Concertante – Virtuosic Wind Concertos

The little-known 19th-century concertos for multiple wind instruments collected here were well removed from the cutting-edge music of their day. The novelty lies in the combinations: clarinet and horn for Agostino Belloli (a horn player himself, who gives both instruments a real workout); clarinet and bassoon (Franz Danzi's Concertino a precursor of Richard Strauss's Duett-Concertino); horn and bassoon (Ignaz Lachner); and clarinet, horn and bassoon (Louis-Emmanuel Jadin). The virtuosity of the three soloists – clarinettist Egils Sefers, bassoonist Niels Andres Vedsten Larsen and horn player David MAP Palmquist – is put to often jolly use, and the music works on the principle that the busier the better. The slow movements, it has to be said, can be pallid. challenge.nl