The Bolshoi Theatre’s woodwind quintet traces its history back to the middle of the twentieth century.
Its membership changed over the decades, but it consistently brought together the orchestra’s finest wind soloists. Earlier members included Yevgeny Ignatenko (flute), Mikhail Orudzhev (oboe), Ivan Butyrsky (clarinet), Pavel Savelyev (bassoon) and Alexander Ryabinin (horn). Later generations included Alexander Golyshev, Sergei Burdukov, Eduard Myasnikov, Yuri Rudometkin, Valery Bogorad, Igor Lifanovsky and Vladimir Tarasov.
From its earliest years the quintet performed extensively in Moscow, across the Soviet Union and internationally. Its activities came to a halt in the late 1990s. In 2013 the management of the Bolshoi Theatre decided to revive the ensemble.
The new quintet united five outstanding soloists: Nikolai Popov (flute), Sergei Lysenko (oboe), Sergei Petrov (clarinet), Andrei Rudometkin (bassoon) and Alexei Raev (horn). It is, in the fullest sense, an ensemble of soloists.
Its repertoire includes original works and arrangements by Lyadov, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Svetlanov, Reicha, Danzi, Rössler, Brahms, Nielsen, Barber, Villa-Lobos and Hindemith. Among the orchestral works heard in quintet form are The Nutcracker, Pictures at an Exhibition and Romeo and Juliet.
The members also compose for the ensemble. Sergei Lysenko’s Fantasy on Themes from Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and Nikolai Popov’s Carnival of Animals and Insects have been enthusiastically received in concert.
Listening to the Bolshoi Wind Quintet, one can feel that a single musician is playing: the performers respond to one another with extraordinary unity, down to the smallest breath and inflection. Together they become one colourful, many-voiced instrument, while retaining their individual musical personalities. Shared taste, sensitivity and artistic intentions give the ensemble its distinctive sense of musical partnership.
