Despite the identical line-ups (the quintets were composed for flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano), each of the quintets reflects individual styles of their creators. Rubinstein’s work (1855) belongs to the early period of the prominent Russian pianist, composer, conductor and a future founder of the first Russian conservatory.
It is distinguished with a brightly virtuosic, concert and at the same time orchestral nature of the piano part. Rimsky-Korsakov’s quintet was composed in 1876 for a chamber music competition of the Russian Music Society. Its poor premiere was a cause of a long and unjust oblivion of this interesting piece where the part of each instrument is distinguished with convenience of performance and also virtuosity and special colouring of sound. Rimsky-Korsakov who mastered all the wind instruments deeply felt individual nature and capabilities of each timbre.
The chamber ensembles by Rimsky-Korsakov and Rubinstein are performed by outstanding representatives of the 20th century Russian performing school such as Alexei Nasedkin and Alexander Bakhchiyev (piano), Valentin Zverev and Alexander Korneyev (flute), Vladimir Sokolov and Vladimir Zverev (clarinet), Anatoly Dyomin and Boris Afanasiev (horn), Sergey Krasavin and Vladimir Vlasenko (bassoon).
