Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1797-1828): Quintet in E flat for Piano and Wind Instruments (oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon) Opus 16 (1796)

Stuart GREENBAUM (b 1966): New Comissioned Work (2008)

Johannes BRAHMS (1833 - 1897): Piano Quartet in G minor, Opus 25 (1861)

When Beethoven was flexing his young creative muscles in the 1790s and looking for genres in which he could rival Haydn and Mozart, he chose to follow Mozart’s example in writing a major work for piano and four wind instruments. Even if he didn’t quite match the stratospheric achievement of his model on this occasion, he shows that he is an exceptional heir apparent, sharing the highest gifts of Austro-German composers in finding interesting and important things for wind instruments to do. In Australia it is easy to lose sight of gifted young composers working in capital cities other than our own. Stuart Greenbaum has been steadily earning the trust and esteem of listeners in Melbourne and it’s time we heard from him in a work specially commissioned for Australia Ensemble members to perform. Brahms’s G minor Piano Quartet is one of this composer’s most popular pieces of chamber music and is an engulfing and exhilarating work. Later this year Sydney Symphony Orchestra audiences will hear it faithfully orchestrated by Schoenberg as a kind of symphony. Interesting as that is, we think that the dark, surging power of Brahms’s own writing for piano and three strings, with its famous release of gypsy high spirits in the fourth movement, is an unsurpassable experience and the sort of concert finale that sends an audience home buzzing with shared excitement.