Diverse & eclectic: Peter Cigleris & Amaia Quartet in clarinet quintets by Mozart & the 20th century English composer David Gow

Silhouette of the clarinettist Anton Stadler
For whom Mozart wrote the Clarinet Quintet

David Gow, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mozart; Peter Cigleris, Amaia Quartet; Conway Hall Sunday Concerts
Reviewed 8 June 2025

Clarinet quintets by Mozart and David Gow, who studied with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music, paired with compact quartets by Beethoven and Shostakovich in this fascinating and diverse programme

On Sunday 8 June 2025, the Amaia Quartet (Alexandra Lomeiko, Milan Berginc, George White, Molly McWhirter) were joined by clarinettist Peter Cigleris at Conway Hall Sunday Concerts for a fascinating programme that including clarinet quintets by the 20th century English composer David Gow and Mozart, plus Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 1 in C, Op.49 and Beethoven's Quartet No. 11 in F minor 'Serioso'. Beforehand, I gave a pre-concert talk introducing the music and looking at the history of the basset clarinet for which Mozart wrote his quintet.

David Gow studied with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music and went on to spend most of his working life teaching. Much of his music dates from the final 20 years of his life, but he had success early and his Quintet No.2 from 1947 is in the collection at Conway Hall. The work is in three short movements, the first began with a stirring unison and then alternated between passages of complex, edgy counterpoint and passages where the tempo eased off and the music became more thoughtful. There was a restless feel to the movement, along with that sense of edge in the harmony. The serious middle movement focused on a long-breathed clarinet melody against a backdrop of intense, sustained strings. Eventually the melody was taken up by the other players and at one point there was a moment of pure RVW with a clarinet melody against trembling strings. The vigorous opening of the final movement led to fast and perky music that was furiously busy.

Beethoven's Serioso Quartet was the last of his middle period quartets. Written in 1810, the premiere was delayed until 1814 because of Napoleon's invasion of Vienna, and then Beethoven would wait until 1824 to return to the quartet genre. The Serioso is a short, compact work where Beethoven experimented somewhat.  The Amaia Quartet made the opening urgent and intense, with great use of silence. This alternated with quieter, more held-back passages, and the contrast continued into the development where we had remarkable strength alternating with moments of quiet. The gentle lyricism of the flowing second movement also featured interesting use of counterpoint, whilst the crisp vigour of the scherzo developed a rather questioning feel with contrast in the two graceful trios. The opening of the finale was gentle yet rather intense and slightly tentative, before the music really got going with a strong sense of impulse and urgency, ending up fast and furious.

After the interval came Shostakovich's Quartet No. 1, written at the time he withdrew his Symphony No. 4 and was under intense scrutiny. The quartet is apparently simple, yet each movement had an underlying sense of disturbance or questioning. The opening was graceful and intimate, with spicy hints in the harmony that developed into more of a sense of character and mystery. A solo viola introduced the mellow melancholy of a folk-like theme that Shostakovich used as a basis for variations that moved between intensity, gracefulness and mystery. The third movement was fast and furious, yet urgent and quiet with a graceful, almost dancing middle section. The finale was insouciant yet busy, developing energy and vigour with all hell letting loose at the end.

Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is so iconic, and so consummate in its style that we tend to forget that it had revolutionary elements, pairing an experimental version (the basset clarinet) of a relatively new instrument (the clarinet) with strings in way hardly done before. The opening movement had a civilised grace to it with a seemingly effortless question and answer between Cigleris' clarinet and the strings. Cigleris played with a lovely liquid tone, and long-breathed sense to his phrasing, the movement developed into a fine, intimate sense of conversation. There were moments of darkness in the development, but things returned to more even keel in the recapitulation. The slow movement featured long, smooth clarinet lines against string support, with the hushed recapitulation bringing real magic. The minuet felt robust, almost matter of fact, with urgently appealing strings in the first trio and an engaging country dance in the second. The final was perky, almost cheeky at first, with graceful moments, a lovely minor variation focusing on George White's viola, some fabulous passagework and a jaunty final variation.

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