Around the World in Eighty Pieces – #5 Liechtenstein
Welcome to my new series, Around the World in Eighty Pieces! I’m excited to combine my love of travelling and clarinet repertoire by sharing a clarinet composition I “discovered” in each country.
This series is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the clarinet music from each country; rather, this is an appetizer to ignite your curiosity to learn more about the music, repertoire, and clarinet cultures of each place.
I love learning about other clarinet music from around the world, so please contact me or leave a comment with other pieces you would like to share.
Liechtenstein is a micronation in Europe with a population of close to forty thousand (and about twice as many tourists annually). I visited Vaduz, the capital, back in 2017 on a day trip from Zurich.
There are several fun pieces of trivia about Liechtenstein:
- It’s one of the only two doubly land-locked nations in the world
- It’s the world’s leading manufacturer of false teeth
- All residents are invited to an annual party at Vaduz Castle on the national holiday
- It might be the only country that returned from war with more soldiers than when they began (read the account here)
So, you might be thinking that for such a small country, surely there’s no clarinet music here. Wrong!
One of my absolute favorite hidden gems of the clarinet repertoire is by Liechtenstein’s most favorite composer, Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901). His Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 105a is a stunning example of gorgeous Romantic music for the clarinet, demonstrating its lyrical and technical capabilities. Listen to my performance of this beautiful piece of lesser-known clarinet repertoire.
Rheinberger moved from Vaduz to Bavaria, where he spent most of his life and career. There is a statue and plaque in Vaduz in his honor, and you can see some photos I took:
After my trip to Liechtenstein, I researched other clarinet compositions from this country. Here is a list of what I found (although I don’t have music or recordings for any of these):
- Jürg Hanselmann Sonata for clarinet in A and piano (2016) – It appears that this composer has also written a few trios for clarinet and various instruments
Although Liechtenstein is geographically small, there is an active classical and popular music scene here. If you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend a visit to this beautiful micronation!