Work edited with the collaboration of the Department of Culture of the Basque Government.

In 1975, Tomás Aragüés composed the Basque Quintet for the Bilbao Wind Quintet, which premiered the piece on February 17, 1976, in the auditorium of the Guipuzcoan Athenaeum in San Sebastián.

The Bilbao Wind Quintet was formed in 1970 by the soloists of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra: Teodoro Martínez de Lecea (flute), Juan Tarín Sánchez (oboe), Paulino Idoate Zubieta (clarinet), Juan Manuel Gómez de Edeta (horn), and Esteban Lejonagoitia García (bassoon). The ensemble had a wide-ranging repertoire, spanning from classical composers such as Franz Rosler-Rosetti to contemporary figures like Milko Kelemen. Their high musical standards, together with favorable reviews and strong public support, earned them recognition throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

Tomás Aragüés’s Basque Quintet is one of the first works written for wind quintet within the Basque musical landscape. With great skill, the composer draws thematic material from Basque folk music, and through touches of atonality and nods to the musical avant-garde of the time, achieves an elegant academicism, securing the work a prominent place in the wind quintet repertoire.

As the composer himself notes, the work is divided into four movements and, as the subtitles clearly suggest, it draws its inspiration from folk traditions, although truly popular themes appear only in the first and last movements (Arin-arin and Aldapeko).

The movements Arin-arin and Ezpata-dantza, both based on traditional dance rhythms, are treated atonally with great freedom, emphasizing rhythmic and timbral aspects over purely melodic or harmonic development. The songs Bihotz-bihotzetik and Aldapeko are written in a deliberately tonal style, more in keeping with their melodic contours. Notably, in Bihotz-bihotzetik, the English horn skillfully replaces the oboe to create a particularly intimate atmosphere.

The Pablo Sorozábal Wind Quintet, formed in San Sebastián in 1986, is without doubt the ensemble that has most frequently performed and best understands this score. In 1996, they recorded it on their debut album, released by the Ars Incógnita label. Since then, the work has been one of the hallmarks of this Guipuzcoan ensemble and is regularly programmed in their concerts.

Jesús Solabarrieta Garro
(Flautist of the Sorozábal Quintet)