Klarinettenquintette

The four clarinet quintets were composed in 2014. All of the pieces take existing themes and recast them for string quartet with solo clarinet. Two of the themes are my own: A Rose is a Rose is a Rose from the CD World Tour by the band Hochhäuser, and Mobilé (für Katharina) from 1990, released on the CD Lifelines in 1992. The other two themes are Billy Strayhorn’s Isfahan and Tristeza, a samba by the Brazilian musician Nilton da Souza.

None of the four pieces was merely “arranged”; each was the basis for an extensive new composition. My aim was to achieve the rhythm and harmony of jazz with just these five voices, without any rhythm or chordal instruments. To that end I wrote polyphonic voice-leading and aimed for a balanced interplay between the instruments. The improvised clarinet solos (or alto and bass clarinet solos) are bound into an active dialogue with the composed parts of the string quartet.

For the soloist this means not only getting by without the support of a rhythm section – that is, being in complete control of groove and harmony at every moment – but at the same time hearing the string quartet as an important source of impulses and a partner in improvisation, and working it into his playing.

The four compositions were premiered in September 2017. On 9 October 2018 they were first recorded at the Loft in Cologne and then performed again there that evening. The recordings were released on the Hochhäuser demo CD “Live im Loft”.

The musicians on the recording were Johanna Hoppstock and Mario Milazzo (violin), Lara Bäuml (viola) and Matthieu Finke (cello), with François de Ribeaupierre, who mastered the difficult role of soloist impressively.