Quintet for clarinet and strings is a piece of chamber music by the American composer Douglas Moore.
In 1946, the Juilliard School of Music requested from Moore a chamber piece to be performed at a school concert the following year. He worked at and finished the piece during the summer of 1946 at his home in Cutchogue. The premiere was given the following year.
The work is in traditional sonata form

Sonata form

Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...

 and consists of four movements

Construction

Allegro risoluto
The first movement is the most dynamic and is chiefly dominated by a tensely rhythmic figure achieved by a triplet

Tuplet

In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...

 laid over a duplet. This duality of rhythm becomes most obvious when the two components are handled by different instruments, but the combination and tension that is achieved gives this movement its impetus

Andante comodo
The second movement is considerably relaxed in mood and is introduced by a melodic figure on violin which becomes the contrapuntal background to the main theme, first given by clarinet. The theme subsequently continues throughout the piece.

Adagio recitativo
The shortest movement of the quintet, it commences with a brooding soliloquy

Soliloquy

A soliloquy is a device often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone. Soliloquy is distinct from monologue and...

 on clarinet accompanied by the viola which is the picked up by the remaining strings and is allowed to fade out.

Allegro ritmico
The finale consists of a robust, dancing and peasant-like refrain of shifting rhythm which alternates in the fashion of a rondo with contrasting material. It is the quintet's most joyful movement.

Reception

The clarinet quintet was quite favourably received upon its first performance and the New York Herald Tribune

New York Herald Tribune

The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...

 praised its: "Spontaneous lyricism, expert craftmanship and utter freedom from stylistic mannerisms"
It is Moore's most famous and popular chamber piece and has received (as of 2006) at least two commercial recordings.