Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major KV 581
Johannes Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
Victoria Cornet, clarinet
Nick Beach, Phil Montgomery-Smith, violins
Ricarda Schmidt, viola
Barbara Degener, cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart can undoubtedly be described as the creator of the first ever clarinet quintet and also the first of its kind that remains on concert programmes up to this day; no one before him had ever composed for this instrumentation. Mozart, who was a friend and Masonic lodge brother of the Viennese clarinetist Anton Stadler, composed his Clarinet Quintet in A, KV 581 for Stadler in 1789, just two years before his untimely death. Today, Anton Stadler can be described as a pioneer of the modern clarinet. Together they paved the way for Johannes Brahms who modelled his Clarinet Quintet in B minor, op 115 on Mozart’s composition. Brahms, in turn, wrote his quintet in 1891, around a hundred years after Mozart, for his good friend, the Meiningen clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. As many similarities as the two works show in their genesis, they are just as different and each one special in its own way. Today, both are among the best-known and most popular pieces of chamber music and among the greatest legacies of the two composers and their soloists.
A love of music and in particular of these two milestones in chamber music brought five musicians from the English South West together. A rare opportunity to hear these works that are not often played in this area. After the concert there will be a cup of tea.