The Beaufort Scale measures how fast wind moves. It was developed to measure wind speed to help sea captain’s recognize the effects on their ship’s sails. Taking inspiration from the scale, the Beaufort Winds, are a woodwind quintet that performed their first show in front of an audience in the Allen Community College library on Sept. 14th.

This enigmatic group is made up of five members; Virginia Q. Backman, a flutist, Shawn Nemati-Bachestani, a oboist and baghestani musician, Jeffery Anderson, a clarinetist, Steve N. Lewis, Jr., a French horn musician, and Mark Adair, who plays the bassoon. The group played four different sets composed by a variety of artists.

The band started with the Wind Quintet: Allegro con moto, a composition by Paul Taffanel. The piece contained many flute sections and had a very elegant sound; the piece was in the key G minor.

The next set they did was a Three Shanties for Wind Quintet: I. Allegro con brio, II. Allegretto semplice, III. Allegro vivace. Lewis told the audience that the sea shanties were a great piece for the group to try because it really tested them as musicians working together. The first piece was a more sinister piece, yet, it had very jaunty moments in it. The second piece was more slow and solemn, it sounded like something from an old romance film. The final piece was very lively and playful, leaving the audience with images playing in their minds of cartoon animals jumping around in forests.

After finishing the sea shanties, the quintet moved on to Early Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century: I. Intrada, II. Slow Dance, III. Shoulder-Blade Dance, IV. Chorea, V. Leaping Dance. This five-part piece was composed by Ferenc Farkas who, Nemarti told the audience, composed many pieces for film and theater. The first piece has a very impish and contained an uplifted sense of sound. The second piece, Slow Dance, was a very formal sounding piece. The notes being played were drawn out, which elongated the sound, yet short bursts were intertwined, which left the audience with a pleasant emotional feeling. Shoulder-Blade Dance, the third part of the Hungarian Dances, was very jovial and full of hope; the piece sounded as if it was a conversation of someone telling jokes. The fourth piece was more mysterious than the ones prior, the piece had a unique sound that reminded the audience of someone being curious of their surroundings. It sounded as if it should be played behind a scene of a cat exploring a house; the piece had soft beats like those of paw steps. The final piece was very ceremonial, ash though it should be played when introducing royalty. There were beautiful parts from the oboe and clarinets and high racing bits from the flute.

The last of the Beaufort Winds set was The Wind Quintet, Op. 88 No. 2: IV. Allegretto. The composer of their last piece, Anton Reicha, was very good childhood friends with Beethoven; Reicha played flute and violin. At a young age Reicha ran away from his mother to pursue his love of composing. After failing at Opera composing, he reconnected with Beethoven and would help woodwinds earn a spot right next to the strings in orchestras to come. The piece had fantastic clarinet writing and was a lovely piece to end the group’s first live performance with.

The Beaufort Winds were part of the Allen Library Cultural series. Their show drew an audience of community members and students alike. The pieces left the audience with a wide variety of emotions and feelings from the instrumental pieces. Although this was the first time anyone has seen the Beaufort Winds, it certainly will not be the last.