Franz Krommer (1759-1831) was a highly prolific composer who wrote a substantial number of string quartets and other works that were highly regarded at the time. But he made arguably far more daring advances in his superb wind music, whether in the form of serenades and other lighter genres for mixed wind ensemble or in a series of splendid clarinet concertos. Krommer's Concerto for two clarinets in E flat, Op. 35, dates from just a decade after Mozart's Clarinet concerto, but in style and idiom, it could hardly be more different. The orchestration, particularly in the majestic opening movement (Allegro) is calculated to create maximum effect, and even if some of the effects come straight from the opera stage, the solo writing for the two clarinets is both entertaining and ingenious. Neither part is more difficult or exposed than the other, and for much of the time both players are heard in close dialogue. The central Adagio already has a Beethovenian gravitas about it, but here again, Krommer demonstrates that from Mozart he had learned much about the clarinet's more somber and elegiac tonal possibilities. Next comes the finale, a lively Rondo, which imposes testing demands on the soloists through many bravura passages, at times exploiting almost the whole range of the clarinet. This impressive yet genial double concerto, with its martial gestures and fine vocalized solo lines, undoubtedly made a powerful impression upon two early German Romantic composers, Weber and Spohr, both of whom wrote extensively for the clarinet.

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