Brahms: Clarinet Trio, Op. 114 / Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115

Description

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114Quintet in B minor for clarinet and strings, Op. 115Johannes Brahms was born on 7th May 1833 in the Gangeviertel district ofHamburg, the son of a double-bass player and his wife, a seamstress seventeenyears her husband's senior. It was intended that the boy should follow hisfather's trade and to this end he was taught the violin and cello, but hisinterest in the piano prevailed, enabling him to supplement the family income byplaying in dockside taverns, while taking valuable lessons from Eduard Marxsen.In 1853 Brahms embarked on a concert tour with the Hungarian violinist EduardRemenyi, during the course of which he visited Liszt in Weimar, to no effect,and struck up a friendship with the violinist Joseph Joachim, through whoseagency he met the Schumanns, established now in D??sseldorf. The connection wasan important one. Schumann was impressed enough by the compositions of his ownBrahms played to him to hail him as the long-awaited successor to Beethoven.Schumann's subsequent break-down in February 1854 and ensuing insanity broughtBrahms back to D??sseldorf to help Clara Schumann and her young family. Therelationship with Clara Schumann, one of the most distinguished pianists of thetime, lasted until her death in 1896.It was not until 1862, after a happy period that had brought him a temporaryposition at the court of Detmold as a conductor and piano teacher, that Brahmsvisited Vienna, giving concerts there and meeting the important critic EduardHanslick, who was to prove a doughty champion, pitting Brahms against Wagner andLiszt as a composer of abstract music, as opposed to the music-drama of Wagnerand the symphonic poems of Liszt, with their extra-musical associations. Brahmsfinally took up permanent residence in Vienna in 1869, greeted by many as thereal successor to Beethoven, particularly after his first symphony, and winninga similar position in popular esteem and similar tolerance for his notoriouslack of tact. He died in 1897.There is a singular beauty in the music Brahms wrote towards the end of hislife, compositions of an autumnal melancholy to which the clarinet isparticularly well suited. The two clarinet sonatas, clarinet trio and clarinetquintet were all written in the 1890s, directly inspired by the playing ofRichard M??hlfeld. In March 1891 Brahms visited Meiningen, where he wasparticularly impressed by the playing of the principal clarinettist of the courtorchestra. M??hlfeld was a musician of some distinction. Trained as a violinist,he had served in that capacity at Meiningen, before turning to the clarinet. Atthe same time he was principal clarinettist at Bayreuth and in 1890 had beengiven the additional appointment of music director of the court theatre. Duringthe summer, spent now habitually at the resort of Bad Ischl, Brahms wrote forM??hlfeld the clarinet trio and clarinet quintet. The trio was first performedin December 1891 with Brahms and