Brahms: The Complete Chamber Music for Clarinet Laura Ruiz Ferreres, Christoph Berner, Danjulo Ishizaka & Mandelring Quartett

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano:
• 1 Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano: I. Allegro 07:52
• 2 Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano: II. Adagio 07:26
• 3 Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano: III. Andantino grazioso 04:31
• 4 Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano: IV. Allegro 04:21
• Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1 for Clarinet and Piano:
• 5 Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1 for Clarinet and Piano: I. Allegro appassionato - Sostenuto ed espressivo 07:51
• 6 Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1 for Clarinet and Piano: II. Andante un poco adagio 04:21
• 7 Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1 for Clarinet and Piano: III. Allegretto grazioso 04:08
• 8 Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1 for Clarinet and Piano: IV. Vivace 04:48
• Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2 for Clarinet and Piano:
• 9 Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2 for Clarinet and Piano: I. Allegro amabile 08:00
• 10 Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2 for Clarinet and Piano: II. Allegro appassionato - Sostenuto - Tempo I 05:20
• 11 Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2 for Clarinet and Piano: III. Andante con moto - Allegro - più tranquillo 07:06
• Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 for Clarinet and String Quartet:
• 12 Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 for Clarinet and String Quartet: I. Allegro 12:02
• 13 Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 for Clarinet and String Quartet: II. Adagio 09:51
• 14 Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 for Clarinet and String Quartet: III. Andantino - Presto non Assai, ma con sentimento 04:36
• 15 Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115 for Clarinet and String Quartet: IV. Con moto 08:36
• Total Runtime 01:40:49

Info for Brahms: The Complete Chamber Music for Clarinet

This recording of the complete chamber music works for clarinet by Johannes Brahms is presented with first-rate interpreters: Laura Ruiz Ferreres, one of the most gifted clarinetists of her generation, and pianist Christoph Berner.

Internationally renowned cellist Danjulo Ishizaka and the Mandelring Quartet complete the superb line-up of instrumentalists for this recording.

At the end of his career, when he had already made his will, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was enthused by an instrument which was mainly familiar as an indispensable component of the romantic orchestra: the clarinet. However, since Mozart and Weber, chamber music for clarinet had been somewhat neglected. If it had not been for Richard Mühlfeld, the exceptionally gifted virtuoso of the Meiningen Court Orchestra, who was the source of inspiration for four chamber music works for clarinet between 1891 and 1894, Brahms might never again have written any music. However, the melancholy North German had a predilection for the noble middle register and expressive 'speaking' tone of the clarinet, of which he makes full use in all four works. Whilst the Trio Op. 114 with piano and cello has always been regarded as a subtly constructed work for connoisseurs, the Quintet Op. 115 with the accompaniment of a string quartet is a miraculous blend of sound and passionate lyricism. Alongside the Clarinet Sonatas Op.120, these late chamber works with clarinet constituted a veritable renaissance which continues to the present day.

"The focal point of this collection is the Spanish clarinettist Laura Ruiz Ferreres...All the attributes of a fine clarinettist are there - agility, lovely woody tone in the lower register, rising through a rich middle to a piercing top - and these are allied with a most satisfying musical sense." (International Record Review)

Laura Ruiz Ferreres, clarinet
Danjulo Ishizaka, cello
Christoph Berner, piano
Mandelring Quartett

Laura Ruiz Ferreres
Since 2011 Laura Ruiz Ferreres is Professor of Clarinet at the “Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst de Frankfurt am Main”. Previously she was First Solo Clarinetist of the “Komische Oper” in Berlin conducted by Kirill Petrenko and from 2007 to 2010 she was Guest Professor at the UdK - Universität der Künste Berlin, where she also conducted her own class.

She is one of the most brilliant clarinetists of her generation and furthermore she is one of the very few who dominates both - the French and the German - clarinet systems. She has been awarded in many international competitions and she appears very often as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra musician.

She was born in Amposta (Tarragona) and began her musical studies with her father, studying late on in Barcelona, London, Basel and Berlin with Joan Enric Lluna, Anthony Pay, François Benda and Karl-Heinz Steffens. She also attended courses in historic clarinet at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Eric Hoeprich.

She has won several prizes in different European Competitions such as London Symphony Shell Woodwind Competition and Tumbridge Wells International Young Artists Competition (United Kingdom), International Clarinet Competition Marco Fiorindo (Italy), First Prize at Concours d’Execution Musical de Riddes (Switzerland) , First Prize at Primer Palau 2003 and the only one awarded at the Concurso Internacional de Clarinete Ciudad de Dos Hermanas in 2004 (Spain).

Her soloistic activity registers solo performances with several orchestras as Sinfonietta de Genève, Komische Oper Berlin, Brandenburger Symphoniker, Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Heidelberg, Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Orquestra de Cambra de Granollers, Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi and Collegium Musicum Achaffenburg, and also has recorded for the Suisse Romande Radio 2, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Catalunya Musica, Radio Nacional de España and SWR Rundfunk.

After playing with the best european youth orchestras she was academist at the Staatskapelle Berlin and later on she was invited to join the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin.

Nowdays Laura Ruiz Ferreres collaborates regularly, as solo clarinetist, with the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Hamburger Philharmoniker, Orquestra de Cadaqués, Orquestra del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gürzenich Orchester Köln and Mahler Chamber Orchester. She has played with renowned conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Bernhard Haitink, Sir Neville Marriner, Kent Nagano, Cristoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Daniele Gatti and Pierre Boulez.

This album contains no booklet.