Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Quintet in A major for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581. A live concert from the
Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581
The piece was written in 1789 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler (28 June 1753, Bruck an der Leitha – 15 June 1812, Vienna), the Austrian clarinet and basset horn player. Mozart also wrote his Clarinet Concerto (K 622) for him. Stadler’s name is inextricably linked to Mozart’s compositions for these two instruments.
Although originally written for basset clarinet, in contemporary performances it is usually played on a clarinet in A or B-flat for convenience’s sake. It was Mozart’s only completed clarinet
The quintet received its premiere on 22 December 1789 with the solo clarinet part taken by Stadler.
The quintet consists of four movements:
- Allegro, 2/2 The first movement sets the mood for the entire piece. It has beautiful moving lines in all of the parts and in the second half there is a virtuoso run that is passed throughout the strings, based on material from the second section of the exposition.
- Larghetto, 3/4 in D major The second movement, in sonata form with a six-bar transition in place of a central development section, opposes a first section which is mostly a long-breathed clarinet melody over muted strings, to a second group of themes in which -as in the first movement- several upward runs of scales are given to the first violin, alternating with brief phrases of clarinet melody. These scales are given to the clarinet in the recapitulation, and then in the last few bars of the movement, more chromatic than the rest, the scales turn into triplet arpeggios traded between the strings under the closing clarinet phrases.
- Menuetto-Trio I – Trio II, 3/4 (Trio I in A minor) The third movement consists of a
minuet and, unusually, two trios. The first trio is for the strings alone, with a theme that has a signature acciaccatura every few notes. The second trio is a clarinet solo over the strings, whereas in theminuet the roles are distributed more evenly. - Allegretto con Variazioni, 2/2 The finale is in variation form, unexpectedly substituting for the more conventional rondo (
Warrack 3). There are five variations. The theme is in two repeated halves, with the clarinet joining in but only for a few of its bars. As often with Mozart, phrase structure is generally the same throughout the variations even if other qualities change – the theme consists of four four-bar phrases (Mozart is often more irregular in his phrasing than this), the first going harmonically from A to E, the second back from E to A, etc. and likewise with the variations. The first of its variations gives the clarinet a new theme, in counterpoint with the theme of the variations divided amongst the quartet. The second alternates phrases for a quartet only with phrases for a full quintet, the latter answering the former. The third, in A minor, also begins without clarinet, with a viola melody -also with signature acciaccatura- but the clarinet joinsinto the finish. The major mode returns for the fourth variation, as does the main theme to the accompaniment of semiquaver virtuosity – given to the clarinet only in the first repeated half, first violin, and clarinet in the second. There are four bars of dramatic interruption leading to a pause; the next variation is a lyrical Adagio. A transition brings us to an Allegro coda, containing much of a variation itself.
Annelien van Wauwe
Belgian clarinetist Annelien Van Wauwe is currently a BBC New Generation Artist. From an early age, she has won numerous international competitions, including Lisbon, Turin, Brussels,
Since then, she has performed with leading symphonic orchestras such as the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Nürnberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also appeared with chamber orchestras such as the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Regular appearances have occurred at prestigious halls including the Tonhalle Zürich, Bozar Brussels, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Konzerthaus Vienna, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
In 2014, Annelien made a highly acclaimed debut with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin in the Philharmonie Berlin performing Aaron Copland’s clarinet concerto.
Annelien is a regular guest at international festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Cheltenham Music Festival, the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the Kissinger Sommer and the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier.
She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Mozart Society Dortmund and the Banque Populaire Paris. Annelien was awarded a ‘Klara’ prize from Flemish Radio and has released a debut CD with clarinet sonatas by Weinberg and Prokofiev (Genuin 2015).
Annelien originally studied -amongst others- with the internationally renowned soloist Sabine Meyer who invited her to play a European tour with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Andrew Manze. She also participated in master classes with the sought-after teacher, Yehuda Gilad. She has a strong affinity for period music and has studied with Eric Hoeprich and Ernst Schlader.
Annelien Van Wauwe is the principal teacher at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.
Boris Brovtsyn
Boris Brovtsyn was born in 1977. After graduating from Moscow’s Central Music School in 1994, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he studied with Maya Glezarova. During his time there he became a laureate of international competitions, such as Georg Kulenkampf (1994, Cologne), Transnet (1996, Pretoria), and Yehudi Menuhin (1998), before graduating with top honors in 1999.
He made his UK debut in 1998 with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba. He became a student of David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2000 and since then has been spending most of his time in the UK. In 2004 he won the GSMD’s highest award, the Gold Medal (past winners include Jacqueline du Pré, Tasmin Little, and Bryn Terfel).
Winner of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, Boris Brovtzyn appeared among others with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre BBC Philharmonic, English Classical Players, CBSO Birmingham, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orchestra
He has performed at the Verbier Festival, Lugano Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Ryedale Festival, Genius of the Violin Festival, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, and in the “George Enescu” Festival among others.
As a soloist, Boris has worked with Sir Neville Marriner, Yuri Bashmet, Gerd Albrecht, Marek Janowski, Neeme Järvi, Louis Langrée, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Gilbert Varga, Antoni Wit, Alexander Lazarev, Vassily Sinaisky, Vladimir Fedoseev, Alain Lombard and Arvo Volmer to name but a few.
He plays regularly in chamber music concerts with such colleagues as Janine Jansen, Maxim Rysanov, Amihai Grosz, Boris Andrianov, Anastasia Voltchok, Denis Matsuev, and Alexei Ogrintchouk.
In 2001 he was a finalist at the Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition and won the 2001 Reuters Prize. The following year he won the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition.
Nikita Boriso-Glebsky
Nikita
At the age of fourteen Boriso-Glebsky graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory to the violin division by Professor Eduard Grach and Associate Professor Tatiana Berkul. When he was studying at the conservatory, he took part in the Keshet Eilon Summer Mastercourses in Israel, under the guidance of Ida Haendel and Shlomo Mintz. Furthermore, the young violinist had started playing in the Moscovia Chamber Orchestra and consequently passed all stages up to the concertmaster position.
In 2001,
He has a varied musical repertoire and has performed several compositions of classical music, including works from Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and many more.
On 19 June 2002, Nikita represented Russia at the Eurovision Young Musicians 2002, which was held in Berlin, Germany. In 2014
In 2010,
Lise Berthaud
Born in 1982 in Bourg en Bresse, France, Lise Berthaud began to play music as early as age 5. In 1997 she received a gold medal at the Conservatoire National de Région de Lyon and the following year entered Pierre-Henry Xuereb’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. In October of 2002, she was admitted to a “cycle de
At 16 years of age, she took first prize at the Concours National des Jeunes Altistes (National Competition for Young Violists). In 2000, she won the Concours Européen des Jeunes Interprètes. In 2003, she was awarded second prize in the Concours International d’Avignon.
Lise Berthaud is regularly invited to play in numerous festivals: the Côte Saint-André, the Festival de Menton, the Festival de pâques de Deauville, the Roque d’Anthéron, etc. She is involved in chamber music, playing at the side of prestigious partners such as Augustin Dumay, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Renaud Capuçon.
In September of 2003, under the baton of Emmanuel Krivine and accompanied by the Orchestre Français des Jeunes on tour, Lise Berthaud played as a soloist in Harold in Italy by Berlioz. The following year, accompanied by the Orchestre Lamoureux, she premiered Marc-Olivier Dupin’s viola concerto at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris. She also collaborates regularly with composers such as Phillippe Hersant, Thierry Escaich, Henri Dutilleux, and György Kurtag.
Lise Berthaud is the winner of the Natéxis Banque Populaire endowment. She plays
Maximilian Hornung
Maximilian Hornung (born 1986 in Augsburg, Germany) is a German cellist. He grew up in a family of musicians and attended the Gymnasium at St. Stephan in Augsburg (a school offering a musical branch with music, Latin, and English as core subjects from grade 5 onwards.) He left school at the age of 16 to devote himself entirely to music. He studied with Eldar Issakadze, Thomas Grossenbacher
In 2005, he won the German Music Competition, in 2007 the ARD Music Competition with a trio he founded. At the age of
In 2011, he received the ECHO Klassik Prize as a young artist of the year, the Bavarian Kunstförderpreis in 2014, and the European Prize for the European Cultural Foundation in 2015.
He has performed as a soloist with major orchestras, collaborating with conductors such as Bernard Haitink and Daniel Harding.
In the United States, he has performed with the Florida Orchestra. Hornung will return to the Tampa – St. Petersburg area to play Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Florida Orchestra on January 19, 2018, and January 20, 2018.
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