Masterpiece Quintets

Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

• Allegro
• Larghetto
• Menuetto – Trio I – Trio II
• Allegretto con variazioni

Considered a masterpiece, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet’s fluid textures create an exquisite blend of the clarinet’s dark sonorous tones with the harmonious richness of string quartet. He wrote this piece in 1789 for his friend, the virtuoso clarinetist Anton Stadler, subtitling it the “Stadler Quintet.” Stadler was the clarinetist at the premiere in Vienna, a benefit concert given for widows and orphans of musicians, on December 22, 1789.

The Allegro opens the work graciously. Lyrical themes feature much gentle dialogue between clarinet and strings. Like an operatic aria, a beautiful soulful melody is presented at the outset of the Larghetto, soon joined by the violin in tender duet. The mood lifts and lightens in the glittering dance of the Menuetto. The central section unusually features two trios: Trio I in A minor is an elegant dance played by strings alone, while the Trio II is in A major – a charming Ländler (a rustic waltz). An impish theme initiates the Allegretto con variazioni. Each of the five following variations dresses the theme in various guises with changing moods, textures and colours. All dissipates towards the end into a slow, courtly reverie punctuated with silences, before a rousing reprise of the original theme jubilantly closes the work.

“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love – that is the soul of genius.”
― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piano Quintet in E major, Op.15

by Erich Korngold (1897-1957)

• Moderate tempo with a lively, blooming expression
• Adagio: with the greatest ease, always extremely committed and expressive
• Finale: measured, almost emotional

Austrian pianist/ composer Erich Korngold was a phenomenal child prodigy in his youth. He was compared with Mozart and premiered his first major work at age eleven. He wrote in a late romantic style, complex and rich, and met with success after success. By the 1930s however, conditions in Europe began to deteriorate with the Nazi regime; as a Jew, Korngold felt compelled to flee to America, finding refuge writing film scores at Warner Bros. He has been called the father of the symphonic Hollywood soundtrack -- with sixteen films and two Oscars to his credit. Sadly, after World War II, his attempts at returning to his classical music roots in regular symphonic writing fell short of new avant-garde expectations. He died in obscurity in 1957.

Korngold wrote his Piano Quintet Op.15 in 1921 at the age of 24, while riding high on the success of his opera Die tote Stadt – and he was in love! The first movement displays grand, sweeping lines and dense textures, with a wealth of ideas. The Adagio is a setting of his own song, “Moon thou riseth again” offered in nine seamless variations and dedicated to the woman he would later marry. The music is heartfelt, rapturous. The Finale is a spirited rondo – a vibrant mosaic of textures that mount in virtuosity towards a dazzling conclusion. Now in the twenty first century, Korngold’s works are enjoying a most deserved revival.

“Music is music, whether it is for the stage, rostrum or cinema.”
– Erich Korngold