Classical Music

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 specialized 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.

When Franz Krommer wrote the three wind partitas presented on this recording (between 1808 and 1810) the Harmonie-Musik tradition was waning, making these some of the last examples of this once widely-practiced genre. Scored for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons, they gain added ceremonial nobility with the addition of contra-bassoon. Listeners new to this music also will note the high, penetrating clarinet parts in C for the Op. 76 Partita and the many flamboyant arpeggio passages for second horn throughout Op. 69. Both techniques recall outdoor styles of the late 1700s.


These new performances by the Michael Thompson Wind Ensemble are of very high order and have been pleasingly recorded in a bright-sounding church acoustic that suits this extrovert music particularly well. This account of Op. 79 supplants an older analog version by the Nash Ensemble, with well-focused if quite closely miked sound and playing that's more technically refined and better blended. Op. 76 has been recorded previously by the Meyer Wind Ensemble for EMI, but that performance is outclassed here by superior playing and a brilliant sense of comedy. For an enticing sample, try the final Rondo! Highly recommended.
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Franz Krommer (1759-1831) was a first rate composer. As you can see, he was three years younger than Mozart, and outlived both Beethoven and Schubert. During that time, he wrote hundreds of instrumental works: chamber music, concertos, nine symphonies (No. 8 is missing), and the wind ensemble music on which his reputation now largely rests. Interestingly, he composed almost no vocal music. The quality of his output is very high: he really sounds like the natural successor to Haydn in many respects. His symphonies are almost exactly contemporary with Beethoven’s, and rather than sounding conservative or reactionary, we can hear them as part of an evolving tradition–different but not necessarily inferior.

Krommer’s idiom evolved as he aged. These three symphonies date from the 1820s, and reveal a composer moving comfortably within the classical style (of which he was a charter member, let’s not forget), but extending its expressive range through vivid orchestration and an expanded harmonic vocabulary. In its rhythms and frequent alternation between major and minor modes, his music also sounds recognizably Czech. Consider the dance movements in each of these three symphonies. Although he calls them “Menuetto,” they are true scherzos (sound clip), full of harmonic and rhythmic audacities. You won’t find Beethoven’s bigness of vision here, but then you don’t find that anywhere else either. In all other respects, these are outstandingly fine works.

The symphonies have been recorded previously (most of them, anyway), but these versions from Howard Griffiths are exemplary in their stylishness and alertness to every nuance that Krommer asks for. The findings of the period instrument movement manifest in the generally swift tempos and incisive accents, but this never becomes a fetish. Excellent engineering makes this release utterly irresistible. We badly need a systematic critical edition of Krommer’s works, accompanied by a wide ranging series of recordings. In the meantime, grab this and marvel.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Franz Krommer was once a highly regarded composer, but he then ceased to be remembered more quickly and disappeared more completely than any other creative musician of his generation. It was not until 1997 that the Czech musicologist Karel Padrta compiled a thorough catalogue of his works including a biographical introduction. Krommer all too long was overshadowed by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and it is only recently that his oeuvre has begun to attract increased attention. Krommer’s oeuvre focuses almost exclusively on instrumental music. In his first symphony he succeeds in forming a thoroughly individual synthesis of stylistic elements recalling Haydn and Mozart, while in his second such work he largely distances himself from these models and develops a symphonic style all of his own. The slow introduction of the first movement, which begins in forte with a gloomy D minor triadic chord, immediately presents a tone quite different from that of his early works and develops an individual sound character with a fitting continuation in the following Allegro vivace’s main movement complex distinguished by strong dynamic contrasts and constantly oscillating between major and minor. Krommer’s third symphony is comparatively conventional, which may have to do with the fact that it is based on an older source and was merely reworked for its publication.

Krommer, F.: Divertimento in F Major, Op. 96 / Piano Quarte

Includes work(s) by Franz Krommer. Soloists: Nancy Ambrose-King, Solomia Soroka, Natalia Khoma, Eva Stern, Joseph Kam.

"His command is absolute, the mood calmingly resigned... The underlying melancholy (missed here by many) is fully brought out... [others] Weber's concertino, excellently exploits the clarinet's qualities... Baermann's Adagio has a certain melodic grace of an operatic kind ; and Debussy's Rhapsodie (competition work) has a lot of characteristic things, and never suggests that it was a piece he really had to write... Brymer's playing will be familiar from many recordings: He has a smooth technique, a lovely liquid tone - rich and warm in the clarion register, oily and vibrant in the chalumeau... He phrases Kramář with grace in the outer movements and expression in the Adagio; a skillful, thoroughly musical performance". (Gramophone)

KROMMER: Clarinet Concertos Opp. 35, 36 and 91