When Mozart wrote his Clarinet Quintet, he wrote a theme-and-variations movement for the finale with four variations. So did Brahms, but he wrote five variations.
First comes the theme, a beautiful and sad little tune.
Variation #1 (1:05): The cello works around the theme while accompanied by the others.
Variation #2 (2:10): The strings get the theme with an assist from the clarinet for the first part of the theme, and then the clarinet gets to shine..
Variation #3 (3:23): This is a gavotte in the style of Bach, where the first violin gets the theme.
Variation #4 (4:57): It sounds like “I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen,” and Richard Rodgers may have gotten the idea from here. It’s the major key variation, and it goes to the clarinet and first violin.
Variation #5 (6:30): It sounds like “Sunrise, Sunset,” and the action goes to the strings, particularly the cello.
Coda: It wraps up slowly, resolving with a mention of the first movement’s opening, and it ends just like the first movement, but this time decisively. In a good performance, at the end all you can hear beyond the silence is the sobs of the audience.
The Guarneri Quartet retired after nearly half a century of setting the standard for string quartets. This is clarinettist David Schifrin, cousin of the Chilean composer Lalo Schifrin who was best known for his theme for “Mission Impossible,” joining the guys. By 2009, when this video was recorded, Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley were old and gray, like Schifrin, and longtime cellist David Soyer had retired sometime before, to be replaced by Peter Wiley.
So what happens when you subtract a violin and produce a quartet with a piano or other instrument as a partner? Tune in next week to find out.
RIP Marty