Löchen Quintet
Performance 2025 Graduate ExhibitionPresentation by Carla Mendoza Trejo
Copresented by Alexis Chae, Carla Mendoza Trejo, Isaac McNulty, and Michael Holtzapple
Exhibition Number 405
Abstract
Brahms’ Quintet in G major was intended to be his last work as he left a note that read, “with this letter you can bid farewell to my music, because it is certainly time to leave off" to his publisher. This chamber work certainly sounds like it was written by someone who would never need to write again. Brahms squeezes the entire range of human emotions and compositional techniques into the movements of this work. From the joyous cello opening and nostalgic good-bye of the first movement, to the melancholy found in the waltz-like Scherzo. Luckily for all of us, and especially clarinetists, he found inspiration to continue composing. Brahms sticks to a standard sonata structure. The opening of the exposition begins with dense and bustling playing from the top voices before the cello cuts through the texture. The intensity and energy of the start slowly settles down into a thin texture with a luscious viola duet on top. With the fiery end of the codetta, an eerie episode in pianissimo sets the ambiguity and mystery of the development. This ambiguity plagues the entire development, full of temperamental changes in character, until finally the cello leads the ensemble back home in the recapitulation. After repeating the exposition in another key, Brahms starts the finishing coda with nostalgic, swinging music before an abrupt ending.
Importance
Brahms gained inspiration to continue creating new works after hearing legendary clarinettist, Richard Mühlfeld, perform. The clarinet would be placed under spotlight in Brahms’ ultra-late period of composing. A trio, a quintet, and two sonatas with piano. Those final Sonatas were also arranged for viola and continue to be a staple in the viola repertoire. There is a throughline that can be identified in this era of Brahms. An importance is increasingly placed on instruments and genres that are under-utilized in chamber music. Doubling the viola in the string quintet showcasing its beauty and potential as a more melodic instrument. Historically, the viola was not given such exposed and challenging material, as its sole purpose was only to support.