Indoor Groupmuse with pianist Ian Scarfe

W. A. Mozart - "Kegelstatt" Trio in E-flat, K. 498
R. Schumann - Fairy Tales aka "Märchenerzählunged", Op. 132
Max Bruch - Selections from "8 Pieces" Op. 83

What kind of crazy person decided to make a chamber music ensemble with the CLARINET? Not only that, but to match it up against the VIOLA?!? (Of course, there is a piano involved. That part is normal)

This crazy person was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As the story goes, Mozart and his clarinetist friend Anton Stadler loved hanging out and drinking at a local bowling alley (called "Kegelstatt" at that time). Whether it was the persistence of his friend Stadler, the number of drinks consumed, or perhaps a lost bet on bowling, Mozart wrote this trio.

Other composer thought Mozart was not crazy, so they imitated him. Schumann's Fairy-Tales has a crazy name when you say it in German, although the music is rather normal sounding Romantic fare. Max Bruch lived well into the 1900s, but still clung to that passionate German Romantic style.

We will also play some tango arrangements from the great Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. Not at all crazy. 😎