MOZART BEETHOVEN MICHAEL HAYDN. Alfred Boskovsky Walter Panhofer Wiener Oktett. Clarinet Quintet Piano Quintet Kegelstatt Trio Cassation, KV 99

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1 Eloq uence MOZART Clarinet Quintet Piano Quintet Kegelstatt Trio Cassation, KV 99 BEETHOVEN Piano Quintet, Op. 16 MICHAEL HAYDN Divertimento in G major Alfred Boskovsky Walter Panhofer Wiener Oktett

2 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART ( ) CD Clarinet Quintet in A major, KV RECORDING 1 I Allegro II Larghetto III Menuetto IV Allegretto con variazioni 9 20 Anton Fietz, Philipp Matheis, violins Günther Breitenbach, viola Nikolaus Hübner, cello Clarinet Trio in E flat major, KV 498 Kegelstatt 5 I Andante II Menuetto & Trio III Rondeau (Allegretto) 8 37 Willi Boskovsky, viola Cassation in B flat major, KV 99 * 8 I Marche II Allegro molto III Andante 4 40! IV Menuet 2 V Andante 5 03 VI Menuet 2 17 $ VII Allegro Andante Allegro Andante Marche 5 25 % VIII Marche 1 31 Anton Fietz, Philipp Matheis, violins Günther Breitenbach, viola Nikolaus Hübner, cello Johann Krump, double-bass Karl Mayrhofer, Günther Lorenz, oboes Josef Veleba, Wolfgang Tomböck, horns

3 CD Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat major, KV I Largo Allegro moderato II Larghetto III Allegretto 5 52 Manfred Kautzky, oboe Josef Veleba, horn Ernst Pamperl, bassoon LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN ( ) Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat major, Op. 16 * 4 I Grave Allegro ma non troppo II Andante cantabile III Rondo (Allegro ma non troppo) 5 35 Manfred Kautzky, oboe Josef Veleba, horn Rudolf Hanzl, bassoon MICHAEL HAYDN ( ) Divertimento in G major 7 I Allegro II Andante III Menuetto IV Finale 2 21 Anton Fietz, Philipp Matheis, violins Günther Breitenbach, viola Nikolaus Hübner, cello Johann Krump, double-bass Total timing: Wiener Oktett Historians wonder what would have happened if Ludwig van Beethoven had achieved his dream of studying with Wolfgang Mozart. As things turned out, he was not able to do so. Would he have chafed under the tutelage of the older man, as he did with Joseph Haydn? There is a good argument for saying that he did better by simply studying Mozart s music. Certainly its influence is palpable, especially on Beethoven s chamber music, right up to his middle period (the Third Rasumovsky Quartet s mysterious opening derives from the introduction to Mozart s Dissonance Quartet in the same key). Works which show this influence include the E flat String Trio, Op. 3, modelled on Mozart s E flat Divertimento, KV 563, the early Wind Octet and a piece included here, the Quintet for piano and winds. Although he did not play one, Mozart remains the greatest of all composers for wind instruments. He did not much care for the flute but he loved the oboe, bassoon and horn; and he took to the newfangled clarinet like a duck to water once he started making use of it. He wrote his Quintet in E flat a good key for winds in Vienna in March 1784; it came just after the Piano Concerto in the same key, KV 449, and was contemporary with the Piano Concertos in B flat, KV 450, and D major, KV 451. Mozart intended to play it at the Burgtheater on the 21st but the concert was postponed because of a clash with another event; and he entered the Quintet in his catalogue on the 30th. After its performance on 1 April he wrote to his father Leopold: I myself consider it to be the best work I have ever composed. How I wish you could have heard it! And how beautifully it was performed! He played it again in June, at the concert where his pupil Babette Ployer premièred the G major Piano Concerto, KV 453. In the Quintet, Mozart does not try to resolve the essential difference between percussive piano and sustaining winds, but allows each wind instrument plenty of singing solos; and he avoids heaviness by alternating piano and winds, rarely using all five instruments at once. An introduction marked Largo not a tempo indication he often used alternates wind chords with piano passages before parading all the instruments and giving way to a sprightly Allegro moderato, where the development is fairly brief so as not to tire the wind players; one piano riff delighted Mozart so much, he used it again in the finale to his C major Piano Concerto, KV 503. The Larghetto, in B flat, is most touching and requires maximum expression from each player. The Rondo, which is great fun, is introduced by the piano and features a group cadenza just before the last

4 return of the main theme. Beethoven s Quintet is a product of his 1796 tour from Vienna to Prague, Dresden, Berlin and back to Vienna, where he was now settled. Prince Lichnowsky, who had made a similar trip with Mozart, went with him for part of the way. Beethoven appears to have heard Bohemian musicians perform Mozart s Quintet in Prague; and he began a similar work (possibly a quartet) which was to finish with variations on Twinkle, twinkle, little star, a theme Mozart had used for variations. This idea fell by the wayside and in Berlin he sketched out his quintet, although it was not performed until he played it in Vienna on 6 April 1797 at a concert given by the violinist Ignaz Schuppenzigh. Beethoven got into the habit of improvising a cadenza in the finale and a few years later raised the ire of the oboist Friedrich Ramm, on the evening when the Eroica Symphony was tried out. That same night Beethoven played the Quintet for piano and wind instruments, Ferdinand Ries reminisced. The famous oboist Ramm from Munich played also and joined Beethoven in the quintet. In the last Allegro a pause occurs several times before the theme begins again; in one of these pauses Beethoven suddenly started improvising, taking the Rondo as his theme, and entertained himself and his listeners for quite some time, although the other players were not so amused. They were annoyed and Mr. Ramm was even angry. It did indeed look rather comic to see these gentlemen, expecting to begin any moment, constantly raising their instruments to their mouths, only to put them down quietly again. At last Beethoven was satisfied and returned to the Rondo. The whole company was enchanted. Beethoven himself was not so enchanted when the Quintet was played at the 1816 farewell concert for Schuppanzigh, who was leaving Vienna, and the composer s pupil Carl Czerny made additions to the piano part. Writing to apologise for losing his temper, Beethoven added: But you must forgive a composer who would rather have heard his work performed exactly as it was written. That he loved this work was confirmed by his superb arrangement of it for piano quartet. Like Mozart, Beethoven alternates winds and piano cleverly from the stately opening Grave; but he creates a more symphonic first movement, virtually as long as the other two together and expressing his more forceful personality. The Andante cantabile, in B flat as in Mozart s Quintet, is ravishing and reminiscent of Zerlina s aria Batto, batti from Mozart s Don Giovanni, surely a conscious tribute although Beethoven completely changes the mood of the music (when redistributing the wind parts for the quartet version he made some telling thematic improvements). The Rondo is in 6/8 hunting rhythm, which gives the cue for exciting horn passages. Mozart, Weber and Brahms were each greatly affected by meeting a virtuoso clarinettist. In Mozart s case he was Anton Stadler ( ), a fellow Freemason, for whom the part in the Piano Quintet was written. The next work specifically for Stadler was the Bowling Alley or Kegelstatt Trio in E flat, KV 498, traditionally said to have been composed while Mozart was playing skittles. It is certainly plausible that some of the themes should have occurred to him in those circumstances. He wrote it in late July or early August 1786, intending the piano part for his pupil Franziska von Jacquin, and it is likely that the first private performance was given at Gottfried von Jacquin s home, with Franziska playing the piano, Mozart the viola and Stadler the clarinet. There is no slow movement, but the almost monothematic sonata form first movement is in the slowish tempo of Andante. Then comes a Minuet and Trio and finally a captivating Rondo. Fine as the Kegelstatt Trio is, it is eclipsed by the Quintet which Mozart wrote in August 1789 for Stadler to play with strings. Mozart always reacted well to the mellowness of the clarinet think of how it colours two great E flat works, the Piano Concerto, KV 482, and the Symphony, KV 543 but in the A major Quintet and the Clarinet Concerto, also in A, he surpassed himself. The Quintet is laid out on a symphonic scale and unlike the Piano Quintet and the Kegelstatt Trio, is in four movements. From the start it breathes the air of simplicity and transparency which suffuses all late Mozart, making one wonder where he might have gone, had he been granted a few more years. Sadly the manuscript is lost but in recent decades scholars have convinced us that both Quintet and Concerto were written for a basset clarinet with a downward extension of four semitones that Stadler pioneered (the present recording was made before this discovery). It was customary, when writing for a wind instrument, to use a quartet with two violas; but Mozart, rightly working out that the autumnal clarinet equated to a viola, specified the normal quartet with two violins. The sonata form opening movement has an air of resignation, with the clarinet sometimes dominating but more often weaving in and out of the other instruments. In the Larghetto the strings are muted, creating an ethereal backdrop for the singing clarinet. The Minuet is on a lavish

5 scale, with two Trios, the wind instrument being silent in the first one. After a false start which he abandoned after 89 bars, Mozart settled on a set of five double variations for the finale. The march-like theme is quite jaunty but it changes its tune with the extraordinary sobbing third variation, for Mozart s own viola; the Adagio fifth variation is Elysian and the work ends with a delightful coda. No wonder Brahms and Reger concluded their Clarinet Quintets with variations. The early Cassation in B flat, KV 99, written in 1769 when Mozart was thirteen, tells us just how far he travelled in the intervening 20 years. The word Cassation, deriving from Gasse, or street, implies outdoor performance, in other words a serenade. This example can be played orchestrally or, as here, with single strings, which allow the oboes and horns to come through the texture with striking immediacy. The March at the beginning and end would serve to accompany the entrance and exit of the musicians, the cello probably not playing, the bass contriving to get sound out of his instrument, which would be strapped to him for marching. Otherwise there are the usual six movements, with two Minuets. Even lighter than Mozart s Cassation is the Divertimento in G for string quintet with doublebass by Johann Michael Haydn ( ). Younger brother of Joseph, Michael was from all accounts an agreeable fellow (the only portrait shows him as an old man). As Konzertmeister to the prince-archbishop of Salzburg from 1762 and organist of St. Peter s Cathedral from 1781, he was a central figure in the city s music, a friend of the Mozarts and an enduring influence on Wolfgang (at the end of his life, Mozart recalled the sound of Michael s Requiem when writing his own unfinished version). Michael s string quintets spurred Mozart to try similar works his concerto for organ and viola surely had Mozart in mind as viola soloist. Mozart famously came to his aid by providing two violin and viola duos to complete Michael s set of six; and Michael unknowingly returned the favour when Mozart appropriated one of his symphonies, adding a slow introduction (for years the work was known as Mozart s 37th). This charming little Divertimento, which was found in the British Museum and edited by the Vienna Octet bassist, was often used by the group as a concert opener. The Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet), based on the instrumentation of the Schubert Octet, was founded in 1947 by the Boskovsky brothers. Willi Boskovsky ( ) was a concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, which appeared in concert as the Vienna Philharmonic, and after Wolfgang Schneiderhan s resignation in 1951 he became first concertmaster. One of the most distinctive violinists to emerge from Vienna, he was the embodiment of the Viennese style for more than three decades. Younger brother Alfred was a superb clarinettist who had studied the violin as a boy; and their colleagues in the Octet were hand-picked: Philipp Matheis (second violin), Günther Breitenbach (viola), Nikolaus Hübner (cello), Johann Krump (double-bass), Josef Veleba (horn) and Rudolf Hanzl (bassoon). All were from the Philharmonic except the violist and cellist, who were from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the city s main concert ensemble (Breitenbach joined the Philharmonic in 1952). The Vienna Octet was soon travelling abroad and in 1948 it became the first of many Viennese ensembles to record for Decca, initiating a quarter of a century of collaboration with the English company s engineering and production team. The advent of stereo saw the group re-record its core repertoire. In 1959 Willi Boskovsky, who had turned 50 and was diversifying into conducting, left the group, and for the last phase of the Octet s career it was led by Anton Fietz ( ), like Boskovsky a legendary Viennese violinist but with his own characteristic, more clean-cut style. After winning second prize in the violin section of the 1946 international competition in Geneva, he made his career largely in Switzerland. By 1949 he was working as concertmaster of the Radio- Orchester Beromünster and in 1953 he became leader of the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra and its Quartet, staying for decades and also teaching at the Zürich Conservatoire. For the Mozart and Beethoven Piano Quintets, oboist Manfred Kautzky was co-opted; and as Hanzl was unavailable for the Mozart, Ernst Pamperl played the bassoon. The Kegelstatt Trio was the only work in which Willi Boskovsky played the viola on record. The original mono LP coupling of KV 452 and KV 498 was rather pale in sound but the CD transfer has transformed it, digging more tone out of the tapes and improving the balance in the Trio. When a Vienna Octet concert or session involved a piano, it was usually played by Walter Panhofer, who was born in Vienna in 1910 and studied with Franz Schmidt, Friedrich Wührer and Walter Gieseking. For twelve years ( ) he had a trio with Willi Boskovsky and Richard Krotschak and he appeared in duet or two-piano concerts with Friedrich Gulda or Bruno Seidlhofer. For many years he taught at the Academy of Music. Tully Potter

6 PHOTO: TULLY POTTER COLLECTION BEETHOVEN: Sextet; Septet (rec.1959); Piano Quintet SCHUBERT: Octet (rec.1957) (2CD) wiener oktett THE DECCA LEGACY BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet (rec.1953) MOZART: Clarinet Quintet (rec.1954) BAERMANN: Adagio (2CD) (2CD) (2CD) (2CD) DVOŘÁK: Sextet Op. 48 String Quintets Opp. 77 & 97 String Quartet Op. 96 American * Bagatelles Op.47 Vienna Philharmonia Quintet *Janáček Quartet MENDELSSOHN: Octet (rec.1953); SCHUBERT: Piano Quintet Trout (rec.1950) SCHUBERT: Octet (rec.1953) MOZART: Divertimenti Nos. 7, 10 (rec.1963), 15 (rec.1962), 17 (rec.1961), KV136; March in D, K290 MOZART FROM A GOLDEN AGE Divertimenti Nos. 1 (rec.1957), 10 (rec.1952), 15 (rec.1955), 17 (rec.1950) The original Wiener Oktett Recording producers: Erik Smith (KV 581, KV 99, Beethoven, M. Haydn); John Culshaw (KV 498, KV 452) Recording engineers: Gordon Parry (KV 581); James Brown (KV 498, KV 452, Beethoven, M. Haydn); Jack Law (KV 99) Recording location: Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, October 1956 (KV 498, 452), June 1957 (Beethoven), September 1962 (M. Haydn), October 1963 (KV 581), October 1964 (KV 99) Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-Homji Art direction: Chilu Tong Booklet editor: Bruce Raggatt (2CD) MOZART: Clarinet Quintet (rec.1963) Clarinet Trio; Cassation; Piano Quintet BEETHOVEN: Piano Quintet MICHAEL HAYDN: Divertimento in G major SPOHR: Piano Quintet Double Quartet; Octet (rec.1959); Nonet (rec.1966) (2CD) (2CD) Romantic Chamber Music MENDELSSOHN: Sextet. BERWALD: Septet KREUTZER: Grand Septet Op. 62 (rec.1968). BORODIN: Piano Quintet RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Piano Quintet Recording dates are indicated where the Wiener Oktett made multiple recordings of a given work. 20th-century Chamber Music BRITTEN: Sinfonietta HINDEMITH: Octet POOT: Octet. BADINGS: Octet WELLESZ: Octet (2CD)

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