Charles Lefebvre was one of the many composers associated with the Paris Conservatory in 19th and early 20th centuries. The central importance of the Conservatory to French music in this period can hardly be understated: it was where any ambitious young French musician most desired to train, and its annual Prix du Rome (Rome Prize) was its stamp of approval on promising young composers. The Conservatory was one of the most important arbiters of taste in French music, and later it was the Conservatory against which young radicals like Debussy and Ravel rebelled. As a young man, Lefebvre initially studied law, but soon moved to the Conservatory, where he studied composition with Ambroise Thomas and Charles Gounod. In 1870 was awarded the coveted Prix du Rome. He would eventually join the Conservatory’s faculty in 1895, as Professor of Ensemble Performance. Lefebvre remained active and successful as a composer throughout his life, writing works that included four operas, six large cantatas, a symphony, and other orchestral pieces. However it was his chamber music, particularly his works for wind instruments, that were particularly well-regarded in his time, and today he is largely known through a few of these, particularly the wind quintet heard here.

Lefebvre’s Suite No. 1 for Wind Quintet was commissioned by the French Society for Chamber Music for Wind Instruments. The first two movements were played publicly in 1882, and the complete three-movement Suite premiered in 1884. It is probably one of the works that was being recognized when the French national Academy of Fine Arts awarded him the Prix Chartier for chamber music that year. Lefebvre’s Romantic, but rather conservative style shines in the opening movement, Canon: moderato. The music evolves in a dense texture, with constant imitation between the five parts. The second movement (Allegro scherzando) is much lighter, with a lively main theme played against a stubborn two-note horn fanfare. The contrasting middle section is briefly tragic, but soon lightens for a series of solos by horn, oboe, and flute. The movement ends with a return of the opening music and a short coda. The finale (Allegro leggiero) begins with light, dancelike music. A sinuous bassoon passage leads to a more serious contrasting idea. A short development section opens with a brief fugue, before Lefebre returns at the end to the main theme.

Between 1708-1717, Bach served as organist and eventually as music director at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar. During this period, Bach concentrated largely on keyboard music, but also wrote some of his earliest concertos for the Duke’s small orchestra. The young Bach was interested in the latest Italian style of concerto-writing, and particularly admired the works of Antonio Vivaldi. Perhaps the most influential Vivaldi concertos are the twelve published in 1711 as L’estro armonico, his Op. 3. The collection, which is equally divided between works scored for one, two, and four solo violins, was immensely popular across Germany, and many German composers imitated Vivaldi’s style. It is likely that Bach was exposed to this collection in about 1713, when the Duke’s music-loving nephew returned to Weimar from his university study with a trunkload of the latest music. Bach arranged no fewer than six of Vivaldi’s Op. 3 as concertos for other instruments, including three organ concertos. This kind of musical borrowing was commonplace in the Baroque: for his part, Bach frequently rearranged other composers’ music, and often recycled his own music into new pieces. But he seems also to have seen arranging these Vivaldi concertos as a way to absorb the Italian style, which then shows up in his completely “original” concertos.

The Organ Concerto in A minor is an arrangement of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, Op. 3, No. 8. At this program, we hear an imaginative rearrangement of Bach’s arrangement for wind quintet, which was created for the Israel Woodwind Quintet by the quintet’s bassoonist, Mordecai Rechtman. In the opening Allegro, Rechtman distributes the lively solo lines among all five instruments, creating a kaleidoscope of constantly changing tone color. The second movement (Larghetto e spiritoso) begins with a statement of a theme that will be repeated throughout, with some development, beneath emotional solo lines. Again, the arranger distributes solo material democratically across the group, but here the effect is more stark: allowing the players to interpret these passionate melodic lines. The final Allegro is a series of flashy solo and duet lines, often set against more sedate unison ideas.

The music of Jacques Ibert is colorful, often witty, and unfailingly pleasant. Like most of the finest French musicians of his day, he was trained at the Paris Conservatory, where he studied composition and piano. He served in the French military in World War I, but promptly returned to the Conservatory afterwards, winning the prestigious Prix du Rome in 1919. Ibert had a multifaced musical career, working as an administrator, teacher, and music journalist, and as a composer in all genres, including film scores. He was particularly successful as a composer for the stage, writing six operas, five ballets, and incidental music for a dozen stage plays. His only wind quintet, Three Short Pieces, is actually a set of pieces drawn from his incidental music for the 1930 comedy Le stratagème des Roués, a French adaptation of the 17th-century English play The Beaux’ Strategem. Given the limited space available in the theater and the limited budget available for the production, Ibert scored all of the incidental music for a standard wind quintet. A couple of months after Le stratagème opened in Paris, Ibert selected three of its movements to publish together as the Three Short Pieces.

The piece opens (Allegro) with a mock-serious fanfare, but the oboe quickly launches into a lively dancelike idea. This is repeated by flute, oboe, and clarinet, and then varied, building into a moment of slightly shocking dissonance. The movement ends with a repeat of the oboe melody and an acceleration into a vivacious coda. The Andante is largely a long, emotional duet for flute and clarinet. Ibert waits until the very end to introduce the rest of the quintet. The closing Allegro begins with another fanfare, this one rather droopy, before the mood shifts abruptly and the clarinet launches into a lively melody. The middle section runs quickly through a series of slightly serious flute solos, a loopy little waltz, and a brisk closing passage. The movement ends with a reprise of the lively clarinet theme, a brief remembrance of the waltz, and a quick-footed coda.

There is some serious doubt about whether three duos for clarinet and bassoon usually credited to Beethoven are in fact by him. When the German musicologist Georg Kinsky’s influential catalog of Beethoven’s works was published in 1955, he accepted them as authentic pieces, and others suggested that they were probably early works, written before 1792, when Beethoven was still living in Bonn. Beethoven certainly wrote several smaller pieces like these, often with an eye on the large and profitable market for chamber music intended for amateur players, and occasionally as gifts for friends—for example, the “Eyeglasses” Duo he wrote in 1796 or 1797, intended for Beethoven himself to perform on viola and the cello part for his friend Nicholas Zmeskall. In the last 75 years, however, most Beethoven biographers dismiss them as inauthentic: there is nothing in their style that is particularly suggestive of Beethoven, even early Beethoven, and they were not published until the 1810s in Paris.

Whoever wrote these duos, however, they are delightful Classical-style pieces intended for skilled players, and they were probably written at a time when the clarinet was still a relative novelty. The Duo No. 2 in F Major opens with a movement in sonata form (Allegro affetuoso). The clarinet carries most of the melody, introducing two equally lyrical themes with a sometimes flashy bassoon accompaniment. The short development section includes a few mild harmonic surprises, before a varied recapitulation of the opening section. The second movement (Aria: Larghetto) is a melancholy song led entirely by the clarinet, above a flowing bassoon background. At the very end, there is a miniature clarinet cadenza that sets up the final movement (Rondo: Allegretto moderato). In this quick and exuberant rondo, there is a much more equal partnership between the two instruments, as they quickly pass ideas back and forth. The main theme, heard in full at the beginning and end, alternates with a series of equally light contrasting ideas.

This lovely little piece is a relatively early work by Stravinsky, written in 1907, two years before he left for Paris and worldwide fame. At the time, Stravinsky was studying with the great Russian nationalist composer Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Pastorale, composed during his usual summer holiday and his family’s summer home in Ukraine is a vocalise, a song without words. Stravinsky dedicated the original version for voice and piano to Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter Nadia. Throughout his career, Stravinsky frequently tinkered with his earlier works, creating new versions, and in 1923 he created a version of the Pastorale for soprano, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon. Ten years later, he reworked the piece for violin and piano. The arrangement for wind quintet heard here is based upon Stravinsky’s 1923 version. The Pastorale is set is a simple three-part form. The opening section has a tranquil melody carried by the clarinet accompanied by a gentle walking bassoon line. The clarinet then introduces a contrasting, but equally peaceful idea, before a return of the opening music.

Our final work is by the Hungarian-American composer Denes Agay. Born near Budapest, Agay became successful in his native Hungary as a film composer and conductor in the late 1930s. But in 1939, with Nazism on the rise in Europe, Agay, who was Jewish, fled Hungary and settled in New York City. Agay became part of the flood of European musical and artistic emigrants who found refuge in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s—musicians, composers, conductors, visual artists, writers, academics, and intellectuals—much to the benefit of American culture. Agay became an American citizen in 1942 and enlisted in the U. S. Army. His wartime service was spent mostly at a military hospital in Alabama, where he rolled a piano through the wards to entertain wounded troops. He worked briefly as a television arranger and conductor after the war, but he is perhaps best-known as an editor of works for piano: he published nearly a hundred books, most of them anthologies of piano music, many designed for teaching young piano students. Agay also continued to compose in other genres throughout his life.

Agay wrote his Five Easy Dances in 1956. These bright, lighthearted little pieces are often used, as they are here, as an upbeat conclusion to wind quintet programs. The set begins with a lively and slightly manic Polka. Agay’s Tango is a rather cheerful take on this seductive dance. The Bolero begins with a slinky oboe melody before the bassoon introduces a new idea, and the dance ends with a chirpy, tongue-in-cheek coda. In the Waltz, all five players take turns playing a series of attractive melodies. The closing Rumba is a jazzy version of this popular Cuban dance.

Scott Richardson is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1983 where he studied with former Boston Symphony bass clarinetist Felix Viscuglia. He also received a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California in 1986 where he studied with world-renowned clarinetist David Shifrin. After graduating from college, Scott performed with the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra, Nevada Opera Theatre, and the Nevada Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

In 1990 he joined the Band of the Golden West at March Air Force Base, California where he was Principal Clarinetist. While in California, Scott also performed as Principal Clarinetist in the Desert Symphony in Palm Springs and with the Inland Empire Orchestra, and the Mountain Chamber Orchestra. In 1994 Scott auditioned for and won a clarinet position with the Air Force Band of the Rockies (currently the Air Force Academy Band in Colorado Springs) where he remained until his retirement in 2014. Scott was featured as a frequent soloist in the Concert Band during his career in the Air Force Academy Band. His favorite solo in which he was featured is the Artie Shaw’s Concerto for Clarinet, which he performed on tours in both 2001 and 2007.

Aside from performing on clarinet in the Concert Band, Scott also performed in the Rampart Winds Woodwind Quintet, and the Solar Winds Clarinet Quartet. In addition, he performed on baritone sax, bass clarinet and clarinet in the Falconaires Big Band from 2007-2012. Scott was the Principal Clarinetist in the First United Methodist Church Orchestra while living in Colorado Springs. From 2008-2013, Scott performed regularly with the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra and the Denver Municipal Band. Since relocating to Prescott several years ago, Scott was featured as a soloist last season with the Prescott Pops Symphony in John Williams Viktor’s Tale for Solo Clarinet.

He is currently Principal Clarinetist in Arizona Philharmonic and Verde Valley Sinfonietta. He also performs on bass clarinet, clarinet and saxophone in the Prescott Pops Symphony. He recently performed with both the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and regularly performs with the Yavapai College Pit Orchestra for musical productions on both clarinet and saxophone. He is happily married to his lovely wife Julie and they both enjoy fine dining, traveling and relaxing at home with their two feline daughters.

Flutist Jeannette Hirasawa Moore has appeared as soloist with the Flagstaff Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Ensemble Sir Ernest MacMillan and Hart House Orchestra. Originally from Canada, Jeannette lived in Toronto where she performed as principal flute of the Toronto Pops Orchestra, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, and Toronto Philharmonic. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees in Performance from the University of Toronto and studied with Douglas Stewart and Robert Aitken. In 1995 she toured the Far East with The Phantom of the Opera. Jeannette has served as Principal Flute of the Flagstaff Symphony since 2013, is also principal flute of the Arizona Philharmonic and Verde Valley Sinfonietta and performs with the chamber groups Ponderosa Players, Sonoran Winds and Duo Catalina.

Dr. Laura Arganbright is in demand as a freelance oboist with a diverse portfolio of musical projects including performance, education, and reed-making. She currently holds the principal oboe chairs with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Neo summer program. She has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Arizona Philharmonic, Grand Junction Symphony, and in 2021, completed a 4-year fellowship as principal oboe of the American Youth Symphony. Laura’s 2019 world premier performance of the double oboe concerto Extra(ordinarily) Fancy by Viet Cuong was met with enthusiastic praise by audiences, including the composition and double reed communities.

Laura is passionate about music education and fostering music appreciation in youths. She serves as the Recorder and Oboe Teaching Artist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic YOLA program, an El Sistema based organization that provides music education in traditionally underserved communities. Laura maintains a robust and competitive private studio and has operated a handmade oboe reed business since 2015. Equally enthusiastic about reed-making pedagogy, Laura has presented master classes at the University of Southern California and serves as the reed-making coach for all current oboe majors.

Laura completed the Doctor of Musical Arts at USC in 2018. She graduated with honors and was awarded the Brandon Mehrle Service Award in recognition of individuals who demonstrate extraordinary support of the Thornton School of Music through a commitment of energy and professional expertise. Laura’s teachers include Marion Kuszyk, Joel Timm, and Martin Schuring. When not playing oboe, teaching oboe, or making oboe reeds, Laura can probably be found hiking, backpacking, camping, or generally indulging in a love for nature.

Rose French is the Coordinator of Instrumental Music at Phoenix College and the founder of the Mill Ave Chamber Players, a chamber ensemble based in Phoenix, Arizona that has been recognized by Chamber Music America for its work in community building. She has been a contributing artist at the International Horn Symposium in Ithaca, Los Angeles, London, Natal (Brazil), Brisbane (Australia) and Cape Town (South Africa), where she also won the Dorothy Frizelle International Horn Excerpt Competition. In the Southwest, Rose is Principal Horn of the Symphony of the West Valley and performs with the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, Tucson Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, Orquestra Sinfonica de Monterrey, Orquestra de Baja California, and has toured China twice as principal horn of the American Festival Orchestra.

Rose has been a guest artist and chamber music coach at the Saarburg (Germany) International Chamber Music Festival and Interlochen Center for the Arts and has given master classes, recitals and lectures on arts entrepreneurship at numerous universities throughout the United States. She hosted the 2017 and 2012 Southwest Horn Regional Workshop where she performed the Concerto for Two Horns by Haydn with soloist Bruno Schneider. She serves as Exhibits and Advertising Coordinator for the International Horn Society, maintains a private studio, and teaches at Rosie’s House: a non-profit music academy that provides free instruction and instruments to under-served youth. She has published two books, Rangesongs (2012) and Horn Player’s Songbook (2015), both published by Mountain Peak Music. French completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at Arizona State University and hold degrees in Music Education, Music Technology, and Performance from Duquesne University.

From childhood as an Iowa farm girl, Jill Whitcomb Marderness‘ musical talents led her to the University of Michigan where she completed the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Wind Instruments. Her musical career spans nearly 40 years as performer, teacher and arts administrator. With Quintessence Chamber Ensemble, she toured from Alaska to the Panama Canal and California to the Caribbean, performing to nearly half a million people in an amazing array of concert and educational settings and for 25 years served as Arts in Education Roster Artists with the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Ms. Marderness represented Quintessence on panels addressing “The Performer as Educator” at the Chamber Music America National Conference, the Music Educators National Conference and “Outreach Within Residencies” for the Western Arts Alliance Conference.

Renowned as an artist teacher, Ms. Marderness has taught on the faculties of Saint Cloud State University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Grand Canyon University, Maricopa Community Colleges and performed as an Educational Recording Artist for Carl Fischer Publishing Company with Trade Winds in Tampa, Florida. She has performed with Chamber Music Sedona, Red Rocks Music Festival, for children at Matsumoto Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan, and with the Flint Symphony, Duluth Symphony, Colorado Philharmonic and more. Her awards include the Silver Medal of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition presented by Neville Marriner and both the Fischoff Competition Best Wind Group prize and Munich Competition semi-finalist selection with Quintessence.

Ms. Marderness is currently contracted with the Arizona Opera Orchestra and regularly engaged by the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra and Arizona Musicfest Festival Orchestra. Since 2004, Jill has served as Administrative Assistant for the Red Rocks Music Festival, and in 2007 she Co-Founded Scottsdale Neighborhood Arts Place www.yoursnap.org where she is currently Director of Operations. In 2012 Artistic Director David Shifrin appointed Ms. Marderness as Artistic Manager and in 2014 Operations Associate for the Winter Festival of the Phoenix Chamber Music Society.
In Michigan as resident artist at the Bay View Music Festival since 1979, Jill has “worn many hats” including performing all musical genres on bassoon and saxophone, performs with the Bay View Wind Quintet and Festival Orchestra, coaches chamber music, teaches Thriving in the Arts and Income from Outreach, and has accompanied Choristers and served as Music Librarian. Since 2008 Ms. Marderness has served as Youth Music Coordinator to develop the Music & Munchies, Tunes for Tots, and Behind the Scenes series plus The Rising Stars concert for the community music students of Bay View.

Jill resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband Fred Marderness, percussionist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. Their daughter Emily is a Geography and Linguistics double major at the University of Arizona. Jill practices Bikram Yoga, enjoys healthy cooking, and loves riding the many beautiful bike trails in Scottsdale and the Little Traverse Bay area of northern Michigan.