February 2026, by Laurence Vittes
“To celebrate their 47th season, New York-based Sylvan Winds showcases a quartet of new quintets that tease the brain with their brilliant use of the genre and delight the ear with their transfiguring beauty.
In Pentalogue, written during the pandemic, Elizabeth Brown even seems seduced herself while leading the quintet, like Alice, into a wonderland of sounds inhabited by half-remembered Baroque and Classical themes and rhythms capped off by a movement called ‘Of Mice and Mahler’. The short recap of the entire suite that follows shines its facets of hope like sonic gemstones.
Although Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Xenia and the Bishop (as in chess) was inspired by Cinderella, her imagination elevates the story into a Chekhovian parable of mothers and daughters. In fact, Vrebalov’s mastery of magically illustrating nature could have been inspired by Haydn’s Creation, while Mary Beth Pell’s quietly eloquent narration complements the music’s engaging bits and skeins.
Stephanie Griffin’s Calling pays tribute to the rustic roots of the Sylvan’s players, including biblical shofar shouts, Serbian folk tunes, Portuguese fado, Scandinavian cattle calls, a Sicilian lullaby for bullocks—with the bassoonist providing the sound effect—and, towards the end, hints of the sad dance in Petrushka.
The theme and variations that make up Svjetlana Bukvich’s Unraveling the Linear could be the score for a quantum mechanics mystery, with its kinetic energy, contrasting moods and carefully etched backgrounds energised by an electronic tape. Eventually, however, it enters a serenely beautiful world and finishes with a nice little epilogue.”