Quintet in Bb for  Clarinet and String Quartet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1st Movement (K516c ) completed by Duncan Druce

Movements 2, 3, & 4 arranged by Tony Turrill from String Quartets K589 & K464

Clarinet or Basset Clarinet in Bb, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello

If you would like to hear an excerpt from the first movement click on the quaver sign. It may           take a few seconds to load your windows media player.  For the added movements click on the      quaver further down the page

This is a piece that we are particularly proud to publish and a favourite to play at every opportunity.  Alan Hacker’s wrote of this work “ The Quintets of Mozart, Brahms and Weber and the quartets of Hummel, Crusell and VanHal are the finest works in the clarinet chamber repertoire. 30 years ago, Duncan Druce completed the Mozart Clarinet Quintet Movement, K516c which makes a grand addition to the above and a wonderful opener to a quintet programme. Tony Turrill has now added three movements - arrangements from K589 and K464.  These plus his Schubert Clarinet Quintet (from D664)  are absolute delights and I have the same thrill playing them as with my first encounter with the Mozart and Brahms.

The first movement was completed by Mozart up to the end of the exposition and then his work inexplicably stops at the bottom of a manuscript page. We know that his other fragments were “works in progress” as they are obviously incomplete on the page.. Here, he either ran out of paper or ideas, was distracted to complete another work or, perhaps worst of all,  finished the work and the remaining manuscript was then lost. We shall probably never know.  Until the rest is discovered, if ever, Duncan’s version remains an excellent substitute - it is virtually impossible to see the join between Mozart and Druce either when listening or playing.  Duncan (click for more biographical details) is one of a few scholars to have completed many of Mozart’s fragments with great skill - his  “piece de resistance” being the completion of the Requiem, with a Benedictus that must be the finest and beautiful piece of Basset Horn writing ever.  However, once you have played this I am sure that you will agree that it is a masterpiece of at least equal rank.

A recording of this completion is available on Amen Ra/Saydisc CD-SAR 17 coupled with Alan Hacker’s Penguin Guide recommended recording of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet (K581)

Arranging the three additional movements was inevitably a much easier task than the completion as there was a wealth of material to chose from and all the notes were provided by Mozart. We know from forensic examination of the original manuscripts that K589 was contemporary with the fragment K516c and therefore an obvious choice for slow movement and minuet/trio. Mozart himself intended to replace the final movement of K589 but died without finishing the intended theme and variations. The finale of K589 also did not suit the clarinet well whereas K464 from an earlier period did and matched the style of the fragment very well. It was therefore preferred. The four movements are :

1. (K516c)

2 (K589) Larghetto

3 (K589)Minuet and Trio

4 Finale (K464)

         Click on the adjacent quaver, if  you wish to listen to the three added movements - these are         computer generated from the score

As with the more well known Quintet in A, this work was clearly intended for Basset Clarinet and parts for this instrument are provided. However, as many clarinettist’s will not possess one,  alternatives for the normal Bb instrument are also provided.

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