Max Reger, Johanna Senfter: Clarinet Quintets Kilian Herold & Armida Quartett

• Max Reger (1873 1916): Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 146:
• 1 Reger: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 146: I. Moderato ed amabile 10:04
• 2 Reger: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 146: II. Vivace 06:06
• 3 Reger: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 146: III. Largo 08:28
• 4 Reger: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, Op. 146: IV. Poco allegretto 09:55
• Johanna Senfter (1879 - 1961): Clarinet Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 119:
• 5 Senfter: Clarinet Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 119: I. Munter 06:17
• 6 Senfter: Clarinet Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 119: II. Langsam 07:16
• 7 Senfter: Clarinet Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 119: III. Lustig, nicht zu schnell 06:13
• Total Runtime 54:19

Info for Max Reger, Johanna Senfter: Clarinet Quintets

In March of 1908, 27-year-old Johanna Senfter went “on a pilgrimage” to visit Max Reger in Leipzig. Having studied piano and violin at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main, she now wanted to learn composition. Reger, only six years her elder, had been in charge of a masterclass for musical composition at Leipzig Royal Conservatory for only a year.

Johanna Senfter started by taking private lessons from him. Ten years later, she recalled their first meeting. “The private lessons I had with him are the most stimulating experience I have had until now. Reger was very demanding.”

Max Reger was indeed a strict teacher who expected his students to apply the same uncompromising work ethic as he did himself…………

Moreover, for clarinetist Kilian Herold, this recording fulfills a long-cherished dream. “Clarinetists love Reger’s Quintet. It’s a particularly beautiful piece”, he adds. “Reger places himself in direct succession to Mozart and Brahms: the Quintet is densely woven, but also utterly transparent – a work bathed in light, full of color, relaxed and released from all anxiety.”

As far as Kilian Herold is concerned, Johanna Senfter’s quintet serves as a thoroughly fitting counterpart to Reger. It is “likewise gorgeous music, and the listener can tell that it comes in a line of descent from Reger.” Johanna Senfter felt that way herself after Reger’s death: “With all my heartfelt gratitude and admiration, he will remain in my memory. In any case, all the beauty and goodness I received from him will continue to work in me.” (Excerpt from the booklet liner notes by Almut Ochsmann)

Kilian Herold, clarinet
Armida Quartett

Kilian Herold
A versatile chamber musician, renowned soloist and distinguished orchestral musician, Kilian Herold is one of the most interesting and versatile clarinettists of his generation. After holding positions as principal clarinetist with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the SWR Symphony Orchestra, he was appointed professor of clarinet at the Freiburg University of Music in 2016, where he oversees an internationally successful clarinet class.

Kilian Herold is also a frequent guest on the solo clarinet with top orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

His great passion is chamber music. He regularly performs at various festivals and concert series with musical partners such as Tanja Tetzlaff, Tianwa Yang, Maximilian Hornung, Florian Donderer, Hansjacob Staemmler and the Armida Quartet.

Kilian Herold is also very interested in expanding the classical repertoire for his instrument. Some of these discoveries are documented on various excellent CD productions, released in recent years on the CAvi label

Armida Quartett
is at the top of its game. The Strad, May 2022.

Winning the ARD International Competition in 2012 (also sweeping all other prizes including the audience prize) propelled the Armida Quartet on to the international concert platform. After concerts and radio recordings as BBC New Generation Artists (2014-16) and subsequently as ECHO Rising Stars (2016/17), the musicians have established themselves as regular guests in the best-known chamber music halls in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

In addition to regular appearances at European festivals such as the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Rheingau Musik Festival, the quartet has enjoyed great success at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, and London‘s Wigmore Hall, among others. Highlights of the 2022/23 season include appearances at Beethovenfest Bonn, Schubertiade Hohenems, Heidelberg String Quartet Festival and in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Acclaimed for their musical unity, which is evident in their fine-tuned sound and timing as well as their shared breaths, the musicians also emphasise their commitment to quartet playing with their choice of ensemble name: Armida refers to an opera by the composer Joseph Haydn, who is consi- dered the “father of the string quartet“. They studied with former members of the Artemis Quartet and with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet); they owe further important impulses to Reinhard Goebel, Alfred Brendel, Marek Janowski, and Tabea Zimmermann.

The Armida Quartet places a special focus on the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The third album of the complete recordings of his string quartets for CAvi-music was described as ground- breaking for Mozart interpretation in the 21st century (Klassik Heute). Fono Forum recently praised the fine nuances in sound, dynamics and articulation, saying the recording (Vol. IV) set new standards (March 2022).

The ensemble pursues its passion for Mozart, among other things, in its own concert series “Mozart Exploded“, in which each of the composer‘s string quartets are combined with masterpieces of contemporary music and occasionally presented in experimental concert for- mats in Berlin. The series has already been enthusiastically received in New York as well.

In addition, the young musicians have cooperated with G. Henle Verlag, for whom they act as musical advisors for the new Urtext edition of the Mozart quartets, including their own fingerings and bowings made available for the associated Henle Library App. In doing so, the quartet is not only at the forefront of the latest technological developments, but also advocates for closer collaboration between performing artists and musicologists.

Booklet for Max Reger, Johanna Senfter: Clarinet Quintets