(SW 1036)
The title alone, if you know Ridil, suggests an ironic-associative work character. Such refined, humorous musical character studies are typical for many of his works and are reflected, among other things, in the programmatic movement titles such as “Introduction and Marching with Trio” or “Wild Hunt!”. In all this, however, a very consistent, almost classical formal strictness is also evident, so that – from a purely formal point of view – behind all the allusions there is basically a four-movement piano quintet with two fast corner movements framing a scherzo and a slow movement.
Here the piano is replaced by a historical instrument, namely the harpsichord, while the “first voice”, on the other hand, is a folk instrument, namely the chromonica. This seemingly oblique combination is complemented by three modern wind instruments in the form of a bass clarinet and two bassoons.
The work is a wonderfully playful, above all rhythmically extraordinarily refined piece with an original instrumentation. The harmonica part in particular, with its sometimes blatant technical capers, places considerable demands on the player.
Martin Schmeck