Composer’s Note:

In 1890, the 57-year old Johannes Brahms retired from composing, telling a friend that he “had achieved enough” and was looking forward to “a carefree old age [he] could enjoy in peace.” Only months later, he heard the clarinetist Richard Mhlfeld perform Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and Weber’s Clarinet Concerto, and was so taken with Mhlfeld’s virtuosity and musicality that he came out of retirement and composed his Clarinet Trio, Clarinet Quintet, and two Clarinet Sonatas, all dedicated to Mhlfeld.

The majority of the clarinet part of Mhlfeldtnze (“Mhlfeld Dances”) is comprised of licks and passages from Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet — at times quoted verbatim, at times slightly altered — recontextualized in a syncopated, jazz-inspired, dance-like framework.

Mhlfeldtnze was commissioned by the Aaron Copland House and the Hoff-Barthelson Music School.