Serenata to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet
Concert also features works by England’s Gerald Finzi, Vienna’s Anton Webern
Serenata of Santa Fe will perform a concert wrapped in the pastoral beauty of nature at the city’s First Presbyterian Church on Sunday. The six musicians will play pieces by the English composer Gerald Finzi and the Viennese composer Anton Webern, finishing with Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A Major.
Born in London, Finzi preferred the country.
“He had a huge library of poetry and dedicated himself to writing,” Serenata artistic director Pamela Epple said. “He was an apple grower, and he lived the English country life.”
Finzi wrote in the tradition of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Epple said.
“This is the English take on romanticism,” she added.
The group will play his Interlude for Oboe and String Quartet, op. 21 (1936).
Webern’s Langsamer Satz (“Slow Movement”) for string quartet (1905) marks the style of the second Viennese school of music, Epple said. The first consisted of Haydn and Mozart. “Webern is known for writing very short, concise atonal works,” she explained, but this piece precedes that stylistic shift.
“He was 21 years old, so this was before he became a 12-tone composer,” Epple said. “It’s a very romantic piece, because he was in love with his cousin, whom he married. He conceived of writing this piece while he was on a hike. It’s radiant.”
Mozart penned his fourmovement Clarinet Quintet in A Major in 1789, a tumultuous time in his life.
“His wife was in terrible health; she gave birth to their fifth child, who died,” Epple said. “He was deeply in debt.
“But this work is in A major. His belief was shining through even though he was destitute. He composed this amazing crystalline work while he was going through this very tough time. The most beautiful music came out of this time of despair.”
The concert will feature Ruxandra Marquardt and Carla Kountoupes on violin; Shanti Randall on viola; Sally Guenther on cello; Pamela Epple on oboe and Keith Lemmons on clarinet.