Krommer - Concerto for two clarinets

Meganne McCartney is a clarinettist and recent Music graduate from the University of Aberdeen, where she was an active member of numerous ensembles, orchestras, chamber groups, and pit productions. She is currently employed as a musician with Big Noise, Sistema Scotland, combining performance with community-focused music education and supporting young people through music.  

Anna Flugel is a clarinettist from Inverness who is currently pursuing a Masters degree in music performance at the University of Aberdeen. Over the past year Anna has begun her music teaching career and has continued taking part of a range of ensembles both in and outwith the university including the Aberdeen University Concert Band, Aberdeen University Symphony Orchestra and the Aberdeen City Orchestra 

Notes 

Born František Vincenc Kramář in Moravia, Franz Krommer was a prominent figure in the musical life of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, serving ultimately as composer to the Imperial Court in Vienna. Like many Czech musicians of his era, he was an integral part of Vienna’s rich musical culture and was widely respected, sometimes even regarded as a rival to Beethoven. His long career spans the stylistic world of Haydn and Mozart through to early Romanticism and his prolific output includes symphonies, string quartets and an especially significant body of wind music. Krommer was particularly drawn to the clarinet, an instrument enjoying immense popularity around 1800. His first double clarinet concerto, composed circa 1802, follows the traditional three-movement Classical concerto form and showcases the instrument’s expressive range, agile technique, warm lower register and dynamic f lexibility. Frequently noted for its resemblance to Mozart the concerto is elegant, charming and expertly crafted, o ering vivid insight into both early nineteenth-century clarinet playing and the refined musical language of its time.