Sonatas for clarinet & piano by Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer / Hans Eijsackers

Johannes Brahms, Josef Gabriel von Rheinberger

Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer / Hans Eijsackers

Sonatas for clarinet & piano

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917250527
Catnr: CC 72505
Release date: 04 March 2011
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917250527

Catalogue number
CC 72505

Release date
04 March 2011

"Most advisable!"

ensemble, 01-8-2011

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Artist(s)

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About the album

In 1891, in the autumn of his life, although Brahms was only 58 at the time, he met Richard Mühlfeld. (1856-1907), who had served as a violinist in the renowned Court Orchestra of Meiningen (which Brahms had once directed) and had changed to the clarinet a few years later. His playing the clarinet had deeply moved Brahms; and even so much that the composer, being under Mühlfeld’s magic spell, spent hours listening to him. Clara Schumann described his playing as warm, delicate and unaffected, with perfect skill and full command of his instrument. Consequently, it did not take Brahms much time to get familiar with all its technical ins and outs as well as its playing capabilities. Mühlfeld favoured a prominent vibrato and a rather gregarious performance, both perhaps the remnants of his previous career as an extrovert violinist. Mühlfeld inspired and motivated Brahms so persuasively that the final outcome was as inevitable as it was rewarding: the Clarinet Trio op. 114, the Clarinet Quintet op. 115 and, finally, the two clarinet sonatas, in E flat and F minor, op. 120. Mühlfeld and Brahms premiered both sonatas in 1895 and performed them often together. Mühlfeld and Brahms premiered both sonatas in 1895 and performed them often together. Brahms valued their relationship so much that he granted Mühlfeld not only all fees from their joint performances, but also yielded him all income from the performance-rights as long as Mühlfeld would live. Last but not least, Brahms donated him the manuscripts of these works after they had been published: ‘To Richard Mühlfeld, the master of this beautiful instrument, in sincere and grateful remembrance’. (From the linernotes of this CD, written by Aart van der Wal)

Another true. modern, master of this beautiful instrument is of course the Dutch Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer, a clarinet player who understands the depths of the instrument to the fullest. He brings back the warmth and delicacy of these beautiful compositions, a last statement of Brahms' genius. Besides the two Brahms sonates there is also a sonate of Josef Gabriel Rheinberger who is mainly known by his organ compositions but as a composer he was much more than that.

Klarinetwerken door Lars Wouters: roekeloos noch zelfingenomen

“Werken die veel baat hebben bij een bijzonder musicus. De Nederlandse klarinettist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer is roekeloos noch zelfingenomen en durfde het toch aan. Gewoon omdat hij een bijzonder musicus is. Omdat hij een schitterende toon heeft die los van de muziek al een genot is om naar te luisteren. En omdat hij met Hans Eijsackers beschikt over een perfecte pianist die precies weet wanneer hij volgen moet en toon moet zetten.” — Luister, april/mei 2011

Johannes Brahms ontmoette in 1891 Richard Mühlfeld, een violist die later zijn viool in zou ruilen voor de klarinet. Brahms werd diep geroerd door Mühlfelds klarinetspel. Het diende daarom als een grote inspiratiebron voor Brahms, onder anderen bij het schrijven van zijn late meesterwerken. Een aantal van deze, waaronder twee klarinetsolo’s, schreef hij voor Mühlfeld.
Brahms waardeerde zijn relatie met Mühlfeld in zoverre dat hij alle inkomsten van hun gezamenlijke optredens aan Mühlfeld schonk, evenals de inkomsten van de uitvoeringsrechten—Mühlfeld’s hele leven lang. Ook schonk Brahms hem de manuscripten van de werken nadat deze uitgegeven waren: “Aan Richard Mühlfeld, de meester van dit prachtige instrument, in oprechte en dankbare herinnering.”
Joseph Rheinberger is vooral bekend om zijn orgelwerken, hoewel hij als componist veel meer was dan dat. Hij heeft een enorme hoeveelheid muziek voor andere instrumenten geschreven, waaronder symfonieën, opera's, sacrale koorwerken en kamermuziek. Zijn Sonate voor klarinet Op.105a werd geschreven in 1893.

Deze werken worden op dit album uitgevoerd door twee leidende figuren in de Nederlandse muziekwereld: de bekroonde klarinettist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer en de gerenommeerde pianist Hans Eijsackers. Beiden behoren tot de muzikale top van Nederland.

Artist(s)

Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (clarinet)

Dutch clarinetist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (1977) studied at the Juilliard School for Music in New York with clarinetist Charles Neidich on a sponsorship by the Fulbright International Scholarship Program. Lars has won several first prizes at international competitions such as the 'International Competition for Youth' (Lisbon 1994) and the “RTBF Jeunes Solistes” (Brussels 1993). In 1999 he made his début in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and performed very successfully as a Rising Star in the so named concert series in 2001-2002. Since then, Lars has played in major venues such as Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Musik Verein Vienna, Cité de la Musique Paris and Philharmonie Berlin. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as...

Dutch clarinetist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (1977) studied at the Juilliard School for Music in New York with clarinetist Charles Neidich on a sponsorship by the Fulbright International Scholarship Program. Lars has won several first prizes at international competitions such as the "International Competition for Youth" (Lisbon 1994) and the “RTBF Jeunes Solistes” (Brussels 1993). In 1999 he made his début in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and performed very successfully as a Rising Star in the so named concert series in 2001-2002. Since then, Lars has played in major venues such as Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Musik Verein Vienna, Cité de la Musique Paris and Philharmonie Berlin. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of the Netherlands, New Ensemble Amsterdam and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He performed the world premiere of the Clarinet Concerto "Yellow Darkness", written for him by Willem Jeths, in 2005 and the piece "Euro" by Theo Abazis at Carnegie Hall in 2001.
Lars has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin since 2000. He has performed with string quartets and ensembles such as Skampa Quartet, Quatuor Danel, Quatuor Ebène, and Altenberg Trio Wien. Lars performs frequently in the major international festivals with colleagues like Janine Jansen, Inon Barnatan, Amihai Grosz etc. He is also a guest-player with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in the UK. In 2003, Lars was awarded an "Edison" for his début CD. Other CD’s followed, with music by Dohnányi, Harbison and Hindemith. In 2009, Challenge Records released his CD with Reger sonatas, which received outstanding reviews by the international music press. Lars founded and is artistic director of the "Dutch Tone Festival" in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. He teaches at the Fontys Music Academy Tilburg.

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Hans Eijsackers (piano)

Hans Eijsackers was born in The Hague. When he was 13 years old he won the first Rotterdam Piano-Driedaagse and Princess Christina Competition. He was winner of the European Piano Competition in 1991 in Luxembourg, playing Rachmaninow’s Concerto nr.2 with the R.T.L. Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jacques Mercier. He also won the Special Prize for the best song accompaniment. Among his professors were: Koos Bons, Gerard van Blerk, Jan Wijn and György Sebök. In 1992 he graduated at the Sweelinck Conservatory of Music in Amsterdam. In 1994 he was invited to study at the Mozart Academy in Krakow. As a result he did recitals in Poland, Budapest, Cornwall, Asia and New York. Next to his work as a professor at...

Hans Eijsackers was born in The Hague. When he was 13 years old he won the first Rotterdam Piano-Driedaagse and Princess Christina Competition. He was winner of the European Piano Competition in 1991 in Luxembourg, playing Rachmaninow’s Concerto nr.2 with the R.T.L. Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jacques Mercier. He also won the Special Prize for the best song accompaniment. Among his professors were: Koos Bons, Gerard van Blerk, Jan Wijn and György Sebök. In 1992 he graduated at the Sweelinck Conservatory of Music in Amsterdam. In 1994 he was invited to study at the Mozart Academy in Krakow. As a result he did recitals in Poland, Budapest, Cornwall, Asia and New York. Next to his work as a professor at the conservatories of Tilburg and The Hague he performs as soloist, chamber musician and song accompanist.

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Composer(s)

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. His reputation and status as a composer is such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.
Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, and voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works. He worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim (the three were close friends). Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished.
Brahms has been considered, by his contemporaries and by later writers, as both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers. Within his meticulous structures is embedded, however, a highly romantic nature.

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