Rockport Music - Musicians from Marlboro - CLARINET QUINTET IN B MINOR, OP. 115

CLARINET QUINTET IN B MINOR, OP. 115

Johannes Brahms (b. Hamburg, Germany, May 7, 1833; d. Vienna, Austria, April 3, 1897)

Composed 1891; 38 minutes

“The clarinet cannot be blown more beautifully,” remarked 58-year-old Johannes Brahms of Richard Mühlfeld, a self-taught clarinetist at the Meiningen court. Originally a violinist, Mühlfeld became renowned for his refined sound and elegant phrasing, qualities he drew from his Müller-system clarinet with its light, sweet melodic tone. When Brahms heard him in March 1891, the composer had already announced his retirement, fearing a decline in his creativity. Yet Mühlfeld’s ‘vocal’ playing rekindled Brahms’s inspiration, leading him to compose a trio, a quintet and two sonatas that would enrich his chamber music legacy. Completed within months, the Clarinet Trio and Quintet premièred together in 1891, with Mühlfeld performing alongside Brahms and the Joachim Quartet. Together with the two 1894 sonatas, these four works for clarinet represent Brahms at the height of his powers, blending thematic ingenuity with emotional depth.

The Clarinet Quintet begins with thematic fragments in the strings that evolve into a nostalgic, fluid melody. Its introspective, mellow tone, oscillating with brighter keys, adds to the sweet sadness of the music, and to its rhapsodic freedom and autumnal quality. There is little conflict in the music. Brahms favors resolution, even resignation at times. The central section of the slow movement offers a contrasting, improvisational Hungarian flavor. The clarinet adopts Romany-like freedom, while muted strings imitate a cimbalom, creating a dramatic yet reflective passage rooted in the first movement’s opening theme. A shift in the third movement transforms an earlier idea into a serene serenade, momentarily inhabiting the present before returning to reflection. The quintet’s finale consolidates its thematic evolution, presenting five variations that revisit earlier ideas. These variations integrate elements from all movements, creating a profound sense of unity and completion. The Clarinet Quintet is a consummate synthesis of emotional depth and formal cohesion, its restrained palette and thematic transformations embodying Brahms’s reflective maturity and continuing creative vitality.