Mozart / Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 (Antony Pay)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 (1789) 00:00 - Allegro 10:00 - Larghetto 17:30 - Menuetto 25:10 - Allegretto con variazioni Performed by members of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble (1980). Clarinet - Antony Pay Violin I - Iona Brown Violin II - Malcolm Latchem Viola - Stephen Shingles Violoncello - Denis Vigay “[The] Quintet for clarinet and string quartet of the last Vienna period, the so-called Stadler Quintet, K. 581, [dates] from the end of September 1789. Mozart himself called it (8 April 1790) 'Stadler's Quintet.' Here is a chamber-music work of the finest kind, even though the clarinet predominates as 'primus inter pares' and is treated as if Mozart were the first to discover its charm, its 'soft, sweet breath,' its clear depth, its agility. There is no dualism here between solo and accompaniment, only fraternal rivalry. The term 'fraternal' is