Quatuor Voce

Brahms: Clarinet Quintet And Trio

Voce Quartet

Cécile Roubin, violin

Sarah Dayan, violin

Guillaume Becker, viola

Lydia Shelley, cello

Florent Héau, clarinet

Jérôme Pernoo, cello

Jérôme Ducros, piano

The clarinet was the source of inspiration for these last works by Brahms. A century earlier, the friendship between the clarinettist Stadler and Mozart culminated in the sublime concerto K 622, like a luminous farewell. Here, the farewells are chiaroscuro. The clarinet often seems to act like Proust's madeleine. Its nostalgic sweetness conjures up memories and leads to introspection. In Tosca, Puccini chose the clarinet to introduce the magnificent aria ‘E lucevan le stelle’. Mario, at death's door, looks up at the stars and remembers the happy days. And the clarinet sings. Just when inspiration had dried up, Brahms fell under the spell of Mühlfeld's clarinet. And there he found the means of expressing what he called his ‘inner autumn’, delivering his ultimate passions.

- Florent Héau