»Bruch - Stücke - Struktur«

At the request of his clarinet-playing son Felix, the 70-year-old Max Bruch wanted to compose a work which could be performed as an addition to Mozart's »Kegelstatt Trio« KV 498 or Schumann's »Märchenerzählungen« (Fairy Tales), op. 132, by a clarinet trio. In contrast to the two examples mentioned, Bruch finally created, with his Eight pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, op. 83, a series of eight individual works whose vivid musical language is in the best Romantic tradition and in which each piece traces the typical timbres and playing techniques of the individual instruments.

Long overshadowed by his famous brother Paul, the composer Rudolf Hindemith has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. His music reveals an absolutely astonishing originality and a sparkling temperament – both features which also characterised the personality of Rudolf Hindemith who, as an independent artist, was always clearly at pains to avoid being confused with his brother. In contrast to the highly Romantic tonal language of Max Bruch, Hindemith's Serenade for clarinet, string quartet and double bass – another work in which the clarinet sets the tone – bears a strikingly fresh, playful signature.

Franz Schubert's String quintet in C major, op. 163 D 956, which he completed just a few months before his death in 1828, is the longest and most mature of his chamber music works and may consequently be regarded as his swansong in this area. With its almost symphonic expansion, the quintet – like the late string quartets and piano trios too – leaves the outer, formal framework of a classical four-movement work way behind and instead provides every individual movement with musical structures that branch out in all directions. In this context, it is striking that, in the composition of his string quintet, Schubert was inspired far less by considerations of motif and themes and more by the concept of abstract sound patterns. Among the publishers and concert organisers in Schubert's time, the work, because of its unconventional construction, initially met with widespread incomprehension, which is why it was only publicly performed for the first time in 1850 – over twenty years after the composer's death – in Vienna and actually not printed until the year 1853. But it is actually its symphonic structure, the captivating beauty of its sound and its lively use of contrasting forms which had irritated his contemporaries so much that have kept the quintet alive in our concert halls today.

Max Bruch Three pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, opus 83
Rudolf Hindemith Serenade for clarinet, string quartet and double bass
Franz Schubert String quartet in C major, opus 163, D 956