Guise, Jean François de - Babiole for wind quintet op. 17, No. 4

Guise Jean François de
Babiole pour quintette à vent
op. 17, no. 4

Babiole, translated from the French, little thing, is the title of the Wind Quintet op.17, No.4.
This trifle, which has a manageable playing time of 3:15 min., is rather to be classified in the tonal range. If one draws parallels to other works of the wind literature, one probably thinks first of Paul Hindemith.
And indeed, Jean François de Guise composed this piece in 2009 for a wind ensemble that requested a work intended as an encore for a concert that featured Paul Hindemith's "Kleine Kammermusik op.24, Nr.2" for five winds as the main work.
Many composers would quickly reject such a request, if only to avoid comparison.
Jean François de Guise, however, took on the task. Despite the supposed tonal proximity to the great colleague, he never plagiarizes, but simply uses the then prevailing structuring of the pieces. It is his music, just with the limitation of means.
There are no extended playing techniques and no microtonality.
The result is a piece that is sonorous, interesting and, as was heard from various quarters at the end of the premiere, unfortunately only three minutes long.
This "smallness" should always be in focus for wind quintets, even those beginning to approach contemporary music.

flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon
score & 5 parts / 26 pages