Shifrin/Cho/Morelli/Olegario - Ludwig van Beethoven: Music for Winds

Music for wind ensemble was a regular part of entertainment in Beethoven�s day, and his Octet was composed for the skilled players in the service of his patron, the Archbishop-Elector in Bonn. The charming and skilfully written Sextet is also �from my early things and, what�s more, was written in one night�; impressing a critic of the time �by its splendid melodies, leisurely harmonic flow, and wealth of new and surprising ideas�. Wind partitas often opened with a March, and the Rondino was originally intended as the Finale to the Octet, two suitable pieces to complete this fashionable Beethoven soir�e.