Schubert Consort Amsterdam & Henk de Graaf - Krommer: Clarinet Quartet, Op. 83 and Quintet, Op. 95 (2015)

Tracklist

01. Clarinet Quartet, Op. 83 in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro
02. Clarinet Quartet, Op. 83 in B-Flat Major: II. Andante
03. Clarinet Quartet, Op. 83 in B-Flat Major: III. Minuetto moderato, trio
04. Clarinet Quartet, Op. 83 in B-Flat Major: IV. Rondo
05. Clarinet Quintet, Op. 95 in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro moderato
06. Clarinet Quintet, Op. 95 in B-Flat Major: II. Adagio
07. Clarinet Quintet, Op. 95 in B-Flat Major: III. Minuetto allegretto
08. Clarinet Quintet, Op. 95 in B-Flat Major: IV. Allegro



Op.83 is the last of the six quartets written by Franz Krommer (as now we call him) for the instrument that he did so much to promote in its infancy, the clarinet. He was born Frantisek Vincent Kramar was born in 1759 in the Moravian town of Kamenice, a heritage that goes some way to explaining the seemingly endless flow of good-humoured, well-made melodies that sprang from his pen and are so ideally suited to the liquid flow of the clarinet’s tone. Krommer was one of the most successful of the many influential Czech composers in Vienna at the turn of the 18th century. With the exception of piano works, lieder and operas, Krommer cultivated all the musical genres of his time, and was regarded (with Haydn) as the leading composer of string quartets, and as a serious rival of Beethoven.

He is perhaps best known now for his clarinet concertos, to which his quartets including the instrument form a not insubstantial pendant: they, too, are full of virtuosic writing for the instrument, who placed forward in a soloistic position, with the string parts mostly moving together to accompany it. In the late Clarinet Quintet, however, the instruments enjoy a more equal balance of the kind familiar from Brahms’s chamber music for the instrument: indeed, in the opening movement’s fugue, the clarinet is the last voice to enter. Here the harmonies are cloudier, more Romantically inclined, and a more reflective spirit presides even in the quick outer movements: there is a rapt and melancholic Andante which deserves far greater popularity.
These new recordings come from Dutch instrumentalists who have specialised in this repertoire. As principal clarinettist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for many years, Henk de Graaf has recorded Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (as soloist) and much chamber music from the late-Classical/Early Romantic period by Crusell, Weber, Spohr and others.

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