top
Home Labels Contact
Strings attached - Arrangements for clarinet and strings
Robert Schumann - Johannes Brahms

Strings attached - Arrangements for clarinet and strings

Arno Piters / Members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: SACD hybrid
Barcode: 0608917257229
barcode
Catalog number: CC 72572
Releasedate: 16-01-13
Nowadays interest in arrangements is on the rise again. These arrangements by Geert van Keulen are perfectly fitting for the outstanding musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra who formed an ensemble here!
  • Three arrangements by Geert van Keulen of works by Schumann and Brahms, two of which specially requested by clarinettist Arno Piters
  • An superb ensemble for this occassion, consisting of members of  the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra!
  • Van Keulen is very enthusiastic about these musicians:
  • What he likes about clarinettist Piters is the quality of his tone, his flawless technique, perfect intonation and timing
  • Violinists Marleen Asberg and Nienke van Rijn – in the first sonata plus Schumann and in the second sonata respectively – outdid one another in playing the loveliest first violin
  • The unsurpassable Keiko Iwata plays the often extremely difficult second violin score with great dedication
  • The tone of Edith van Moergastel’s viola gave colour to the middle range, complemented in the second sonata by Judith Wijzenbeek on second viola
  • Benedikt Enzler performed his part with the precise combination of masculinity, melancholy and passion that van Keulen finds so fascinating in the cello’s tone
  • the verve, elegant yet robust, of bassist Rob Dirksen gave the two sonatas depth and sonority
Sonate opus 120/1 f moll für Klarinette und Streichquintett (1894) Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Fantasiestücke opus 73 (1849) für Klarinette und Streichquartett Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Sonate opus 120/2 Es dur für Klarinette und Streichsextett Johannes Brahms
Arrangements by Geert van Keulen

Nowadays interest in arrangements is on the rise again, not only in historical adaptations, which shed an interesting light on earlier musical performance practice, but also in contemporary variants.
In my arrangements on this CD only the piano music has been adapted, and the clarinet scores are unchanged. Stylistically, I have tried to stay as close to the originals as possible. Except for a few altered chords and solutions for a number of typically pianistic parts, the notes from the originals are unchanged.

As Schumann and Brahms were inspired by the musicians for whom they wrote these works, in working on the score I also had in mind certain musicians whose musical qualities aroused my enthusiasm. While the arrangement of the sonata in F minor was written at the request of clarinettist Hein Wiedijk, my scores of the E flat major sonata and the Fantasiestücke were written at the request of clarinettist Arno Piters: