Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas Nos.1 & 2, Op. 120 & 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117 – Nicola Boud & Anthony Romaniuk

This recording brings together two late masterworks by Brahms: the Op. 120 Clarinet Sonatas and the Op. 117 Intermezzi for piano, written in the tranquil setting of Bad Ischl. The sonatas, full of tenderness and quiet intensity, were composed for clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, whose warm, lyrical playing reignited Brahms’s desire to compose after a period of silence. This is music of dialogue, not declaration. Nicola Boud and Anthony Romaniuk perform on instruments close to those Brahms and Mühlfeld would have known: a replica of Mühlfeld’s 19th-century boxwood clarinet and an 1875 Steinway piano. These choices bring a soft, transparent quality to the sound, inviting a more intimate listening experience. Expressive tools of 19th-century performance: rubato, flexibility, arpeggiation, are used not as effects, but as natural extensions of the music’s emotional landscape.
Brahms once called the Op. 117 Intermezzi “three lullabies of my grief.” These restrained yet luminous pieces distil his late style into elegiac monologues, offering quiet spaces where time feels suspended.
Together, these warm, reflective and deeply emotional works offer a glimpse into Brahms’ final years.