Season Opening Concert at the Beginning of Spring | Concert “Sound Bridges – Echo and New Beginnings”

Opening concert of the season on the occasion of the beginning of spring, followed by an aperitif at 20:00 in the church square.

Free admission! For everyone! Music that speaks to the heart.

Concert «Sound Bridges – Echo and New Beginning»

Quintet for Clarinet in B minor op. 115 – Johannes Brahms
The Clarinet Quintet in B minor op. 115 belongs to the masterpieces of Johannes Brahms’s late works and is considered one of the central works of Romantic chamber music. Composed in 1891 in Bad Ischl, it marks a special moment in Brahms’s creative activity: the composer had largely withdrawn from composing when the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld inspired him to a final, intense creative phase. During this period, in addition to the Quintet, the Clarinet Trio op. 114 and the two Clarinet Sonatas op. 120 were also written.

Brahms does not treat the clarinet as a virtuosic solo instrument, but as an equal voice within a string ensemble. The close timbral fusion with viola and violoncello, the warm middle register and the restrained expressiveness characterize the nature of the work. The four movements develop a strong inner cohesion:
The first movement (Allegro) is marked by intensive motivic work and a dark, almost autumnal basic tone. The Adagio is among Brahms’s most intimate slow movements, with a clarinet line conceived almost vocally, of great calm and depth. In the third movement, dancing lightness and subtle irony alternate with sudden changes of atmosphere. The final movement, in variation form, thematically recalls the beginning of the work and gives the whole a consciously shaped character of farewell.

Stylistically, the quintet represents the late concentration of Brahms’s art: few external effects, but high inner tension, subtle rhythm and a sound language often described as melancholic, reconciled and permeated with quiet warmth. Because of its importance, it is often compared with Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet KV 581, albeit with a decidedly darker and more introspective expression. To this day, the work is regarded as a pinnacle of chamber music for clarinet and as a touchstone of the highest sound culture: essential are balance, inner calm and the shared “breathing” of the voices, while virtuosity yields to depth, transparency and musical dialogue.

In contrast with the world premiere of the quintet by Matthias Mueller da Minusio, a multilayered dialogue arises between late Romanticism and contemporaneity – fully in keeping with the concert title:

«Sound Bridges – Echo & New Beginning».
World premiere | Matthias Mueller da Minusio | «Passion for JB»
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings (2023) At the end of his life Johannes Brahms created, with the Clarinet Quintet op. 115, a work of complete maturity. For composers it remains a constant stimulus to learn from the masters and to grow through their example.
The quintet Passion for JB by Matthias Mueller da Minusio does not present itself as a copy, but as a conscious approach to the famous and beloved quintet by Brahms. The latter composed his work after hearing Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, performed by friends such as Joseph Joachim (violin) and Richard Mühlfeld (clarinet). This listening experience became the starting point for his final works dedicated to the clarinet.
Mueller da Minusio takes up this historical impulse and translates it into a contemporary sound language. Passion for JB is at once memory, reverence and continuation of musical thought – an echo that comes from the past and reshapes itself in the present.

Ensemble: Annika Starc – violin I | Caterina Bartoletti – violin II | Ione Diamantini – viola | Matthias Mueller da Minusio – clarinet | Orfeo Mandozzi – violoncello
Music that unites – a place of silence that inspires.


In collaboration with the Capuchin Fathers of Madonna del Sasso and the Municipality of Orselina.