Brahms’s Clarinet: A Journey Through History and an Unexpectedly Mistuned Viola
The life of a musician is that of a time traveller, interweaving the past and present through evolving instruments and sound worlds. This research explores the Baermann-Ottensteiner clarinet associated with Brahms’s time and its potential influence on the performance of his clarinet sonatas. By examining differences in timbre, key systems, fingering and phrasing between historical and modern clarinets, the project considers how knowledge of the instrument’s development can inform contemporary performance.
The Brahms sonatas also exist in viola versions, opening a parallel investigation into the viola’s relationship with the clarinet sound world. Through scordatura, the viola can be retuned to alter its timbre, sympathetic resonance and technical relationship with the sonatas, while historical bows offer another dimension of performance practice. Bringing these instruments and histories into dialogue, the project reflects on musical inheritance, evolving performance practices and what it means to engage with the heritage embedded in Brahms’s music.
Assoc Prof Andrew Filmer
Dr Andrew Filmer is a musicologist and violist whose work spans performance, research, teaching and arts leadership. He is Associate Professor at the Institute of Music, UCSI University, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). He has received commendations and prizes across teaching, public speaking, research, performance and leadership.
Andrew has presented at six International Viola Congresses and is a former Editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society. His research has been presented twice at the University of Cambridge, where he was a scholar-in-residence in 2023.
UCSI University
Kenny Lim Yong Jia
Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Technology and Management
Kenny Lim Yong Jia is a Malaysian clarinettist, educator and researcher. He holds a BA in Performance from Middlesex University London and an MMus in Music Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he studied with Janet Hilton, Robert Plane, John Cooper, Timothy Lines and Alison Lambert.
A recipient of the 2015 Malaysian ABRSM Winds Prize, Kenny has performed with ensembles including the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Winds of Malaysia and VIRAMA Ensemble. He is currently a lecturer at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology and a PhD candidate at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.