• What: Vancouver Symphony concert. The Mercadal brothers perform Krommer’s “Concerto for Two Clarinets and Orchestra.”
• When: 3 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Skyview High School Concert Hall, 1300 N.W. 139th St., Vancouver.
• Cost: $50 for reserved seats, $35 for general admission, $30 for seniors and $10 for students.
• Information: 360-735-7278 or visit vancouversymphony.org
Concertos for two clarinets are few and far between. Many composers get around to writing a concerto for one clarinet, but for two? That’s a rare thing. So this weekend, the Vancouver Symphony will collaborate with two virtuosos from Spain, Juanjo and Tolo Mercadal, to perform a delightful double clarinet concerto by Franz Krommer.
Krommer was a Czech composer who composed nine symphonies and 70 string quartets but became well-known for his wind instrument writing. He spent most of his career in Vienna, where he held a number of conducting jobs.
In 1815, Krommer completed the “Concerto for Two Clarinets and Orchestra” (Opus 91). It was his second double clarinet concerto and is considered more difficult than the first one (Opus 35), which he wrote 10 years earlier. Both concertos are light and playful audience-pleasers.
• What: Vancouver Symphony concert. The Mercadal brothers perform Krommer's "Concerto for Two Clarinets and Orchestra."
• When: 3 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Skyview High School Concert Hall, 1300 N.W. 139th St., Vancouver.
• Cost: $50 for reserved seats, $35 for general admission, $30 for seniors and $10 for students.
• Information: 360-735-7278 or visit vancouversymphony.org
“The whole concerto is a lot of fun to play,” Juanjo Mercadal said. “It includes very simple melodic lines that alternate between the two solo parts. The lines progressively become more complicated with a great profusion of scales and arpeggios, which are very adequate and appropriate means for the clarinet. Also, textures are created, and they are enriched by passages that move in thirds and octaves.”
While the fleetness of the outer movements of the Krommer will tickle listeners’ ears, the slow music may linger with the audience afterwards.
“Clearly from a musical standpoint,” noted Juanjo, “the most interesting part of this concerto is the second movement, which features sentimentalism and expression in the pure sense through beautiful melodies.”
The double clarinet concerto goes beyond technical prowess, such as fancy finger work in the fast passages, to challenge the soloists.
“The Krommer concerto is a challenge for the soloists because it requires good ensemble work,” explained Juanjo. “It is crucial to achieve the unification in the musical forms, including articulations, expression, and tuning. It must all come together to build the musical discourse, and it needs good orchestra support.”
Juanjo and Tolo are brothers. Juanjo, the older brother, lives just north of Barcelona in the city of Sant Cugat del Vallès, where he teaches clarinet and is the clarinet soloist for the Symphony Orchestra of the Grand Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona’s opera house). Tolo lives in the town of Maó in Menorca, one of the five Balearic Islands, which belong to Spain. He is a professor of clarinet at the Conservatory of Music in Menorca and owns a company called Arixa Clarinets that specializes in making the barrel portion of the clarinet. For the VSO concert, the brothers will play clarinets that have Arixa barrels.
Another nifty tidbit about this concert is that it will be the second time that the Mercadal brothers have played Krommer’s double clarinet concerto with the Vancouver Symphony. They played it with the orchestra in 1997 with Music Director Salvador Brotons conducting.
To top it all off, Juanjo and Tolo Mercadal are brothers-in-law of Brotons, because he is married to their sister Melissa Brotons.
“I have worked with Juanjo and Tolo many times,” noted Brotons. “They are wonderful musicians. I recently collaborated with Juanjo as the soloist for performances with the Sofia Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria.”
In addition to the Krommer, Brotons has programmed Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, which is one of his favorite symphonic works.
“The Tchaikovsky Fifth is a very spectacular symphony, very emotional,” noted Brotons, “and it is an appropriate piece to end the season because of its brightness. Audiences love this work.”
Written in 1888, the Tchaikovsky Fifth consists of four movements, and it usually takes anywhere from 45 to 50 minutes to play, depending upon the choice of tempos that the conductor chooses.
“The second movement is one of the most beautiful movements even written by Tchaikovsky,” remarked Brotons. “But one of the best things about the symphony is the obsessive fate leitmotif — a dark theme — that appears in each movement and how Tchaikovsky deals with it.”
One of the striking qualities of Brotons’ conducting is his ability to memorize an entire score, and he will probably do that with the Tchaikovsky.
“I memorize scores by studying the music a lot and having a very precise idea of the internal phrase structure and the general conception of the piece,” explained Brotons. “It is not easy, but some scores are easier than others.”
The concert, which concludes Brotons’ 24th season with the orchestra, will also feature a piece that was selected by the audience based on works played earlier in the season.
