Schumann / Oslo Philharmonic Chamber Group - Clarinet Trios [CD]

The combination of clarinet, viola and piano has not been used much by composers throughout the ages, and the most representative works are on this recording. Featured on this fourth release of Oslo Philharmonic Chamber Group are solo clarinetist Leif Arne Pedersen, violist Henninge Landaas and pianist Gonzalo Moreno. Mozart heard the clarinet in the large cities and became ever more ardent in his enthusiasm for it. After settling in Vienna in 1781, he made the acquaintance of clarinetist Anton Stadler, and the two had an important influence on the instrument's increasing popularity. "Kegelstatt Trio" was composed in jovial company, in the context of a house concert at which Mozart himself played viola and Stadler clarinet. Schumann composed "Marchenerzahlungen" in the spring of 1854, and his fairy tale images were composed in a three-day rush of creativity. The antiquated, more inward style of Bruch's eight pieces for clarinet, viola and piano is perhaps due to the fact that he was 70 and soon to retire when he composed the work.