Music for clarinet, viola, and piano in the first half of the nineteenth century occupies a distinctive but relatively rare corner of the chamber repertoire. While the Classical period had established mixed ensembles involving winds, strings, and piano—most famously in Mozart and Beethoven—the exact combination of clarinet, viola, and piano did not yet become standardized. Instead, composers of the early Romantic era approached this grouping with flexibility, often through ad hoc works, alternative scorings, or arrangements shaped by available performers.
This period was marked by expanding expressive ambitions and rapid developments in instrument design. The clarinet gained a wider range and greater agility, the viola benefited from improved projection and a more soloistic role, and the piano evolved into a powerful yet nuanced partner. Together, these instruments offered composers a rich palette of timbres: the clarinet’s lyrical warmth, the viola’s dark middle register, and the piano’s harmonic breadth.
This new recording starts off with the first work written for the combination of clarinet, viola and piano: the famous Kegelstatt Trio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Following are works by Johann Stiehl (1800-1872), Josef Triebensee (1772-1846) and Robert Schumann (1810-1856), whose Märchenerzählungen is the embodiment of Romantic expression and storytelling.
Played by Italian clarinetist Luigi Magistrelli, Matteo Fedeli (viola) and Carlo Balzaretti (piano). Magistrelli made numerous recordings for Brilliant Classics with works by C.P.E. Bach (95307), Giuliani (95541), Kummer (94472), Archduke Rudolph (94952), Rebay (94171) and Fuchs (96305). ‘Luigi Magistrelli is a skilled artist, with the fingers and the enthusiasm for Weber.’ Gramophone.
