Chicago Classical Review

Charles Martin Loeffler composed the Octet for Two Clarinets, Harp, Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass in 1897. The work was lost to history until scholar-clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson unearthed the manuscript in the Library of Congress in 2020.

Johnson reconstructed the score, recorded it in 2024, and has been touring it around the country in a series of local premieres. Loeffler’s work was presented to a Chicago audience for the first time Friday night at the Logan Center for the Arts as part of UChicago Presents, almost 130 years after it was written.

Loeffler came to the United States in 1881 at the age of 20, joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra as assistant concertmaster the following year. The BSO consistently performed the German-born Loeffler’s works in the early decades of the 20^th century, and the composer’s obituary would refer to him as the “dean of American composers” upon his death in 1935.

Though German by birth, Loeffler assumed a French-Alsatian identity following his emigration from Europe. As Johnson noted in his thoughtful remarks, this left Loeffler too European for the burgeoning American musical tradition and too American for the European one, contributing in part to his relative present-day obscurity. Nonetheless, as Johnson also observed, Loeffler’s oeuvre complicates any tidy narrative of American music as grounded in Copland and Gershwin, and deserves to be better integrated into our national musical heritage.

Loeffler’s dual French and German background suffuses his Octet, which feels like the Brahms Serenades meet Debussy. The opening Allegro moderato is richly melodic, with spacious themes punctuated with moments of piquant modal harmonies in the harp. The Adagio molto pulses with heart-on-sleeve expression, with Loeffler’s craftsmanship on display in his organic instrumental writing for the offbeat ensemble.

The Andante introduction of the closing movement is launched with a viola solo that recalls Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet before segueing into the snappy dotted rhythms of a dark-hued Allegro alla Zingara. A cinematic theme soars between clarinet and violin, though the episodic progression felt somewhat harder to grasp here.

Led by Johnson himself on first clarinet and first violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, the eight musicians–rounded out by several Chicago-area freelancers–gave stellar advocacy to this resurrected work, with harpist Charles Overton’s fluent arpeggiation bringing its singular sonorities to life.

As an encore, Johnson and Overton offered an arrangement of Loeffler’s song “Timbres Oubliés” (Forgotten Sounds), also the title of Johnson’s widely acclaimed 2024 recording of the Octet. The pair gave a gracious reading of this inward aria which continued to showcase Loeffler’s mélange of Germanic romanticism and shimmering French textures.

The first half provided context for the Loeffler premiere.

The evening opened on the French side of the equation with Francis Poulenc’s first work of chamber music, the aphoristic Sonata for Two Clarinets from 1919, with Johnson and colleague Zachary Good. Antic outer movements frame a noirish Andante, where Poulenc creates a mournful atmosphere with just two treble lines. Johnson and Good gave an assertive reading, and if the compact seven-minute work is almost over before it starts, it gives a palpable whiff of the greatness to come from the French enfant terrible.

Loeffler’s German background was then amply represented with the Brahms Clarinet Quintet. Loeffler studied violin with the great Joseph Joachim, a close friend of Brahms who performed in the Clarinet Quintet’s premiere.

Friday’s Brahms performance felt like a work in progress. Often unsettled pitch and arbitrary balances kept the essential autumnal qualities of late Brahms from ever manifesting, resulting in a generalized, workmanlike impression. While the reading was capable enough, the interpretive approach did not seem worked out, and the sprawling work’s narrative thread was often lost. It is easy to understand that the bulk of the group rehearsal energies may have been devoted to Loeffler.

UChicago Presents hosts CSO Chamber Music performing the Brahms and Beethoven Trios for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, the Allegro from Schoenfield’s Café Music, and Martinů’s Suite from La revue de cuisine 3 p.m. Sunday at Mandel Hall. chicagopresents.uchicago.edu

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