Quintets take centre stage
CLARINET quintets by Mozart and Brahms will be on the program for Virtuosi Tasmania’s next series of concerts, which begins in Cambridge tomorrow.
The quintets will be performed by Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra principal clarinet Andrew Seymour, TSO violinists Yuehong Cha and Frances Davies, violist Douglas Coghill, and cellist Martin Penicka.
Seymour said there were many similarities between the Clarinet Quintet in A Major K581 — one of Mozart’s best-known chamber compositions — and the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B Minor Opus 115, which was written more than 100 years later and is considered by many to be the greatest chamber work of the 19th century.
“The Mozart quintet was written for Vienna Court Orchestra principal clarinet Anton Stadler, whom Mozart admired,” Seymour said.
“And the Brahms was one of four pieces inspired by clarinettist Richard Muhlfeld, whom Brahms admired and whom he called ‘the nightingale of the orchestra’.”
The Mozart quintet was written only two years before the composer died, and the Brahms was his final chamber music work.
“They both show maturity, especially in the way they used the clarinet and blended it so well with the strings,” Seymour said, noting that the two works have differences in style.
“The Mozart in A major is very sunny, bright and beautiful in the wonderful melodies. It’s happy and elegant music.
“The beauty in Brahms is much more melancholic. It’s very moving, passionate and powerful.”
The Virtuosi Tasmania concerts will be held at Riversdale Estate at Cambridge from 11am tomorrow; at Home Hill Winery at Ranelagh from 11am on Sunday; and at Devonport’s LifeWay Baptist Church from 2pm on Monday.
Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 concession, available from www.tso.com.au