Crusell, B.H.: Clarinet Concertos Nos. 1-3 (Kriikku, Finnish Radio Symphony, Oramo)

Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838) was a composer and clarinetist born in Uusikaupunki, Finland, when Finland was still part of the kingdom of Sweden. Although his family was poor and could not afford much of a schooling for their son, his musical gifts were discovered at an early age. In his teens, Crusell was employed in a military band in the Sveaborg castle. Later he moved to Stockholm and worked for 40 years in the Royal opera orchestra - and became its best-paid musician! In his lifetime Crusell gained quite a reputation as a clarinet virtuoso and a composer. He traveled in France and Germany and met such notable musical figures of the day as Felix Mendelssohn and Carl Maria von Weber. In Berlin, he was taught by the famous clarinetist Franz Tausch. As a composer, his output includes orchestral works, chamber music, one opera and songs; he also translated librettos of the operas of Mozart, Rossini and Beethoven into Swedish. Especially his three concertos for clarinet and orchestra as well as his clarinet quartets have proved quite popular and have stayed in the repertoire ever since they were published.

Happily there is no shortage of these works in the catalogue and there are many interpretations to choose from. This is indeed a good thing, as this is wholly delightful music. Crusell's music is light and sunny in character, somewhat like a cross between Mozart and Mendelssohn, but lacking the former's occasional dark moods. Perhaps the closest thing would be the two clarinet concertos of Crusell's contemporary, Carl Maria von Weber, in the way the clarinet is given prominence throughout the concertos.

The present recording captures the good-natured, buoyant feeling of these concertos excellently. They all consist of three movements, in accordance with the classical concerto format. The first movements are all about 10 minutes long and thus have ample room for thematic development. A special mention should be given to the slow movements, which are breathtakingly beautiful. The only thing to complain is that Crusell should have made them last longer.

Kari Kriikku is a brilliant clarinettist who can easily negotiate even the most demanding passages within this virtuosic archipelago. Light-weight as they are, these works demand remarkable skills from the soloist, as they make use of almost the whole range of the clarinet's possibilities and are often characterized by quick turns of phrase. Here Kriikku is in his right element and gets sympathetic response from the orchestra.

It is not always that conductors and orchestras sharing the same nationality as the composer should produce the best results when interpreting a composer's works, though often they do have the advantage of being very familiar with the repertoire. This CD is clearly one of the more successful cases of such a relationship between orchestra and composer. All musicians involved play with verve and feeling. The sound is very good throughout.

The extensive liner notes give helpful information about the life of the composer, the development of the clarinet as an instrument of the orchestra (which was then taking place in several parts of Europe), and the details of the compositions themselves. All the performers are well introduced to the reader, as is Ondine's usual custom. The text is quite small but still readable (I have definitely seen worse in this respect). The painting reproduced on the booklet cover, "By the seashore" by Elin Danielson-Gambogi, perfectly captures the sunlit mood of the concertos.

This recording uses an edited version of the scores, based on a comparison of all the existing manuscript versions (between which there are considerable differences), prepared by Fabian Dahlström, who also wrote the booklet notes.

It should be noted that the same forces have also made an excellent recording of Weber's clarinet concertos. Sakari Oramo and Kari Kriikku have, as members of the chamber group Avanti, have also collaborated in a recording of all three of Crusell's clarinet quartets. With luck, both of those recordings may still be available through Amazon's marketplace.

Recommended especially for fans of the clarinet and for those seeking out interesting works on the fringes of the core repertoire.