Max Bruch's Concerto for Clarinet, Viola, and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 88, also known as the Double Concerto, is the only concerto written jointly for these two solo instruments. It is a late work by Bruch, dating from 1911, and an important piece in his repertoire. A transcription of the work for violin instead of clarinet, made by Bruch himself, also exists. The performance time is 20 to 22 minutes. Bruch wrote the concerto at the age of 73 for his son Max Felix, who was a clarinetist. It was premiered on March 5, 1912, in Wilhelmshaven, with Max Felix Bruch and Willy Hess as soloists.
Bruch had also written the Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op. 83, for Max Felix in 1910. These two compositions, like the Romance for Viola and Orchestra in F major, Op. 85, from 1912, are clear examples of Bruch's style, which had remained unchanged since his First Violin Concerto, written 40 years earlier, and was no longer considered contemporary.
The Double Concerto stands in the tradition of the concerto for multiple solo instruments, a tradition that originated in the Baroque era and continued to develop in the Classical and Romantic periods. Bruch composed it, as well as the Concerto for Two Pianos, Op. 88a, from 1915, still in a Romantic style, while his contemporaries were already experimenting with entirely new musical languages, with Schoenberg and Stravinsky as points of reference. Consequently, the concerto did not receive widespread acclaim after its premiere and was not published until 1942, more than 20 years after the composer's death. Since the late 1980s, it has been taken up by renowned musicians such as Yuri Bashmet on viola and Paul Meyer on clarinet, gradually gaining wider recognition. It is now considered a sonically appealing work, well worth performing.
Instrumentation:
The score calls for, in addition to the solo clarinet in A and the solo viola: two flutes, two oboes, one English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, and the usual strings.
The concerto consists of three movements:
