Willy Sucre and Friends play Clarinet Quintets

violist Willy Sucre will be joined by Friends

violinist Krzysztof Zimowski,

violinist Steve Ognacevic, 

cellist Dana Winograd, 

&

clarinetist James Shields,

Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581

"Stadler's Quintet"
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I.  Allegro
II. Larghetto
Ill. Menuetto

Mozart was born January 27,1756, in Salzburg, Austria.  He died December 5, 1791, in Vienna. 

Mozart wrote his clarinet quintet for Anton Stadler, friend, fellow Mason, and extremely gifted principal clarinetist of the court orchestra in Vienna, giving it the subtitle, "Stadler's Quintet." From all accounts, though, Stadler was a scoundrel who lived like a parasite in the Mozart home, never repaid the money he borrowed from his host and even stole and sold some of the composer's pawn tickets!

But apparently a combination of Mozart's refusal to acknowledge Stadler's failings, his admiration for him as a musician, and his great love for the clarinet was enough to inspire this superb chamber work. Mozart finished the manuscript on September 29, 1789, and gave the first performance, along with Stadler and others, at the Imperial and Royal Court Theater in Vienna on December 22, 1789.

Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op 115
by Johannes Brahms

I. Allegro

       II. Adagio

     III. Andantino: Presto non assai, ma con sentimento

IV. Con moto

Brahms was born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg and died April 3, 1897 in Vienna. 

Early in the spring of 1891, Brahms heard clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld play, and it called forth what scholar Karl Geiringer calls a "surge of fresh creative power." That summer Brahms wrote his clarinet trio for Mühlfeld and sent a copy to his friend Eusebius Mandyczeweski with a note that enigmatically referred to another work in progress, "a far greater piece of foolishness," that he was trying to "nurse along." The piece that he spoke of so lightly proved to be this monumental quintet.

While the general tone of the clarinet quintet tends toward autumnal melancholy, there are long stretches of great joy and rapture. Perhaps these buoyant passages reflect the aging composer's delight in finding his inspiration and skill undiminished. Or they may have to do with his enchantment with the tonal potentialities of the clarinet, especially as played by Herr Mühlfeld. Whatever the reasons, the quintet is unsurpassed in displaying the clarinet's most telling effects-its clear high soprano voice in the clarino register, the hollow, breathy mystery of its middle tones, and the dark, romantic cast of its low, chalumeau range.

The first performance of the quintet was given in Berlin by Miihlfeld and the Joachim Quartet on December 12, 1891. The work made such a deep impression on the audience that the musicians were recalled many times by enthusiastic applause and were finally compelled to repeat the Adagio movement before being allowed to leave the stage.

Above notes adapted from Melvin Berger's Guide to Chamber Music..

Time, date, and program subject to change.