What the critics say
Quintet’s stunning brilliance brings Bermuda Festival to a rousing end.
The contrasting Ecuadorean Tonada with its lyrical phrasing and dreamlike quality saw the quintet display an almost spiritual dimension to its playing. While the spicy Venezuelan El Diablo Suelto, the fourth and final dance, positively sizzled. Mid-Ocean News
Wind Quintet final jewel in Festival’s crown
The Bermuda Festival produced an unexpected gem in the form of the Wind Quintet of the Americas…stretching the accepted conventions of chamber music into new and exhilarating spheres. The Royal Gazette
The Quintet, a well-matched group of talented young musicians, played with disarming self-assurance, polished ensemble precision and a lively response to the individual musical character of each score. The New York Times
Both individually and communally, they demonstrated solid musicianship, admirable sensitivity to the nuances of tone and a lively rhythmic sense. The New York Times
The Quintet of the Americas played Janácek’s Mladi splendidly, full of life, balancing voices with care, and confident in its sense of togetherness. The New York Times
Musical dialogue at the highest level with beautiful tone and precise phrasing.
The Washington Post
Powerfully played. Fresh from beginning to end. The Village Voice
Quintet of the Americas displays virtuosity
If there’s something wind players can do that members of the Quintet of the Americas can’t, I’d be happy to hear somebody try it. The Indianapolis News
Each member of the Quintet of the Americas is a virtuoso in his or her own right. Schwann Opus
Quintet of the Americas …. is a sensation. Their virtuosity, balances, articulation and intonation mark them as one of the world’s top wind quintets. I have never heard finer playing. inTune
The sad phrasing at the opening of La nuit from the 1963 Serenade have a depth and simplicity way beyond the range of most contemporary chamber music, as do the Preludes from 1966. Five Poems from 1994 show that he hasn’t lost the knack. They are evocations of the life of birds that avoid any Messiaenic overtones while extending the wind quintet’s expressive range, again in a quiet way. The Quintet of the Americas strikes the right tone, and Barbara Oldham’s horn playing is a perfect, hypersensitive match for Husa’s eloquent writing in the Interlude here, and everywhere on the disc… Paul Ingram, Fanfare September/October 2004
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This is a wonderful group of musicians with wonderful tone, great ensemble (going beyond the ordinary definition of the word to more ‘conceptual’ aspects for those pieces to which they contribute their own creative ideas), and interest in a wide range of styles. Fanfare
Spontaneity is apparent at every turn in these witty, inventive, and colorful readings. If that isn’t enough to convince you, XLNT has recorded this gem of a release in mellow and intimate acoustics. American Record Guide
Quintet of the Americas certainly knows how to pick new music; or is it simply that their gorgeous playing makes it all sound so good? I think it is both, and this has become one of my favorite discs of new music for winds. James H. North, Fanfare