Bernhard Henrik Crusell - Clarinet Concerto No.3 in B flat-major, Op.11 (c. 1828)

Picture: Marcus Larson - Dramatiskt forslandskap med figurer och kvarnbyggnader

Bernhard Henrik Crusell (15 October 1775 – 28 July 1838) was a Swedish-Finnish clarinetist, composer and translator, "the most significant and internationally best-known Finnish-born classical composer and indeed, — the outstanding Finnish composer before Sibelius".

Work: Clarinet Concerto No.2 in F-minor, Op.5 (c. 1817) Dedicated to Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden and Norway

Mov.I: Allegro risoluto 00:00
Mov.II: Andante moderato 10:20
Mov.III: Alla Polacca 16:43

Clarinet: Per Billman

Orchestra: Uppsala Kammarorkester

Conductor: Gérard Korsten

The third of Crusell's clarinet concertos, the Concerto in B flat major, Opus 11, was published in 1828 and dedicated to Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden and Norway. It is an earlier composition than the Concerto in F minor and seemingly dates from 1807.

The soloist enters at once with the orchestra, adding its own element to the first dozen bars or so, before the orchestra is left to pursue its own course. An ascending arpeggio introduces the solo entry proper, after which the thematic material is fully explored, with all the resources of the solo instrument.

The E flat major slow movement, as so often, uses a theme that starts with the notes of the tonic chord. There is room for a cadenza and for a show of technical virtuosity that always remains subservient to the music itself.

The concerto ends with an Alla polacca movement, its varied rhythmic figuration again characteristic of clarinet writing of the period, of the work of Spohr and of Weber, although it is Crusell himself, who, as a remarkable performer, knows above all how to integrate technical with musical possibilities.