On its first appearance in 1891, Brahms' Clarinet Quintet was immediately recognised as a remarkable achievement, and a century later it still has the power to claim the hearts and minds of players and audiences alike. Widely regarded as Brahms' supreme achievement in the field of chamber music, the Clarinet Quintet is here placed in the context of the history of the clarinet and its repertory, and of Brahms' own compositions before 1891. The influence of the Meiningen clarinet virtuoso Richard Mühlfeld unleashed a new vein of creativity in Brahms, and this forms a basis for discussion, together with questions of performance practice (in relation to both clarinet and string quartet) and the legacy of Brahms' clarinet music. These chapters are complemented by a comprehensive analysis of the music.

Mozart's four-movement piece is arranged for clarinet, two violins, viola, and cello. Brahms's Clarinet Quintet in B minor, also in four movements, is equally popular and often recorded with Mozart's work.

Music Minus One

(Music Minus One). This book provides an easy way to learn and perform compositions with a full ensemble, in the comfort of your own home! "Blue Bossa" offers a unique opportunity to take off on a happy bossa nova tune that has a relatively simple harmonic progression. "The Girl from Ipanema" is another of those Jobim tunes that has a great feel and very relaxed approach to melodic interpratation. "No More Blues" serves as an example that personal interpretation of a song does indeed inform one's playing, and is a great tune for improvisation. These classic bossa novas, 10 in all, will provide the clarinetist with countless hours of enjoyment. This Music Minus One edition includes a newly engraved transcription of the solo part, along with a CD containing the complete performance of each piece in digital stereo, followed by a second version minus the clarinet for you, the soloist, to play with.

Yard sales can bring out the worst in people. So when Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison organizes a 100-mile yard sale, otherwise neighborly folk get downright nasty: her own mother creams a woman, and a battle of the sexes breaks out. But when her former boss is found murdered, nobody knows for sure how this cookie will crumble.

In discussing the Brahms Clarinet Quintet a short historical background ot the circumstances that prompted the writing of the composition has been given. Composers usually are stimulated by some certain event or circumstance to do their work. So Brahms was in his late years stimulated by the playing of Richard Mühlfeld to write his clarinet works. No detailed analysis for the form of the work was necessary, since numerous analyses have already been published. Edwin Evans, in Brahms Chamber and Orchestral Music Handbook gives perhaps the most enlightening analysis of this work. In the third chapter the writer discussed the use of the clarinet from the standpoint of orchestration, discussing and illustrating the various uses of the instrument in this work. Many of these uses had been standardized when this work was written, others were newer, while the delicate phrasing, and abundance expression marks were probably ideas which Brahms had been the first to use. Today the clarinet is thought of as being fairly well standardized in its possibilities, and we do not consider that many of today's standard possibilities were realized by Brahms. In the chapter on the contributions of Brahms to clarinet writing, the writer has described the clarinet in its various stages of development. These changes in construction have made possible many improvements in performance which, in turn, have helped make the literature for this instrument of greater musical import.