Beethoven and the development of wind instruments

Beethoven's career coincided with a particularly dynamic period in the development of wind instruments. In our own day, period performance of his orchestral music has recently moved well beyond the experimental stage to become part of mainstream musical life, though there have been some timely reminders in print as to the degree of choice and taste that today's performers must inevitably exercise. An important part of the evidence is the music itself, charting the manner in which Beethoven responded to each of the various instruments, both within the wind chamber music of his 'classicising' period and also during the course of wide-ranging tonalities in his orchestral music