but infectious finale to cap the Elegy
Giulio Briccialdi (1818-1891) l in e his exact contemporary Antonio Bazzini is one of those instrumentally inspired Italian composers who before the generation of Respighi were wholly sidelined by Italian opera.
That is with the exception of Paganini. Whilst Bazzini turned to quartets Briccialdi focused on the wind quintet. Indeed it’s had a significant life in Italy, mostly unknown outside the country.
Tis Wins Quintet No 1 in E flat Op 124 tells us the composer wrote much before committing himself to the genre.
The Allegro marziale echoes Mathias in another march: one corollary of wind quintets is their proximity to military wind bands. It’s outdoor music and here sounds it too. Long breathed putting lines give way to perky themes and bright sonorities, not afraid of highlighting soloists.
The Andante e Allegro is a delight. It suggests something getting progressively quicker. But the brisk Andante already sets off swaying and singing without sentiment and with a summer’s breath. The development though in the minor is quite a shock. Whilst the flute skittles over the top the others provide a storm cloud backdrop. It’s like a white gull against sea-driven clouds. It speeds up to a fermata close.
The final Allegro seems out of an opera, a presto finale full of drama. There’s a touch of Rossini in all this, himself a master of instrumental sonority. It gets more presto and manic, only slowing before the skeltering coda.
Julio Medaglia (born 1938) is wholly unknown to me. His Suite Belle Epoque in Sud-America. It does exactly what it says, refracted through composers like Piazzolla and the spirit of tango. The music though referencing popular classical style is resolutely final throughout.
That’s heard in the first movement ‘El Porsche Negro’. The strut and stride of this are remarkable for honouring the invoked period yet with a smile of indulgence too. Mostly though the quintet play in r straight.
‘Valsa Paulistica’ sways of course to a different rhythm. It’s full of nostalgic twirls and a wind-up feel. It’s the work’s heart melodically too.
That is until the ‘Rekinta Makuca’ which arrives in a skirl of high-stepping and infectiously recognisably Latin American melodic twists. It’s a delight. An outstanding debut in Brighton for an ensemble already invited to return.
