Clarinet Quintet B minor Op. 115

In 1890 Brahms had actually resolved to stop composing. Fortunately, his acquaintance with Richard von Muhlfeld, clarinettist of the celebrated Meiningen court orchestra, led Brahms to step back from this idea in 1891, and to write, together with the Clarinet Trio op. 114, his Clarinet Quintet op. 115 – two of the greatest masterpieces for this instrument. The first public performances in Berlin and, somewhat later, in Vienna, were such a great success that Joseph Joachim acknowledged the Clarinet Quintet as one of the best works that Brahms had ever written. For the present Henle Urtext edition all relevant sources have, as always, been thoroughly analyzed, and Brahms’ own corrections entered too.