

Philipp Ortmeier
On a Thin Line
Duration: 22'
Instrumentation details:
clarinet in Bb
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
On a Thin Line
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Audio preview
Work introduction
"In its four-movement structure, the clarinet quintet On a Thin Line follows the classical and romantic models of the genre. It was written as a counterpart to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's famous Clarinet Quintet from 1789, which founded this genre. The contrasting characters of the movements span a range from the cautious Moderato cantabile in canon technique to a energetic Molto marcato and an elegiac Lento misterioso to the lively Allegro moderato in rondo form. The work is entirely tailored to the virtuosic clarinet soloist, who is carried by the closely interwoven motifs of the strings, sometimes in a spherical, floating manner (1st and 3rd movements), sometimes with razor-sharp precision (2nd and 4th movements): an at times dizzying, dancelike, acrobatic tightrope act." (Philipp Ortmeier)
The piece was composed between 25 August and 19 November 2018 on behalf of the Passauer Konzertverein to mark its 100th anniversary. At the premiere on 27 January 2019 in the Festsaal of Schloss Freudenhain in Passau by clarinettist Petra Schönberger and the string quartet of the Passauer Konzertverein, it was juxtaposed with Mozart's Clarinet Quintet.