Chamber Symphony No. 5 for Ten Winds, Op. 75 (1922) by Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)

Darius Milhaud is best remembered as a member of "Les Six," a group of composers in Paris (they were not all French) who exemplified a new aesthetic in music, although no one stylistic idiom defines all of the members. Milhaud's particular style grew out of his studies of harmony and counterpoint, and his experience of certain popular music. In the early 1920s, Milhaud heard jazz in Harlem, and began incorporating its distinctive sounds in his music. La Création du monde, a ballet written in 1923, drew on jazz-inspired rhythms, harmonies and instrumentation. Milhaud's Chamber Symphonies, written around the same time, dabble with polytonality (using two keys simultaneously) and show Milhaud's affinity for lively, punctuated rhythms. The Chamber Symphonies (also known as "Little" Symphonies) call for unconventional instrumentation, from a harp and string quartet in the first symphony to a string septet in Nos. 2 and 3. None of them lasts more than seven or eight minutes.

The Chamber Symphony No. 5 for Ten Winds, Op. 75, like the other Chamber Symphonies, has three movements. The first, called Rude (or "rough") begins with playful, if dissonant, interplay by the winds. Milhaud restricts the instruments to a limited range of notes until an animated passage flares out in the piccolo. This outburst seems to incite the rest of the instruments to respond in kind. A gradual slowdown brings the movement to a close. The second movement, marked Lent, begins with the intriguing sound of a fluttering flute. This sound appears throughout the movement, while the other instruments explore independent lines. Occasionally, a group of instruments meets in a dissonant chord or a scalar passage, islands of stability in an otherwise fluid situation. The final movement, Violent, begins with music that seems positively merry at first. But as the instruments converge into a denser mass, what was once merry becomes martial. The piece ends with a march-like section and one final flourish.

Note by Christine Lee Gengaro

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