The Gift of the Clarinet

"We will not have two trumpets in the house! The school has a lot of
clarinets."  I remember my
mother's words almost forty years later. My brother had just brought home his trumpet and it looked like a lot of
fun. I decided fine, I would play the
clarinet. I still got out of
history once a week and it isn't too heavy. 

Little did I know what a gift I had received. I am so grateful every day of my life for
the incredible repertoire for the clarinet, and the Brahms Quintet is right at
the top of the list. So many
composers were inspired during their prime to write for the instrument: Mozart,
Debussy, Copland, and Poulenc to name a few. Life without the chamber music works
of Brahms alone, his sonatas, Trio, and Quintet, would seem unfulfilled. 

It's better to be lucky than good. They had violas too. 

Kidding aside, I love the Quintet because Brahms composed a
work with five "equal" parts.
While the clarinet is featured as the only non-stringed instrument, it
is not the focal point of the piece, but an integral collaborating voice among
peers. While the timbre of the
instrument brings a broader palette of color to the piece, the clarinet does
not play the role of soloist as in Carl Maria von Weber's Quintet for
example. I consider it one of the
finest pieces of chamber music ever written, and I always look forward to
opportunities to perform it, especially with the exceptional musicians of the
Accordo ensemble.

Thanks, Mom.