PLEYEL, I.J.: Clarinet Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Sinfonia concertante in B flat major (Klocker)

Album review

Haydn's student Ignace Joseph Pleyel was nearly as prolific as his Austrian parents (he was one of 38 children), and not all of the various attempts to revive his work have found music worth reviving. His music remains mostly unknown, and instrumentalists and ensembles haven't sorted through it to find the gems. This effort by virtuoso German clarinetist Dieter Klöcker, who also wrote the rather abstract but cogent booklet notes, is one of the best contributions yet. The clarinet was a new instrument in Pleyel's time, and was undergoing rapid change. It is disappointing that the buyer does not learn exactly when these pieces were composed, but the Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in B flat major was named by an earlier clarinetist, Jost Michaels, as the most important concerto prior to that of Mozart, in 1791. The work has been transcribed here to B flat major, although it was published in 1799 for a C clarinet; Klöcker argues that the C major version had the purely commercial aim of being playable on a flute or cello as well. If the work was indeed composed before Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622, that makes it all the more remarkable, for it shares many features with that work, enough to make one question whether it might have served as Mozart's model. Consider the basic mood of all three movments, the treatment of the clarinet, which is asked to jump around its range between different legato passages, and the solo introduction to the lighthearted finale. The opening movement is impressive in its clever turns of harmony and smooth handling of an expansive structure, and Klöcker is superb throughout. The Clarinet Concerto No. 2, also in B flat, has a different structure with a big cadenza in the opening movement, a gorgeous slow movement borrowing the Mozartian device of assigning a long note to the soloist who hovers above chains of suspensions, and a brisk, opera-like finale. The only work in which Klöcker seems to imitate his mentor is the two-movement Sinfonia Concertante for two clarinets in B flat major, which, despite the two-soloist format, has the ebullient mood of Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major, H. 1/105, rather than of Mozart's sadder violin-and-viola work. Klöcker is ably backed by second clarinetist Sandra Arnold here, and the little-known, small Southwest German Chamber Orchestra of Pforzheim under Sebastian Tewinkel delivers a sweet sound in the mold of the old Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra from the same part of the world. Essential listening for wind players, this should also be heard by those who haven't yet bought into the importance of Pleyel or of exploring the minor composers of the Classical period in general. Downloaders will miss the enjoyable caricature of "Signor Clarinetto" on the back cover of the booklet.
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