Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) composed his Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 74, in 1811 immediately after his Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73, and his Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra in E flat major, Op. 26. Like the earlier works, Weber wrote his Concerto No. 2 for clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Joseph Baermann and the work displays a thorough knowledge of the capacities of the instrument. After the most dramatic Concerto in F minor, the Concerto in E flat major revisits the more lighter and more lyrical world of the Concertino in E flat. Set in three movements, the Concerto in E flat opens with a virtuosic Allegro, moves through a gloriously bel canto Andante Romanza, and closes with a playful Alla Polacca. As in all his orchestral works, Weber's mastery of color and tone is complete and his writing for the soloist is breathtakingly difficult but wholly idiomatic.

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