These two clarinet quintets fall under the rubric ‘Romantic
Quintets’. Both composers had an association with Brahms. Fuchs
was a particularly good friend of the older man, but though
Brahms found Fuchs’s work ‘amiable’ he went on to decry it,
adding that ‘there is no depth to Fuchs anywhere’. Ferdinand
Thieriot, like Brahms, was born in Hamburg and it was apparently
via Brahms that Thieriot obtained an appointment in Graz in
1870.
Both these lesser known composers’ reputations have dimmed over
the decades. Whilst Fuchs may still attract some interest, almost
none now accrues to Thieriot. Fuchs’ Clarinet Quintet was written
in 1914 and first performed by Fritz Behrend and the Busch Quartet
in April 1917. In four movements it’s certainly a democratic
work, parcelling out some of the most passionate and declamatory
writing to the quartet. It allows the clarinet its moments of
long-breathed elegance emerging fully integrated from the music’s
texture. Indeed, for some, the relative subservience of the
clarinet may prove problematic, though I prefer to see Fuchs’
intent as a quintet of equals. The complication is how to add
the wind voice to the strings in such a scheme. There’s a jaunty
march in the scherzo, ending with resolute pizzicati, and a
warmly lyric slow movement, certainly reminiscent of Brahms’s
own clarinet quintet, and the clarinet sonatas too. The obbligato
or decorative passages for clarinet are certainly striking here,
as the instrument muses, comments on, or soliloquizes at times
independent of the string writing. Affable and relaxed, Fuchs’
finale is certainly ‘grazioso’, though it does tend to ramble
a little. Toward the end a folk-like tune emerges, to considerable
benefit.
Thieriot’s Quintet was written nearly twenty years earlier,
in 1897, the year of Brahms’s death. It’s altogether a lighter
and jauntier work than Fuchs’. There’s an amusing, trifling
quality to some of the phraseology, late-romanticism at its
most ingratiating, though thematically it does rather lack a
strong profile and sense of distinction. The Scherzo reprises
the drollery and even the somewhat more serious trio doesn’t
efface the light-hearted character of the music. The slow movement
is attractively warm, never pious or precious, and the finale
is leisurely and attractive. It doesn’t sound, in this performance,
Allegro con fuoco, however.
The Stamic, as ever, play with devoted warmth and depth of tone.
Clarinettist Stephan Siegenthaler has had an interesting career.
A one time principal of the Biel Symphony, he then co-founded
a medical company, which he led for a number of years before
returning to full-time music; from 2008 to 2010 he was Rector
of Music in Lucerne. He’s a mellifluous player, though I sense
that he could be more assertive, tonally and in terms of tempo,
more often.
The 2005 recording is good, catching the ensemble in plausible
balance, and the notes are helpful. This is Late-Romantic chamber
music of fluency, charm and elegance. There’s not a huge amount
of expressive depth – Brahms’s strictures apply to a large degree
– but that may not be the point. If you feel an affinity for
the affiliation of clarinet and quintet and are susceptible
to the genre, you will enjoy these performances.
Jonathan Woolf
Stephan Siegenthaler (clarinet): Stamic Quartet Prague 
