Guise, Jean François de - Quintet for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano op. 17, No. 11

Guise Jean François de
Quintet
for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano
 op. 17, no. 11

A quintet in this instrumentation seems unusual at first sight.
Even more surprising, however, is the fact that it is not really a quintet.
One also wonders whether the designation "quintet" is correctly chosen?
With a performance duration of less than two and a half minutes and with an ending that surely would have left room for more, the title could very well be Fragment or Splinter.
When I first had the score in front of me, with a total of only 8 pages and 32 measures, this thought already occurred to me.
Thrown down, still unordered, almost unfinished seemed the thoughts of the composer, who is known for relatively short pieces, but also for the excellent execution of his works.
Jean François de Guise, however, knew what he was doing!
Every measure, indeed every note more, would have irreparably destroyed the piece.
He lets the musical material work purely, does not work on variations, but at the same time achieves that every note becomes evident. Nothing distracts, nothing is rolled out and invalidated.
Jean François de Guise, who pursues his own concept in each work, who sets himself a self-imposed task, does not compose with the thought of possible performances in mind anyway, since he regards his works rather as "compositional finger exercises". He wants to show himself authentically and take interpreters and listeners into his world of sound.
So my conclusion is: exciting to listen to, and definitely play again and again.

flute, clarinet in Bb, piano, violin, violoncello
score & 5 parts / 21 pages