Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (; born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2023, Widmann was the third most performed living contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of ...

's Clarinet Quintet was composed in 2017. It was premiered on 24 April 2017 in Madrid. The one-movement Adagio in tempo Lento assai has a duration of approximately forty minutes.

Background

Initially the Hagen Quartet asked Widmann to compose a

clarinet quintet Traditionally a clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. Now the term clarinet quintet can refer to any combination of instruments in the c ...

. Widmann's unsuccessful first attempt to write a clarinet quintet was in 2009 and initially abandoned because "music history ... suddenly appeared as a great burden". The Clarinet Quintet was finally composed in 2017. The work is commissioned by Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical Madrid, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Strijkkwartet Biennale Amsterdam, LuganoMusica, Carnegie Hall, Cité de la Musique Paris, Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, Philharmonie Essen, and Wigmore Hall.

Music

The material of the clarinet quintet is reduced to a minimum. A sighing motif of a falling fifth, a direct citation from the final of Brahms's

Clarinet Quintet Traditionally a clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. Now the term clarinet quintet can refer to any combination of instruments in the c ...

opens the clarinet part. The fifth is a melodic and harmonic (as

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)

leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...

of the whole composition. Another stamping element is a simple three note figure, consisting of one step up and two steps down. It is derived from Mozart's

first-movement theme. Special

extended techniques In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Exper ...

are

multiphonics A multiphonic is an extended technique on a monophonic musical instrument (one that generally produces only one note at a time) in which several notes are produced at once. This includes wind, reed, and brass instruments, as well as the human vo ...

, string harmonics, extended bowing techniques, "Toppan"-Staccato and echo effects. The music is often quiet. :Citation: Brahms, Clarinet Quintet, final, falling fifth :from :Citation: Mozart, Clarinet Quintet, first movement, main theme

Performances

The world premiere was on 24 April 2017 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Auditorio Nacional de Música The Auditorio Nacional de Música (''National Auditorium of Music'') is a complex of concert venues located in Madrid, Spain and the main concert hall in the Madrid metropolitan area. It comprises two main concert rooms: a symphonic hall and a cham ...

, Sala de Cámara. Performers were Widmann and the Hagen Quartet. In 2018–2019 the Clarinet Quintet was played also in an international tour, with performances in Paris, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Essen, London, Salzburg, and New York.

Reception

Heidemarie Klabacher wrote: "wonderful contribution to the music genre" (''""''). Gavin Dixon wrote: "a study in reserve and intimacy". Pablo L. Rodriguez wrote in ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'': "Widmann shows his most intimate and melancholic side" (''""'').

Background

Music

Performances

Reception

References

Further reading