Musical Romanticism, explored by Pieter de Oude.
Romantic chamber music: Brahms’ trio for clarinet, cello, and piano; Dvořák’s string quartet in E-flat major.
In tonight’s episode of Radio Romantica, we’ll listen to two big romantic chamber music pieces. Three Swedish friends will start tonight’s episode by playing Johannes Brahms’ clarinet trio. As you know, Brahms composed several fantastic pieces featuring the clarinet in the last years of his life. He was mainly inspired by Richard Mühlfeld’s playing. He was a solo clarinet player at the court orchestra in Meiningen, one of the world’s top orchestras at the time. We’ll listen to one of the world’s leading clarinet players of our time: Martin Fröst, who is accompanied by Torleif Thedéen and Roland Pöntinen. After that, we’ll listen to one of the leading quartets of this moment: The Czech Pavel Haas Quartet. Dvořák’s music is tailor-made for them, and the beautiful and impressive string quartet Op. 97 gives them the chance to shine. Of course, the ensemble needed some help from an extra violist, in this case, Pavel Nikl, who probably didn’t have any concerns about joining the ensemble since he had been the main violist of the PHQ for years.
Playlist:
- Johannes Brahms – Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114
Martin Fröst, clarinet /Ronald Pöntinen, piano / Torleif Thedéen, cello - Antonín Dvořák – String quartet in E-flat major, Op. 97
Pavel Haas Quartet / Pavel Nikl, viola
