Bruch: Double Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra, Op. 88

Max Bruch (1838-1920) enjoyed a long, successful and fruitful career as a composer and conductor, holding several important posts in Germany. His musical language is firmly rooted in the German Romantic Tradition of Schumann and Brahms, as opposed to the “New Music” of Liszt, Wagner and Mahler. Bruch wrote his works for clarinet at the end of his musical life, when he actually had declared that his “source of inspiration had dried up”. But the clarinet playing of his son Max Felix inspired him to write two substantial works featuring the clarinet: the beautiful and still neglected Double Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra Op. 88 and the substantial “8 Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano” Op. 83, delightful Character Pieces in the style of Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen. Giovanni Punzi is one of the foremost clarinet players of the young Italian generation. He played in the Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Verbier Festival Orchestra under conductors like Abbado, Gergiev, Muti, Gatti and Naga