Classical Music | Music for Duo

Johannes Brahms

Sonata in E-flat Major for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120, No. 2  Play

Shtrykov-Tanaka Duo Duo

Recorded on 03/01/2017, uploaded on 11/02/2017

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

In May of 1890, Brahms vowed to reject the idea of composing. It is, however, thanks to his meeting the clarinetist of the Meiningen Orchestra, Richard Mühlfeld, that we have two clarinet sonatas, a clarinet quintet, and clarinet trio as his final musical output.

 

The second clarinet sonata, as the movement title Allegro amabile suggests, has a sweet and tender warmth in the first movement. The second movement is a lightly swaying scherzo typical of Brahms’s intermezzi in his late works. The trio section of its ternary form takes a slightly more somber mood with music of a dignified procession. The finale consists of a theme and variations whose dreamy, almost wistful character once again suggests the indescribably gentle charm of the composer’s late works.      Notes by Misuzu Tanaka