Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115

2-CD Set-Brahms' magnificent B-minor Clarinet Quintet is one of the summits of the chamber repertoire for clarinet. It is in many ways an homage to Mozart's classic quintet for clarinet. Not to be overlooked by any serious clarinetist. This deluxe 2-CD set includes the quintet in its original key with printed parts for both A and B-flat clarinets and adds a repitched version for B-flat clarinetists allowing players of that instrument to learn the same fingerings as the composer's intended A clarinet for performance purposes. Includes a high-quality newly engraved printed music score with parts in the original key for both A clarinet and B-flat clarinets plus a compact discwith a complete recording of the quintet with soloist and a second performance minus the soloist. Also includes a second compact disc containing a recording of the quintet repitched to allow B-flat clarinetists to play the original written part for A-clarinet. Performed by Collete Galante clarinet Accompaniment: The Classic String Quartet

Compositeur : Brahms, Johannes Instrumentation : Chamber Music with Wind Instruments Editeur Musicologique : Grassi, Andrea Massimo Couverture Reliée Contenu : Clarinet Quintet in b minor op. 115 for Clarinet, 2 Violins, Viola and Violoncello

for Woodwind Quintet-These two extraordinary works of late Mozart KV 594 and KV 608 were both composed to fulfill a commission for a memorial exhibit in Vienna to be played in a “mechanical clock organ.” The term “fantasy” or“fantasia” came to be affixed to these works later and is more descriptive and less cumbersome than the term Mozart listed in his own catalogue “Ein Stüke für ein Orgelwerk in ein Uhr.” They are also variouslytitled “Adagio und Allegro in f für ein Orgelwerk” and “Allegro und Andante (Fantasie in f) für eine Orgelwaltze.”The first of these composed between the monumental String Quintet in D and the Piano Concertoin Bb KV 595 is an A-B-A form comprised of an f minor Adagio opening and closing with a contrapuntal Allegro at its heart. KV 608 is more complicated opening with an f minor section reminiscent of a French Overture followed by a fugue in fminor then an Andante aria followed by a return to the opening and then a more complex version of the fugue.Despite the frustration that Mozart expressed (in a letter to Constanze) with the sound world of these mechanical devices KV 594and 608 are remarkable works which stand at an intersection incorporating what he learned about counterpoint studying at the foot of Bach while looking ahead to the emotional and harmonic poignancy of Schubert.

Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) was a French flautist conductor and composer. He contributed significantly to the repertoire of the Flute and his Wind Quintet also remains prominent to this day. In 1879 Taffanel founded the Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments reviving the wind ensemble music of Mozart and Beethoven. His Wind Quintet in G minor had been composed three years previously in 1876 and is made up of three movements; 1) Allegro con moto 2) Andante and 3) Vivace. For the repertoire of this popular ensemble arrangement Taffanel's Wind Quintet is an essentialaddition.