Clarinet Quintet in C minor, 2nd movement: Scherzo: Presto con confuso (Remastered final version)

Hi! I am continuing my revision on my old work. This is the 2nd movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago and I'm revising it. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio!

To me this is probably the worst movement in the piece, but only because it's the most one dimensional one: After the discovery of despair in the 1st movement, I started to fall into confusion and craziness of despair. Ironically this movement is written in a neat Sonata form with the structure presented below:

0:00 First subject, exposition. Start right from the despair Eb-D-C-B motive in quick Scherzo time to represent the fury and confusion of despair. Clarinet joins in 0:31, still playing at the despair motive, and in 0:33 the whirling figure using despair motive signifying the confusion is introduced.

1:27 Transition, exposition. I like this pizz. theme myself for how sarcastic it is.

2:34 Second subject, exposition. In F minor. A more "reasonable" theme finally with major keys visited, although finally succumbed to the confusing despair. I always go to F minor instead of G minor for the secondary key of a C minor movement for its darkness.

3:46 Development. Continue with the confusion by quickly modulating to different keys. I really love the 3:59 passage with a Brahmsian turn to a German sixth chord in 4:09! The fury ends with a "transcended" sadness in Neapolitan C# minor in 5:20 with a clarinet solo, but sarcastically laughed off by pizzicato strings in another Brahmsian German sixth.

5:49 First subject, recapitulation. Excitement reduced after a suffocating development. In 6:02 obviously I learn from Beethoven's 5th for that famous solo oboe passage. I love how fierce it is in 6:38.

6:47 Transition, recapitulation. Shorter than exposition's transition. I hate exact repetitions.

7:25 Second subject, recapitulation. Same as the one in exposition except in tonic key. Notice how relative major Eb major is finally used with some emphasis for the very first time in the piece, as the confrontation of B flat carried by E flat major and B natural by C minor of the despair motive would be the main battlefield later on.

8:38 Coda. One last cry and I am exhausted by the despair, thus ends the movement in tired pizzicato chords. Only with this exhaustion do I have the motivation to excavate the true reason behind the despair, which would be the main theme for the 3rd movement.

Here is the score and youtube video of the movement :

(For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final Version 20260707.pdf

Harmonically I deliberately play with chord progression of augmented triad keys to reinforce that particular chord both horizontally and vertically, as well as resonating with the despair motive.

Hope you enjoy this one and offer some critique to the movement!

P.S. This is the 1st movement of the remastered version of the work:

Henry

Some interesting key changes throughout the piece with fun and playful motives. My favorite part by far is around the 4:20 section. Beautiful melody here shared between the clarinet and the cello with some nice key changing here as well. The fast pace of the scherzo is fun but not overwhelming, especially since you break up the pace a bit especially at around 5:30. BTW, the part at around 5:30 to 5:40 reminds me of Chopin followed by Tchaikovsky!

Oh, and 7:30 is a great part as well! I feel like you intertwine your melodies in this section which is definitely more Beethoven-esque. But this is a fantastic movement, I definitely hear influences of your other works in this piece.