Clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld is owed a great deal of thanks and admiration. Not only did he rescue the elderly Johannes Brahms from the very brink of retirement from composition, but in so doing revitalized the clarinet's role as a desirable chamber music instrument. His partnership with Brahms resulted in a final creative surge that produced the Op. 114 Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, the two Clarinet Sonatas of Op. 120 (all heard on this MSR Classics album), as well as the Op. 115 Clarinet Quintet. All of these works are a testament to Brahms' wisdom and refinement in old age, as well as give a hint of the high level of playing Mühlfeld must have offered. Clarinetist Hideaki Aomori is joined by pianist
Joshua Pierce and cellist
David Barrett (for Op. 114). Aomori plays with a great deal of technical precision; his tone is transparent and projecting without even a hint of airiness. Interpretively, though, this album falls well short of the ideal. Tempos are uniformly too fast, resulting in the inner voice of the piano being nothing more than a sloppy, run-together, overpedaled mess. At these speeds, Brahms' mature, broad writing cannot be savored, and tension and suspense are lost. Aside from the blurred passagework in the piano, the instrument in general is not recorded with a pleasing sound quality, sounding tinny and nasal compared to the more present clarinet.