Stamitz Cello

Wolfram Christ can be a boring performer (witness a deadpan Berlioz Harold in Italy with Maazel), but these works seem to suit him perfectly. The J.C. Bach Concerto (is *that* really J.C. Bach???) is quite splashy, especially witness the final movement. It's very exciting, and definitely worth exploring, with a tuneful first movement, and a lovely second. The first theme of I comes back to haunt in III, making it a "cyclical" work.

Carl Stamitz’s Clarinet Quartets Op. 8 and Op. 19 are amongst the earliest compositions for clarinet and string trio and document the increasing significance of the clarinet in the second half of the 18th century. These quartets demonstrate Stamitz’s profound understanding of the instrument and also allow an illuminating insight into his idiom. With his sensitive interpretations, Arthur Campbell emphasises the cantabile quality of the clarinet, which dominates all the quartets recorded on this SACD.

Though much of his life was devoted to opera, Dittersdorf was obviously a string player at heart; and no eighteenth-century string player could get far without writing a fair ration of concertos. Nor did the concertos have to be exclusively for the violin. Vivaldi might not have been much impressed, but the rest of us can take joy in Dittersdorf's more eccentric choices of soloist from time to time. A bass concerto, for example! Here is something for the library, as Hörtnagel steers his rather broad-beamed ship through previously uncharted channels, disclosing in the process some uncannily in-tune double stopping, as well as some resourceful and effective harmonics (and as well an occasional difference of opinion with the conductor about suitable tempo).

A mere dozen or so printed viola concertos are known of from the Viennese Classical era, contrasting with countless violin, cello, and flute concertos. There can be only one explanation for this: there were relatively few players available of truly virtuoso ability. Alongside two emblematic viola concertos of the time, those by Hoffmeister and Stamitz, this album includes the 1802 transcription for viola of Mozart’s A major clarinet concerto.

Franz Krommer (alias Frantisek Kramár) was born in Moravia three years after Mozart and died in Vienna four years after Beethoven, setting him firmly within the Classical period. His substantial output included a good deal of orchestral and chamber music, as well as works for the piano and the Church. In his time, his string quartets were highly regarded, and he was considered by some as a rival to Beethoven. The modern age has tended to regard him as a petit maître whose music is fluent and skilful without being especially memorable.

In Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s catalogue, the music for solo keyboard and the chamber music occupy central positions. In his youth, Carl Philipp Emanuel, who was left-handed, did not play string instruments such as the violin or viola, but rather the harpsichord and organ (not to overlook the flute). It was as a harpsichordist that, in 1738, he joined the entourage of the future King of Prussia, Frederick II, before following him to Berlin upon his accession two years later and then formally entering his service. In 1767, he was offered the succession of his godfather, Telemann, as director of music in Hamburg. He arrived in the Hanseatic city in March 1768, and for the last twenty years of his life, it was church music that occupied much of his time and effort.