This Simax release
of Brahms’s Complete Chamber Music
for Clarinet features Hans Christian
Bræin, who we are told is "Norway’s
foremost clarinettist". The son
of the Norwegian composer Edvard Fliflet
Bræin (1924-1976), Hans Christian
was a principal clarinettist with the
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for two
periods in the 1970s and 1990s and also
served as a member of the Oslo Sinfonietta.
For ten years in the 1980s Bræin
was a member of the Danish Esbjerg Music
Ensemble. At present Bræin holds
the position of professor at the Norwegian
Academy of Music, is a permanent member
of the Cikada Ensemble and performs
regularly with the Norwegian Chamber
Orchestra.
Hans Christian Bræin
has clearly carefully assembled an exquisite
group of musicians for this Simax recording.
He is accompanied in the two Clarinet
Sonatas by the pianist Håvard
Gimse, and for the Clarinet Trio both
are joined by cellist Bjørg Værnes
Lewis. Atle Sponberg leads the players
for the Quintet accompanied by Bræin,
violinist Per Kristian Skalstad, violist
Nora Taksdal and cellist Anne Britt
Sævig Årdal.
In an Indian summer
of creativity towards the end of his
career, Johannes Brahms composed in
1891 the Clarinet Trio and the Clarinet
Quintet. Three years later there followed
the two Clarinet (Viola) Sonatas. All
the scores were especially composed
for Richard Mühlfeld, the popular
virtuoso clarinettist and principal
of the Meiningen Orchestra, whose playing
had been an inspiration to the aging
Brahms. The legacy of Brahms’s association
with Mühlfeld is that all four
works rank among the supreme masterpieces
of the clarinet repertoire and represent
the purest distillation of Brahms’s
thought in the chamber music medium.
The Quintet, cast in
four movements, is in fact the last
really expansive piece that Brahms wrote.
It is a work of autumnal beauty. Here
we find the serene contemplations of
a man whose life is behind him and is
given to introspection and quiet reminiscence.
Bræin and his group in the opening
movement allegro are gentle and
sensitively unassertive. They evoke
an atmosphere of profound nature-mysticism
in the magnificent adagio. I
love the way the players provide a carefree
ambling mood in the serenade-like andantino
and in the con moto - finale they
perform with a sense of gentility and
nostalgia, communicating an underlying
sombre colouring. This fine performance
is right up there with the best available
versions. For their satisfying and refined
playing I still prefer the account from
clarinettist Herbert Stähr and
members of the Berlin Philharmonic Octet
on Philips Duo 446 172-2.
Also composed in 1891
the Trio was thought by the composer
to be a better work than the Quintet;
although audiences have traditionally
preferred the latter. The four movement
Trio embodies all the resource
and subtlety of Brahms’ late style and
is remarkable for the consistency with
which it exploits the disturbance, anxiety
and shadow of the minor key. The brief
excursions into the major mode often
turn out to offer only an illusory consolation.
In the sombre and extended
opening allegro of the Trio
Bræin, Lewis and Gimse communicate
a mood of melancholy and foreboding.
Especially impressive in the serenely
philosophical extended adagio
is the group’s serious interpretation
of resignation with its convincing funereal
overtones. In the andantino grazioso
the trio offer a ripe performance
that evokes the salon manner of Brahms’s
popular Liebeslieder Waltzes.
In the strenuous and demanding agitations
of the finale - allegro the players
provide a reading that is bracing and
rhythmically supple. Bræin’s superb
performance on Simax offers a satisfying
alternative to the benchmark recording
of expressive eloquence and refinement
from clarinettist George Pieterson and
members of the Beaux Arts group on Philips
Duo 438 365-2.
After completing the
Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 in 1888,
Brahms returned to the duo sonata form
just once more; in 1894. In quick succession
he composed the pair of Clarinet Sonatas
that were published together the following
year as his Op. 120. Brahms also transcribed
the scores for viola and piano and the
versions are virtually identical. It
is with these chamber works that Brahms
bids a permanent farewell to chamber
music.
Bræin and Gimse
prove themselves to be a formidable
partnership in these two sonatas offering
enthusiastic and expressive playing
throughout. In the four movement F minor
Sonata the duo’s playing gathers strength
as the music progresses to emerge triumphant.
It is impressive how after playing of
strength and spirit the partnership
achieves a mood of relative calm and
relaxation in the coda. The duo
provide a mood of childlike boisterousness
in the vivace - finale. In the
extended opening movement allegro
amabile of the three movement E
flat major Sonata Bræin and Gimse
expertly emphasise a gentle feminine
quality providing lyrical passages of
great beauty. It is striking how they
robustly interpret the brusque and impetuous
central movement scherzo with
such admirable control. This is a performance
of assurance and buoyancy with the varying
moods of the unsettling and agitated
concluding movement. These are excellent
interpretations that will provide considerable
listening pleasure. However, for their
special warmth and depth of expression
my preferred accounts are those from
Thea King and Clifford Benson from 1984
on Hyperion Helios CDH55158.
This Simax release
is reasonably brightly lit and closely
recorded, detailed and well balanced
with the advantage of an appealing timbre
from the clarinet. Adding to the appeal
of the issue the booklet notes by Malcolm
MacDonald are both helpful and interesting.
The performances are consistently impressive
throughout all four scores and individually
they can sit comfortably alongside any
of my long time favourite versions without
unseating them. For those looking for
a collection that includes all of Brahms’s
music for clarinet this Simax double
would now be my preferred choice.
Michael Cookson
Hans Christian Bræin (clarinet); Håvard
Gimse (piano); Atle Sponberg (violin); Per Kristian
Skalstad (violin); 
