Bradbury / Davies - Art Of The Clarinettist - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The two concertos are distinguished by their classical musical language rich in ideas and their colorful instrumentation. Eberl's music radiates with a lightness similar to that of Mozart, which is why the later confusion about the authorship of their works comes as no surprise. The piano part has a glistening and brilliant sound, while the orchestra forms a richly instrumented accompaniment. The melodic invention and harmonic structure are of timeless beauty. This is what klassik. Com wrote of the Vol. 1 featuring the piano concertos of Anton Eberl. Vol. 2 with his Concerto for Two Pianos op. 45, a work highly esteemed by his contemporaries, has a stylistic design adhering to the ideals of Viennese classicism and stands out for it's multifaceted instrumentation. Eberl too seemed to have had a high opinion of this work. Whenever it was possible, he performed it during his concert tours throughout Germany, for example, in Berlin with Giacomo Meyerbeer, who was not even fifteen years old at the time. The also includes the two Sonatas for Piano Four Hands op. 7, works proving to be very demanding in their piano parts as well as in their compositional structure.

The clarinet is the most versatile of all wind instruments, able to express warmth, brilliance, passion and elegy. All facets of the clarinet are represented here, unified by the English school.

Though it has a relatively short history, the clarinet is one of the most glamorous and tonally alluring of all instruments. It's origins lie in the effective but primitive chalumeau, which slowly developed through technical advances into the instrument of range, purity and flexibility that we know today. Leading performers inspired the greatest composers of their times to write imperishable masterpieces for the new instrument, exploiting it's fullest range, whether incarnating the swagger and opulence of an operatic diva, the autumnal lyricism of a poet, or the utmost in virtuoso bravura.