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Just a short update, Swepstone's Quintet is actually for piano, flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and it was performed at John Parr's Chamber Music Concerts in Sheffield during the first half of Twentieth-Century. This information was made available to me by Miss Jessica Beck, PhD student at the Royal Northern College of Music. To the best of her knowledge, there are no other Quintet for piano and wind instruments by Swepstone.

The Horsley  Violin Concerto in Dm Op.29 is to be performed on 7th October at Monash University.

Entry is free, so all it will cost you is the flight to Australia. A small price to pay for such a treat!

I'll be contacting both the university and 3MBS, our local classical music station, to see if the concert is being recorded and/or broadcast.

Any idea if it was recorded/broadcast in the end? Or if it will be performed again?

According to RISM, there is a Konzert für Viola und Orchester by the Dresden composer Theodor Blumer (1881-1964). Unfortunately, it seems that the Sächsische Landesbibliothek only have the piano reduction... his style (in his wind chamber music) is usually post-romantic, with some touch of Strauss, but I have no idea if this concerto from 1947 is in the same idiom.

Nothing at this point... I'll try to get in touch with the Cambridge University Musical Society next week and ask them for details of the 1856 program.

Josef Klička actually wrote more than organ music. According to the list published in 1944 in Karel Hoffmeister's biography, his output includes piano pieces, music for harp, a large amount of chamber music (from duets to a sextet for piano string instruments), many lieder, choral music (with and without accompaniment), two secular cantatas, sacred music, three works for orchestra and one (early) opera.

The only recorded work that I have found that's not for organ is a very dramatic Fantazie for violin and piano (it might be the Koncertní fantasie from 1921, but I'm not sure) on YouTube :

https://youtu.be/aXv3LoSmyD4

I wish I could hear more of his chamber music, and I'd be glad to learn anything about his works for wind instruments (a quintet for piano and winds, and some pieces for solo wind instrument and piano).

Lately, I have uncovered two different sources referring to a Quintet for piano and wind instruments by William Sterndale Bennett. The first is the 1897 British Musical Biography (under "Bennett, Sir William Sterndale"), the second being the 1890 Grove Dictionary (under "University Musical Societies"). It seems to be unnoticed by modern sources.

According to the Grove Dictionary entry, it was performed on November 17, 1856, in Cambridge, by the composer himself with professional wind players by his side. I see that Sterndale Bennett had performed Beethoven's Piano Quintet Op. 16 in April of the same year (he had also played the piano part in a performance of Mozart's Quintet K. 452 in February 1853), so I guess it could be the inspiration for this work.

Does anyone know more about this lost Quintet? Is it also "in private ownership" (such as the Piano Concerto No. 6 and the overture The Tempest)? Any details about the instrumentation or the first performance?

Thanks!

I'm looking for details about Josef Venantius von Wöss. I'm mostly interested in his chamber music, and I would really like to find his Quintet Op. 53a. He worked for Universal Edition and arranged for piano music by Bruckner and Mahler. Here is a complete list of his works :

http://arved.priv.at/woess/werkeverzeichnis.html

If you have any idea where I could find his manuscripts, leave a word here!

Thanks!

In the introduction to Horsley's Piano Trio Op. 13 edited by Richard Divall, one can read :

"The full catalogue (2011), of Horsley's works to date is included in this introduction."

Strangely, I can't find this full catalogue in the downloadable version of the Trio on the website... Am I the only one missing something? Or is it somewhere else?

http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/music-archive/mda006/

Welcome to UC, Oboistenjoerg!

I would be very interested if you could let us know if you find out more regarding these two quintets!

OK, so there seems to be some doubt as to the spelling of her surname. Can we at least clear that one up, please? It's rather fundamental!

Bianchini with an H!

See:

https://goo.gl/images/GJCEWr

SBN doesn't list any of her works, even the published ones... (assuming the spelling of her name above is perfectly accurate, that is).

It seems to be BiancHini...

(Unfortunately I only see one recent commercial recording with works by August Reuss, one with his wind octet Op.37- coupled with works by Karl Goepfart (quartet Op.93 in D minor) and Heinrich Schmid's wind quintet Op.28 - and even that's from 12 years ago.)

I've listened to this recording this morning. The (very short) liner notes describe his music as part of the "Straussian School" (Reuss studied with Ludwig Thuille in Munich, so no surprise there). In my view, the Octet is a rather dark work, even though it is in B major. Maybe it is because of the chromaticism, or the very contrapuntal style by moments. I would certainly not call it an immediate ear-catcher, I believe a few listenings could be useful. Definitely not in the same mood as Strauss' late wind Sonatinas, though the general orchestration does have some similarities.

And while we are here, why not some reviews of Swepstone's Piano quintet in F minor?

The Athenæum (No. 3575. May 2, 1896, p. 593):

"The seventy-seventh performance of the Musical Artists' Society came off in the St. Martin's Town Hall on Monday evening, the principal novelties being a Pianoforte Quintet in F minor by Miss Edith Swepstone, written apparently to some extent under the influence of Brahms [...]"


Musical News (No. 270, Vol. X. May 2, 1896, p. 412):

"Musical Artists' Society
An interesting concert of this association of English musicians was given at St. Martin's Hall on Monday last, and one was glad to see so good an attendance to hear pieces, for the most part by native writers, chiefly interpreted by English artists. The opening number was a MS. quintet in F minor, by Miss Edith Swepstone. The work is furnished with pleasant themes, but little invention is shown in their development, and there is a lack of power throughout its whole course. The instruments are written for in a scholarly way, only their respective parts are too much sectionised, rather than made conversational, and this gives the work a patchwork effect. The pianoforte part is thick, and is not written so freely as one would expect from a pianist. Still, the quintet as a whole is a creditable piece of work, and in all probability its author will do still better. The scherzo is the freshest and most inspiriting part of the piece. It was satisfactorily played by its composer, with Iessrs. K. Henkel, Mistowski, A. Wright, and B. Albert."


The Musical Times (No. 640, Vol. 37. June 1,1896, p. 406):

"We were glad to notice some improvement in the performances at the Musical Artists' Society's Concerts given at St. Martin's Town Hall on April 27 and the 11th ult. At the former we heard a Pianoforte Quintet in F minor by Miss Edith Swepstone, a well-written and effective work, well played by the composer, Messrs. Karl Henkel, Mistowski, Wright, and Albert."

Here is a previously unknown Piano trio in C minor (it wasn't on Giles' list), first performed in 1895 according to the Musical Courier (Vol. XXX, No 20. May 18th, 1895, p. 11) :

https://books.google.ca/books?id=JRtMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA71&dq=%22edith+swepstone%22+%22quintet%22&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiA6cvtw5HTAhVK5yYKHSY9DTs4ChDoAQgmMAM#v=onepage&q=%22edith%20swepstone%22%20%22quintet%22&f=false

Did anyone listen to these recordings? Any opinion? I really enjoyed Braunfels' Die Vögel a few years ago!

Volume 1
http://www.oehmsclassics.de/artikel.aspx?voeid=16313&erweitertesuche=true

Volume 2
http://www.oehmsclassics.de/artikel.aspx?voeid=16654&erweitertesuche=true