Customer Reviews

Brahms: Clarinet Quintet; Clarinet Trio; Clarinet Sonatas

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I enjoyed these performances especially of the Clarinet Quintet. I have another better known version with same clarinet player (Karl Leister) and the Amadeus Qt. I prefer this one over the Amadeus Qt. For starters the quality of the recorded sound is stunning (on the Amadeus recording it is a bit muddy and the clarinet gets lost). The players jell together very well and the performance flows along brilliantly. I know the other works less well so can not compare but am happy with what I am hearing.

After Mozart, no other composer paid so devoted attention and creative effort like Brahms around the clarinet as soloist instrument into the chamber genre. (You may argue Von Weber made the attempt, but I think in this case the clarinet was employed with minor depth, remarking just pleasant tunes and enjoyable melodies but nothing else) And this statement seems to fit with the fact Mozart was the most beloved composer of the beloved son of Hamburg.

As I have referred in previous reviews, Brahms never felt himself more secure and comfortable in other genre like the chamber genre. Far from the well known pressures from the great audiences and critics in general, Brahms gave to his inspired creativeness the best he could to bring us these remarkable and many times overlooked chamber works.

To be true, these pieces are far from having that winged flight so typical in Mozart's similar compositions (like KV.581, or 498) for instance. Nevertheless, the dreaming rapture and the excel musicality that emanate and flow every time we listen them simply have not paragon.

In case you are not yet aware about these anthological chamber works, you certainly would be missing about a remarkable portion of the vast creative universe of Johannes Brahms. So don't let this album passes in front of you. Go for it, before other takes the initiative.