Guise, Jean François de - Quintet for Violin, Viola, Violon-cello, Bass Clarinet in Bb and Piano op. 17, No. 20

Guise Jean François de
Quintet
for Violin, Viola, Violoncello, Bass Clarinet in B and Piano
 op. 17, no. 20

A string trio amplified with bass clarinet and piano becomes a quintet, that was the intention of Jean François de Guise.
Does the string trio act independently of the two players or should it rather become a conglomerate of the possibilities of all?
This question is not quite as easy to answer as one might think.
As string trios have impressively demonstrated time and again, they are quite capable of playing in a multicolored and structurally rich manner and do not need any help. The piano, as a solo instrument, is also hardly suspected of needing amplification, unless it acts as an accompanist from the outset. Now there remains the bass clarinet. Although the clarinet per se has established itself in orchestras and as a solo instrument, it is still used as a secondary instrument. In the solo field there is a very special obstacle in that some works are not playable by all instrumentalists. In the development of construction technology, two systems emerged on an equal footing, the "German system" and the "French system" (Boehm clarinet). Due to the different number of keys and their different arrangement, it is often difficult to play the pieces. In the last decades clarinettists created works where this instrument also shows what it is capable of.
Various textbooks on modern playing techniques help to broaden the understanding of the instrument, but always refer to the respective system. Moreover, the success of the "little" sister cannot be easily transferred to the bass clarinet. Here, there is almost only orchestral literature, and these few works are not soloistically expressive. Jean François de Guise, however, uses the instrument a lot, probably also because the clarinet plays an important role within the family.
In this quintet the bass clarinet arranges everything and connects both "soloists" to a great whole without negating their own sound strengths. If one takes on this work, success becomes palpable as a reward.

violin, viola, violoncello, bass clarinet in Bb, piano
score & 5 parts / 62 pages