[pervycreeper]

The wind quintets were written on commission, for public consumption, rather than being "written for the drawer", as many of the works in this recording series were. Nonetheless, they are still first rate compositions and full to the brim with truly unusual features.

The fact that those innovations are able to go by without being perceived while listening to or even performing them is a testament to Reicha's skill in making unusual ideas "work" musically, despite their strangeness.

Mr. Ilić is, in my view, 100% correct in his assessments regarding the undeservedness of Reicha's relative obscurity.

[ivancdg]

The 2nd paragraph is really the crux of the matter. Whereas Beethoven's music draws attention to its unusual features, Reicha in his memoirs states unequivocally that Haydn and Mozart are the pinnacles of instrumental music, and that it is because of their grace and good taste. So we have opposite positions on what is beautiful, hard to reconcile with our view of music history which is seen through our "Beethoven filter".