Luogo e data di registrazione		Reitschule, Schloß Grafenegg (Austria) - 19/22 September 1993
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineer		Stephan Schellmann (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - SK 57 968 - (1 CD) - durata 78' 09" - (p) 1995 - DDD
	Cover Art		Julilandschaft mit dem Regenbogen by Adrian Ludwig Richter (1803-1884) - Staatliche Kunststammlungen, Dresdenohannes Frentzel, Leipzig 1646-74 - Le
	Note		-

Chamber Music with Clarinet According to a contemporary witness writing in 1730, the clarinet was invented at the beginning of the 18th century by the Nuremberg instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner (1655-1707). In fact, Denner had done no more than develop the chalumeau, a small single-reed instrument of cylindrical bore familiar since the Middle Ages, and it was only after further improvements had been made (also in Denner's workshop) that a genuinely new instrument enierged around 1720. This instrument differed substantially from the chalumeau: not only was it bigger but it had wider scaling, two keys, a “speaker key” and a typical Baroque bell. Strident in tone and penetrating in its upper register, it resembled a trumpet to such an extent that it was described, understandably, as a “clarinetto”, i.e., a small clarino or trumpet. Intonation remained a problem. Further improvements were necessary, therefore, before the clarinet acquired the sort of tonal qualities that were to be of interest to composers and virtuosos. It continued to be developed in the course of the 18th century: the key-mechanism was improved; the number of keys was increased to six; the mouthpiece assumed its present form (with the reed on the underside); and the instrument began to sound much as a modern clarinet does. The most fundamental improvement, however, was made by the clarinettist Iwan Müller (1786-1854) in the early years of the 19th century. Müller increased the number of keys to 13, corrected the position and width of the holes and made it easier to operate certain keys by means of metal ligatures. With its more varied sound, its full and supple tone, its great agility and its four different registers, the clarinet was now not only a permanent member of the orchestra but was also used increasingly for more demanding solo work as well as in chamber ensemble. Its tonal advantages proved particularly effective when partnered by strings, as in the pieces by Weber, Hummel and Reicha included in the present recording. The gently contrastive and, at the same time, closely matched sound of these latter instruments allows the clarinet to emerge with particular clarity in its different registers and colours. Carl Maria von Weber, for example, found the tonal appeal of the instrument irresistible. Taking full advantage of its new improvements, he used it to great effect in many of his works, including his operas, and was supported and encouraged by his friend, the Munich virtuoso Heinrich Bärmann (1784-1847), for whom he wrote not only a series of solo concertos but also the present Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, Op. 34. Written in 1815, this piece combines sheer delight in music›making with a clear formal design and deep Romantic feeling to produce a work of captivating charm. Time and again it strikes an operatic note: the opening movement, for example, sounds like the introduction to a large-scale scena, while the following Fantasia - one of the composer's most inspired achievements - recalls a Romantic operatic aria with its dramatic episodes involving coloratura writing that delights in exploring the instruments extremes of register. The two final movements are lighter in tone: first comes a Capriccio presto, in which the virtuoso clarinet engages in a lively dialogue with the murmuring strings, before a boisterous Rondo wholly dominated by the clarinet brings the work to a brilliant conclusion. The clarinet plays a relatively subordinate role in the works of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, although the few of his pieces that are scored for the instrument (including the present Clarinet Quartet in E flat major) reveal considerable compositional skill on the part of a musician who was celebrated in his lifetime chiefly as a pianist and conductor. The piece dates from 1808 and, in its clearly structured formal design, wealth of interesting melodic and rhythmic ideas, gestural language and range of expression, it reveals its debt to Classical models, foremost among which are works by Mozart and the early Beethoven. More individualistic features may be discerned in the effective use of dynamics and in a clarinet part that rarely indulges in virtuoso showmanship but which remains fully integrated in the elegant ensemble. The four inovements are examples of salon music at its best: cast in first movement sonata form, the opening movement is notable not least for its harmonically varied, finely worked development section; after the scurrying triplets of the second movement and a minuet-like third movement whose melodic and rhythmic textures grow progressively denser, the final movement turns out to be a spirited Rondo whose uncomplicated tuneful refrain is counter-balanced by compositionally more demanding couplets. The Czech (later French) composerAntonin Reicha was one of the most influential music theorists and teachers of his time, whose extensive oeuvre straddles the period between Classicism and early Romanticism. Although he contributed to virtually every genre, it is his chamber music that forms the quantitative and qualitative high point of his output. His particular interest as a composer lay in the field of wind instruments, notably in the Classical quintet combination of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. Indeed, Reicha himself seems to have been a seminal figure in this respect. The clarinet also figures prominently in numerous other chamber works by the composer, including the present Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, a tuneful, attractive piece that was probably written around 1808/09 in Paris, where Reicha lived and worked from 1808 until his death in 1836. Like all Reicha's works, the present piece is distinguished by its great wealth of melodic invention, perfect balance between the five different instruments and its polished musical language. The four movements are splendidly balanced in terms of their form and content, revealing an astonishing variety of characters, moods and structures. Although the clarinet remains the dominant instrument, especially in the effervescent final rondo, where it assumes an almost concertante importance, the carious voices combine to produce a homogeneous and, at the same time, highly translucent texture. Siegmar Keil (Translation: © 1995 Stewart Spencer)