A Touch of Magic

When clarinetist Hein Wiedijk, pianist Frank van de Laar, and cellist Pamela Smits take the stage together, it promises to be a musical party. They will play two crown jewels of chamber music: the triumphant Gassenhauer-Trio of young Beethoven and the passionate clarinet trio of ‘’grand old” Brahms.

Gassenhauer, the nickname of Beethoven's trio, is slang for "a popular tune whistled or sung in the Viennese alleyways (Gassen)." The hit in question at the time was a theme from Weigl's opera, on which the young Beethoven unleashed his genius with a number of masterful variations.

After a creative crisis, Brahms tired of composing and wrote to his publisher Simrock that it was "finally time to stop." But when he heard the playing of clarinetist Mühlfeld, he was so thrilled that it inspired him to pick up his composing pen again. The result was, among other things, this heartbreakingly beautiful clarinet trio.

In addition to these masterpieces, the musicians bring a surprise with two delightful contrasting pieces by lesser-known composers. The Dane Emil Hartmann made a study trip to Leipzig, where the spirit of Schumann still lingers strongly, and whose influence is clearly audible in Hartmann's beautiful Romance. Serbian Marko Tajčević combines the variety of dance rhythms and catchy melodies from the Balkan region into a bouquet of seven colourful miniatures.