Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas; Piano Pieces Op 118/ Lorenzo Coppola (clarinet), Andreas Staier (piano) | Album Review

As a performer Brahms switched loyalty from Viennese pianos (though he played a Streicher at home) to the technically more advanced and stronger sounding instruments being made by Bechstein and Steinway.

Andreas Staier uses an 1875 Steinway to partner Lorenzo Coppola’s copy of a Bärmann Ottensteiner boxwood clarinet, the type played by Richard Mühlfeld, the musician who inspired Brahms’s late chamber works, and who was nicknamed ‘Miss Clarinet’ by the grateful composer.

Neither instrument has the finely tailored focus of their modern counterparts, and Staier and Coppola’s characterful playing seeks out muted shadings, blends and balances that constantly surprise the ear.