Cartellieri: Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in B flat; Clarinet Concerto No. 3 in E flat; Adagio pastorale

COMPOSERS: Cartellieri
LABELS: Dabringhaus und Grimm
WORKS: Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in B flat; Clarinet Concerto No. 3 in E flat; Adagio pastorale
PERFORMER: Dieter Klöcker (clarinet); Prague CO
CATALOGUE NO: MDG 301 0527-2

Great credit is due to Professor Dieter Klöcker, not only for his fine performances here, but also for his tireless research into composers who do not deserve the obscurity in which they languish. I confess to never having heard of Antonio Cartellieri (1772-1807), yet the music is of the highest order with imaginative orchestration and early anticipations of later techniques. The disc comprises two complete concertos, Nos 1 and 3, together with the only surviving movement of No. 2, an Adagio pastorale. This movement is especially interesting as the opening theme, heard on the clarinet in dialogue with timpani, was later used by Mendelssohn in his Clarinet Sonata of 1825. The slow movement of No. 3 includes a central interlude at a faster tempo, a device later taken up by Weber in his First Clarinet Concerto, though Cartellieri reverses the process in the finale by incorporating an adagio section. While these pieces clearly display the influence of both Haydn and Schubert, they are perhaps inevitably closest to the sound-world of the composer’s friend and colleague Beethoven. Klöcker, with very fine accompaniment from the excellent Prague Chamber Orchestra, plays with his usual effortless virtuosity, though I would prefer a wider range of tonal colourings. Tim Payne