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František Vincenc Kramárˇ was born in 1759 in the small Moravian town of Kamenice where his father was innkeeper (and later mayor). At the age of fifteen he was sent to study with his uncle, Antonin Matthias Kramár, the choirmaster at Tura˘n near Brno, who instructed him in violin and organ and possibly musical theory (although it was his private study of the scores of Mozart and Haydn that provided his greatest insights into the composer’s art). In 1777 he became organist in Tura˘n where he spent the next eight years before deciding that he should go to Vienna to make a name for himself. The name that he made was Franz Vinzenz Krommer, since like many of his compatriots he found it politic to adopt a Germanized spelling of his name (as, for example, Pavel and Antonin Vranický, also sons of a prosperous Moravian innkeeper, who achieved prominence in Vienna as Paul and Anton Wranitsky). After a short period in Vienna, Krommer became chief violinist and then Kapellmeister of the court orchestra of the Graf von Styrum and spent the next decade plying his trade at the establishments of the nobility away from the capital, with a short stint as organist and choirmaster at Pécs Cathedral. He returned to Vienna in 1794 where after a period of independence, when he presumably supported himself by teaching and performing (he played violin, piano, oboe and cimbalom, the last “with great dexterity”) he became Kapellmeister for Graf Ignaz von Fuchs in 1798. He succeeded in establishing himself in a city already crowded with formidable musical personalities, with his works regularly publically performed, becoming a member of Tonkünstler Society in 1799 and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Haydn, Beethoven and Salieri at the salons of the great Viennese musical patrons. It was at one such occasion that Beethoven behaved so badly during a performance of one of Krommer’s quartets, of which he did not have a high opinion (although others ranked them alongside Haydn’s and his own early ones) that he was rebuked by Prince Lichnowsky for his lack of manners (although Krommer was later to have the last laugh). After several attempts to join the orchestra of the Hofkapelle, (his lack of success not 2
due to any lack of competence as he was an extremely accomplished violinist, playing with Paganini when he visited Vienna in 1828,) he became Ballett-Kapellmeister at the Vienna Hoftheater in 1810, a post which carried an annual salary of 1500 guilder (today approximately €680) (although for comparison, that year Beethoven was paid slightly over 1000 guilder (today approximately €455) for the publication rights to six works). In 1815 he was appointed a Kammertürhüter (chamberlain) to the emperor Franz, a position in the imperial household that carried no musical responsibilities. It is probable that Franz, who was a keen amateur musician and played violin in his private quartet which travelled with him on imperial business, wished to have the reliable Krommer on hand at all times to assist and direct it. Krommer visited France and Italy as part of the imperial entourage and was showered with honours by European musical establishments, including the Paris and Milan Conservatoires. In 1818 he was appointed Hofkomponist (imperial court composer) on the death of Leopold Kozeluch, a position he held until his death in 1831 (when it was abolished). And so it turned out that when Beethoven applied for the lesser position of imperial chamber composer left vacant by the death in 1822 of Anton Teyber (who had inherited it from Mozart) and was informed that it was not going to be filled, it was Krommer and not Beethoven who found himself enjoying the prestige and financial security of a permanent place at court and indeed occupying the most important official musical position there. The clarinet had become popular as an orchestral instrument in the second half of the 18th century following its introduction into the Mannheim court orchestra in the 1750s, with one of the first proper clarinet concertos composed by its director Johann Stamitz. The versatility of the clarinet with its capacity for runs and leaps (which also permitted parts written for other instruments to be easily adapted for it) and its winning tone (the eminent contemporary musicologist Daniel Schubart referred to it as “ the sound of sentiment, the tone of a passionate heart melting with love”) made it a very popular chamber instrument. Over three hundred works for clarinet and string trio were written in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, beginning with the six clarinet Op.8 quartets of 1773 by Carl Stamitz (Johann’s son). Among his better known successors in this field, apart from Krommer himself, were Kozeluch, Hummel and the Danish clarinet virtuoso Bernhard Crusell: Mozart’s three clarinet quartets are in fact posthumous arrangements of other works probably made by the Offenbach publisher 3
Johann André. It is difficult to establish precise composition dates for Krommer’s clarinet quartets, as his works often circulated in manuscript for long periods before publication: however the two Op.21 quartets appeared 1801, Op.69 in 1810, Opp. 82 and 83 in 1816 with another published posthumously. In the B flat Op.83 work, the clarinet assumes a more independent role than in its two published predecessors (which were in fact adapted from a string quartet and a bassoon quartet respectively) in both of which it is more integrated into the quartet writing. In the long first movement, the strings although not reduced to mere accompaniment, generally play a secondary role although are occasionally allowed to present thematic material and join the clarinet in the melodic line. The wistfully melancholic Andante opens with the clarinet and cello in duet and its central section pre-echoes Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen written twelve years later. The strings take the lead in the minuet with the clarinet completing their phrases before coming to the fore in the trio section. However in the bubbling Allegro finale, it assumes and holds centre stage with the strings reduced to a rather pedestrian accompaniment. Quintets for clarinet and strings are comparatively rare - Mozart’s K581 of 1792 being one of the first (if not the first) and best known, followed in popularity by Weber’s, written between 1811 and 1815. These were written for clarinet and conventional quartet forces but Krommer, possibly following Andreas Romberg, adopted the slightly more unusual combination of violin, two violas and cello, thus achieving a darkening of the string tone to counterbalance the clarinet. The opening bars of the Op.95 Quintet (1820), in marked contrast to those of the Op.83 quartet, give each string instruments in turn a lengthy statement of the theme before the clarinet is allowed to present its version in truncated form. All five instruments then co-operate as equals, sharing the thematic material in alternation or unison, and occasionally mimicking each other (as in the chirrups that punctuate the movement). The strings take a supporting role in the Adagio, at first underpinning the sinuous clarinet line with rocking triplets and interjecting short phrases but become more fully integrated as the movement progresses. The instruments resume parity in the outer sections of the good-natured Menuettto with the clarinet to the fore in the trio and all combine in fine concertante style in the Allegro finale. © David Moncur 4
Henk de Graaf was born in 1949 and studied at the Conservatory of Utrecht with Jos d’Hondt and obtained his Diplomas with Distinction. In 1973 he received the Prix d’Excellence and in 1975 was appointed the principal Solo Clarinettist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. During his time here he played various solo concerts of Mozart and Von Weber, as well as a Lindpainter concerto, performed during the Orchestra’s second American Tour. For some years he was also a member of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and recorded works by Richard Strauss, including Symphony for Wind Instruments ‘The Happy Workshop’. He has been featured Soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in England, Germany and USA, with such conductors as Edo de Waart, David Zinman, Ferdinand Leitner, Hartmut Haenchen, Eri Klas, Sian Edwards, Arnold Ostman, John Dankworth, Sir Simon Rattle and Valery Gergiev. He was for some years Solo Clarinettist in Les Solistes Europeens Luxemburg and whilst with them recorded Schubert’s 8th and 9th Symphonies and Mendelssohn’s 1st Piano Concerto and 4th Symphony. Henk de Graaf has been called the finest Netherlands clarinettist ever, with multiple solo CDs and twenty-six TV recordings, including Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto KV622 and the Sinfonia Concertante KVAnh.9 (297b) with the Amadeus Ensemble Rotterdam, Conductor Marien van Staalen. Other recordings include Chamber Music works by VonWeber, Spohr, Crusell, Baermann, Zemlinsky, Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Janacek and Rossini, variously in collaboration with the pianist Daniel Wayenberg, the Schubert Consort, the Hungarian pianist Klara Wurtz, the Netherlands soprano Clara de Vries, alto Jose Scholte and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Wind Soloists. 5
De Graaf has received critical acclaim in Holland’s leading newspaper, the Telegraaf, for his recordings of Six Wind Quartets by Rossini, the Virtuoso Clarinet CD and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto KV622. Some of these recordings are also due to be released on DVD. He also worked with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Wind Ensemble on a major CD release, Serenades and Divertimenti for Wind Instruments by Mozart and Octet-Partitas by Krommer. In collaboration with the pianist Daniel Wayenberge he released a double CD, The Classical Clarinet, with an all-French and German repertoire for clarinet and piano. A very special CD release is his Gradagio, made with the pianist and organist Klaas Jan Mulder, on which De Graaf plays slow works by Rachmaninov, Saint-Saens, Grieg, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Mascagni, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dvorak and Guilmant. Finally, de Graaf has made a solo CD of Molter’s five Clarinet Concertos with the Amadeus Ensemble Rotterdam. He also made a recording of the complete Clarinetquartets of Crusell and the Clarinet Quintet of Brahms with the Daniel String Quartet. For more than twenty five years Henk de Graaf has been Professor of Clarinet at both the High School for Music & Theater Rotterdam, and the Amsterdam High School of the Arts. Using the pseudonym Henry le Comte, de Graaf publishes his works as organist and composer, and under this guise he collaborated on Melody, a special CD with Ben van Dijk, solo bass-trombonist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. It contains slow works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Handel, Massenet, Brahms, Albinoni, Mascagni, Vivaldi, Bach, Gluck and Saint-Saens. Henk de Graaf currently presents a weekly Classical Music programme on the Dutch radio station LOS. For thirty six years he has been Solo Clarinettist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has had a long and successful career as a soloist. He appears regularly on the Classical Music TV Station BravaNLKlassiek in the Netherlands in many Chamber Music ensembles. He is Conductor and Artistic Leader of the Symfonisch Blazers Collectief Nederland and composed Three Marches entitled Alegria, La Primavera and Sequenza. For the HaFaBra [wind ensembles in the Netherlands] are also versions for symphonic orchestra publication by Golden River Music, Dendermonde Belgium. www.henkdegraaf.com/Email: h.degraaf@xmsweb.nl 6
Benzion Shamir was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. He began playing violin at an early age and studied at the Vilnius Academy of Music under Professor A. Livontas. In 1967 he emigrated to Israel where he continued his studies at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv with the renowned violin teacher, professor Ramy Shevelov. After graduating, and winning the Kestenberg Competition in Tel Aviv, Benzion started his professional career as Substitute Concertmaster at the Israel Chamber Orchestra. In 1974 he founded (as primarius) the Daniel String Quartet, with Zvi Maschkowski (cello), Misha Furman (violin), and Itamar Shimon (viola). The quartet moved to The Netherlands, and Shamir additionally became Second Concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). Despite this, the Quartet remained essential and they toured regularly to the USA—San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York (int. al. Carnegie Hall)—Europe, Israel and Japan. Moreover, the Quartet launched De Daniel-dagen summer school in Zeist, The Netherlands, where all four members gave annual master classes. For many years Benzion Shamir has been Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at CODARTS, the Rotterdam Academy of Music. He also teaches abroad, for example at the Eastman School of Music, Western Washington University, South Dakota University, Sarah Lawrence College, and at the Orlando festival. He is often invited to give master classes in the USA, Japan, Israel and various European countries—Finland, Germany, France, Slovakia and Spain. Recently he has been assisting promising young String Quartets—the Rubens Quartet, the Ruijsdael Quartet and the Israeli Aviv Quartet. In 2009 he retired from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and shortly after also from the Daniel String Quartet, in order to focus on the thing he loves most: teaching. 7
Richard Wolfe was born in New York in 1953 and studied violin under Walter Levin of the La Salle Quartet at the University of Cincinnati. After graduating, he moved to Israel and was a member of the Israel Chamber Orchestra under Rudolf Barshai. In 1982 he moved to the Netherlands and since 1986 has been Principal Violist of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared as Soloist with the Orchestra on numerous occasions, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Since 1985 he has been a member of Sergiu Luca’s Music in Context Chamber Ensemble, and is a regular guest at the Cascade Head Chamber Music Festival in Oregan USA. He is currently Viola Teacher at the Utrechts Conservatory in the Netherlands.
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The English viola player Prunella Pacey won scholarships to the Royal College of Music, and the Hochschulen of Vienna and Detmold. Her quartet won First Prize at the Haydn International String Quartet Competition and after playing for three seasons in Maine, USA, she became Principal Viola of the Royal Northern Sinfonia Orchestra. She later joined the world famous Allegri String Quartet. Since moving to Holland in 1982 Pru’s activities have included: a violapiano duo, which played successfully at the Purcell Room in 1986; membership of the Dutch Mondriaan Quartet; and playing on more than twenty-five CDs. She is currently a member of the Arto Ensemble and since 1985 has taught at the Utrecht Conservatory, in London, Italy, and at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
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The Russian cello player Wladislav Warenberg was born in Charkow in the Ukraine, and began his cello training at the St. Petersburg School of Music, where he continued his study at the Conservatory in same city. In 1969 Wladi won the Third Prize on National Concours for Young Russian Cellists. He became Second Solo Cellist in the Opera Studio in St Petersburg and he was two years cellist in the Philharmonic orchestra of the earlier city of Leningrad. In 1977 he moved to the Netherlands and after being Solo Cellist in the Brabants Orchestra, he was from 1979 to 2013 Temporary Solo Cellist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Wladi regularly gives recitals and plays in different Chamber Music Ensembles and has played on many Cds.
Recording: 3 October 2014, Hervormde Kerk, Rhoon, The Netherlands Producer: Claro Music Productions, The Netherlands Recording engineer: Jan Boersema & Klaas Schuhmacher Editing & Mastering: Jan Boersema Artistic supervisor: Henk de Graaf Cover image: Caspar David Friedrich, Hills and Ploughed Fields near Dresden, circa 1824, Kunsthalle, Hamburg p & Š 2015 Brilliant Classics
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Also available on Brilliant Classics
Molter: Clarinet Concertos 93337 1CD
Krommer: Octet Partitas 93759 1CD
Archduke Rudolph: Music for Clarinet and Piano 94952 1CD
Spohr: Complete Clarinet Concertos 94837 2CD 11