United is the Pacific Quintet’s debut album on Fuga Libera. It is a reflection of the diversity of its members and core focus; it also offers a nod to the composer who inspired the ensemble: Leonard Bernstein.

Going beyond the standard classical repertoire, the prize-winning quintet (clarinet, horn, flute, oboe and bassoon) presents music from their home countries of Japan, Honduras, South Korea, Germany and Ukraine/Turkey in a program which transcends all differences of culture, language and tradition.

Two pieces, one by the Honduran composer Jorge Santos and the other by the South Korean female composer Soeui Lee, were commissioned especially for this album, which also includes Fazil Say’s quintet Alevi dedeler rakı masasında and a medley of Japanese folk songs; Hanns Eisler’s Divertimento represents Germany, the Pacific Quintet’s home country.

The album ends with an arrangement of music from West Side Story, an homage to its famous composer who founded the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo where the players first met. As this project shows, they are truly United in music.

Pacific Quintet
Aliya Vodovozova, Flute
Fernando José Martínez Zavala, Oboe
Liana Leßmann, Clarinet
Kenichi Furuya, Bassoon
Haeree Yoo, Horn