BaL 21.10.23 - Brahms Clarinet Trio in A minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 am
In Building a Library Natasha Loges chooses her favourite version of Brahms's Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114.

Brahms' Clarinet Trio is one of his great late chamber works. It was written in the summer of 1891 for the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld whose playing Brahms adored and whom he referred to as his Fräulein Klarinette, or "his dear nightingale". A friend of Brahms, wrote of the trio that "It is as though the instruments were in love with each other." The painter Adolph Menzel was in the audience during the first public performance. He was so moved that he sketched Mühlfeld in the guise of a Greek god, saying to Brahms, "We often think of you here, and often enough, comparing notes, we confess our suspicions that on a certain night the Muse itself appeared in person for the purpose of executing a certain woodwind part. On this page I have tried to capture the sublime vision."

Available versions:-

Arkadiusz Adamski, Marcin Zdunik, Magdalena Wojciechowska
Hideaki Aomori, Joshua Pierce, Daniel Barrett *
Dimitri Ashkenazy, Christopher Hinterhuber, Martin Rummel
B3 Classic Trio *
Nicolas Baldeyrou, Raphaël Perraud, Geoffroy Couteau
Jozsef Balogh, Jeno Jando, Csaba Onczay
Pablo Barragán, Juan Pérez Floristán, Andrei Ioniţă
Alexander Bedenko, Kyril Zlotnikov, Itamar Golan
François Benda, Sebastian Benda, Christian Benda
Kálmán Berkes, Miklós Perényi, Zoltán Kocsis *
Walter Boeykens, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Roel Dieltiens
Daniel Bollinger, Julian Arp, Gerhard Vieljaber *
Hans Christian Bræin, Håvard Gimse, Bjørg Værnes
Arthur Campbell, Frances Renzi, Daniel Raclot (SACD)
James Campbell, Borodin Trio
Fabio di Casola, Ophelie Gaillard, Louis Schwizgebel *
Franklin Cohen, Stephen Geber, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Michael Collins, Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough
Michael Collins, Paul Watkins, Ian Brown
Ensemble Kheops
Yona Ettlinger, Pnina Salzman, Uzi Wiesels
Julian Farrell.Benjamin Hughes, Kathron Sturrock
Florestan Trio
Martin Fröst, Roland Pöntinen, Torleif Thedéen (SACD)
David Griffiths, Svetlana Bogosavljevic, Timothy Young =
Alan Hacker, Jennifer Ward Clarke, Richard Burnett
Chen Halevi, Claire Thirion, Jan Schultsz
Florent Héau, Jérôme Ducros, Jérôme Pernoo *
Richard Hosford, Nash Ensemble
Sharon Kam, Martin Helmchen
Anatoly Kamyshev, Andrey Gavrilov, Ivan Monighetti *
Steven Kanoff, Richard Lester, Ian Brown, Mats Lidström
Reginald Kell, Anthony Pini, Louis Kentner
Reginald Kell, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Frank Miller *
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Thea King, Clifford Benson, Karine Georgian
Andreas Langenbuch, Simon Deffner, Gottlieb Wallisch
Samuel Langmeier, Duo Kosmos *
Karl Leister, Wolfgang Boettcher, Ferenc Bognar
Karl Leister, Christoph Eschenbach, Georg Donderer
Karl Leister, Tamás Vásáry, Ottomar Borwitzky
Jon Manasse, Jon Nakamatsu, with Clive Greensmith *
Paul Meyer, Gautier Capuçon, Nicholas Angelich
Sabine Meyer, Heinrich Schiff, Rudolf Buchbinder
Jost Michaels, Detlef Kraus, Klaus Storck
Donald Montanaro, William Stokking, Kiyoko Takeuti *
Pascal Moragues, Frank Braley, Christian Poltera
David Oppenheim, Pablo Casals, Eugene Istomin *
Andreas Ottensamer, Gautier Capuçon, Yuja Wang
Daniel Ottensamer, Stephan Koncz, Christoph Traxler
Ludmila Peterková, Jan Páleníček, Jitka Cechová
Evgeny Petrov, Valery Pyasetsky, Alexander Zagorinsky
Gervase de Peyer, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim
George Pieterson, Menahem Pressler, Bernard Greenhouse *
Michel Portal (clarinet), Frédéric Lodéon, Michel Dalberto
Michel Portal, Mikhail Rudy, Boris Pergamenschikow *
Florent Pujuila, François Salque, Eric Le Sage
Quantum Clarinet Trio
Petko Radev, Ventseslav Nikolov, Nikolai Evrov *
Milan Rericha, Nikolay Shugaev, Fatima Rericha Alieva *
Ulf Rodenhäuser , Martin Ostertag, Kalle Randalu
Marie Ross, Petra Somlai, Claire-Lise Démettre
Victoria Soames Samek, James Potter, Jonathan Higgins *
Raphaël Sévère, Adam Laloum, Julien-Laferrière
Peter Schmidl, Madoka Inui, Teodora Miteva
Peter Schmidl, Tamás Varga, Hiromi Okada *
Peter Schmidl, András Schiff, Friedrich Dolezal
Joseph Shiner, Somi Kim, Yoanna Prodanova
Vladimir Sokolov, Veniamin Korobov
Martin Spangenberg, Birgit Erichson, Gerrit Zitterbart
Hans Rudolf Stalder, Hans Richter-Haaser, Esther Nyffenegger *
Karl-Heinz Steffens, Michal Friedlander, Ludwig Quandt
Richard Stoltzman, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma
Trio Catch
Trio Ex Aequo
Trio Gemelli
Trio Paideia *
Amitai Vardi, Uri Vardi, Arnon Erez
Claire Vergnory-Mion, Carlos Dourthé, François Bou/Hélène Calef,
Charles West, Roger Drinkall, Dian Baker*
Leopold Wlach, Franz Kvarda, Franz Holetschek *
Afendi Yusuf, Brian Thornton, Spencer Myer

(* = download only)

[Pulcinella]

For Alison (in particular), but maybe more for others like me who let BBC MM Build their Library of works they might not otherwise own: there isn't a BBC MM release.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

For Alison (in particular), but maybe more for others like me who let BBC MM Build their Library of works they might not otherwise own: there isn't a BBC MM release.

[smittims]

The Oppenheim/Casals/Istomin , from the 1955 Prades Festival, has long been a favourite of mine. It used to be available in CD as part of a Music and Arts box set, which contains other wonders, such as Menuhin and Casals playing together in Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms trios.

[Darloboy]

This is only the second time BaL has covered this work. The only previous occasion was in November 2005 when Geoffrey Smith chose Richard Hosford with The Florestans (a 2-CD set with the complete piano trios). First choice on single disc was Ralph Manno with Ensemble Incanto & budget-price choice was Portal/Lodeon/Dalberto

[richardfinegold]

I think Ionly have 2 versions. One is a Naxos recording from the early days of the label and then I added the the Frost SACD. The music is magical but I haven’t felt the need to accumulate more

[Bryn]

I think Ionly have 2 versions. One is a Naxos recording from the early days of the label and then I added the the Frost SACD. The music is magical but I haven’t felt the need to accumulate more

The Frost actually turns up on two different BIS Brahms compilations:

and

[richardfinegold]

The Frost actually turns up on two different BIS Brahms compilations:

and

Are they the same or different recordings?

[Bryn]

Are they the same or different recordings?

Since they have the very same duration, down to the second, I would assume a single recording.

[richardfinegold]

Since they have the very same duration, down to the second, I would assume a single recording.

I think Frost had re recorded his Mozart for BIS and was just wondering if he had done the same with Brahms

[Ein Heldenleben]

My word Reginald Kell was a master. If only he’d been better recorded. His playing makes a lot of contemporary clarinettists sound a tad boring - “ surgical “ was the word the Natasha just used. And who wants surgery ?

[HighlandDougie]

Not a work that I know - shameful confession that I have never consciously heard it - so 45 minutes of an educational lesson for me, not least in relation to try to achieve some kind of harmony or balance among instruments and musical colleagues, which/who aren't onbviously necessary bedfellows. To my innocent (maybe that should ignorant) ear, Kell would have been my choice too. But I thought that Natasha Loges put forward a number of plausible justifications why Stoltzman/Ma/Ax was a good library recommendation as opposed to the "surgical" Fröst or the rather lugubrious (to my ears) Sabine Meyer.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not a work that I know - shameful confession that I have never consciously heard it - so 45 minutes of an educational lesson for me, not least in relation to try to achieve some kind of harmony or balance among instruments and musical colleagues, which/who aren't onbviously necessary bedfellows. To my innocent (maybe that should ignorant) ear, Kell would have been my choice too. But I thought that Natasha Loges put forward a number of plausible justifications why Stoltzman/Ma/Ax was a good library recommendation as opposed to the "surgical" Fröst or the rather lugubrious (to my ears) Sabine Meyer.

Extremely interesting work. It seems such an odd combination yet it really works. I think Stoltzmann had some of the phrasing sensitivity of Kell but just in that brief extract I felt him the finer musician.

[Barbirollians]

Interesting, I am sure I recall Stoltzmann's vibrato being criticised somewhere in a recording of the clarinet sonatas.

[Alison]

For Alison (in particular), but maybe more for others like me who let BBC MM Build their Library of works they might not otherwise own: there isn't a BBC MM release.