Krenek:
Serenade op. 4 for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello

Gal:
Serenade for clarinet

Penderecki:
Quartet for clarinet, violin, viola and cello

Ernst Krenek’s Serenade for Clarinet, violin, viola, and cello is heard a heard rarely work from 1919 that bridge late Romanticism and the dawn of Modernism.

There is much serenade-like charm in the graceful first movement, while the first of two slow movements sounds more modern and melancholy.

The Scherzo has a Walpurgis Night feel, before the fourth movement returns to a more reflective mood. This is followed by two fast movements full of contrast and energy. This outstandingly original composition can be heard on this album in a gripping, accentuated, very colorful and spontaneously rhetorical interpretation.

In this inspired interpretation, Hans Gal’s aven-movement Serenade does not sound as relaxed as the title might suggest. It consists of an imaginative cantabile, an energetic burletta, a serena-like intermezzo, and a lively giocoso at the end.

Kilian Herold, Florian Donderer, Barbara Buntrock and Tanja Tetzlaff then perform Penderecki's Clarinet Quartet of 1993, not really a serenade-like work, which is here is here in wonderfully a well-forming and transparent interpretation. Especially the two slow movements, the plaintive Adagio and the sad Farewell-Larghetto, really get your skin.

The way the quartet is played here is fabulous. The central movements, the Scherzo and the Serenade, are captivating, and while the Krenek Serenade may be a pleasant discovery for many listeners, this recording of Penderecki's Clarinet Quartet is the real highlight of this production.