Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Quintet for Piano and Winds in B-flat Major (1876)

“Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Quintet for piano, flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon was written in 1876 for a chamber music competition. It was not a successful entry, losing out to a composition by Czech composer Eduard Napravník. The Quintet has three movements; the first, Allegro con brio, is ’in the classical style of Beethoven’ according to the composer. Conversely, its style is very different from every other work of Rimsky-Korsakov. The second, Andante, in contrast, is the direct product of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ’Russianness’. It opens with a horn melody accompanied with piano chords. Together, the winds create an atmosphere tinged with melancholy, while the piano accompanies for most of the time. The third, Rondo, Allegretto vivace, begins as a dance tune that gradually becomes more serious until the rhythm stops altogether. After a complicated section for solo piano, the dance rhythm of the beginning is reintroduced for the closing pages.“ (Rovi Staff)