Have you ever heard the music of Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven’s secretary, student, and a composer of the early nineteenth century? I confess that I had not heard of him until a few weeks ago, even though he wrote some wonderful music for my instrument, the flute.

How about Anton Reicha, another composer-friend of Beethoven’s and the teacher of Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, and Cesar Franck? I leaned about Reicha from one of my teachers because the composer wrote numerous works for woodwinds, many of which I got to perform before enthusiastic audiences. The pieces were very popular during Reicha’s lifetime but not anymore. Here is one of my favorites, the finale from his woodwind quintet in Eb, recently recorded virtually by musicians from the Chicago Symphony. Full story.

Thomas Wolf (The Nightingale’s Sonata) / January 18, 2022

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