Rossini Orchestral works for Clarinet

[Richard Moss]

A little before Xmas I downloaded (from PRESTO) the Brilliant Classics box-set of orchestral clarinet works.  Amongst them was a work by Rossini - 'La Donna del Iago' (The Lady of the Lake) - which appears to be an 'Introduction, Theme and Variations', taken from tunes in his opera of the same name.

This started me looking for similar clarinet works he may have composed and I came across the following:

1) Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra in C maj (1809) on a Supraphon CD (with Ludmila Petrekova as soloist

2) Introduction, Theme and Variation for Clarinet in E flat Major / B Major on an ORFEO CD with Dieter Klocker as soloist

3) Introduction, Theme and Variation for Clarinet in B minor / B Major (together with some other clarinet/orchestra works) on the same ORFEO CD.

Can anyone please advise is the 'La Donna...' work one of the items 1-3 above or is it a separate work in its own right?  A bit of trawling on the web produced very little information on ANY of these works, nor anything resembling a list of his clarinet (or any other solo instrument) and orchestra works, never mind opus numbers or anything else to help differentiate them.

Any help appreciated.

Best wishes

Richard

[Mark Thomas]

La Donna del Lago dates from 1818/19, so you can rule out the 1809 C major Variations, if that date is correct. As for the other two, Klöcker's recording of the E flat major one can be heard on YouTube here, and of the B minor on YouTube here.

[TerraEpon]

I remember reading that Klocker may have pulled a Kriesler and composed some of the pieces that he supposedly discovered that seem to have no other references (there's a similar disc of Haydn as well, for instance).

I've looked hard and deep trying to figure out the mess that is Rossini's clarinet music, including the Klocker recorded stuff. Unfortunately there's no good definitive source that I know of for Rossini's catalogue.

[Richard Moss]

Thanks for the updates.  I'll have a listen and see if any of them appear to be the same! 

I've also had no luck in tracking down any on-line versions of the booklets for any of the CDs about Rossini's clarinet works, which might, for example, have mentioned what these works are and how they were found etc.

I'm very surprised that, for a composer of Rossini's standing, there appears to be so little known about these works  Que sera!

Cheers

Richard

[Richard Moss]

Having now had a brief listen to the beginning of the 'Introduction' to both (i) the La Donna del Iago' and (ii) the link to the E-flat major work, they appear to me to be the same work.

That would appear to leave the 'Intro etc' in B major and 'Variations in C minor' as further, different works (subject to any confirmation - if needed -  that these are indeed works by Rossini).

Ah well, onwards and upwards

Thanks again for the help and suggestions

Richard

[eschiss1]

Alexander Carpenter on the ca.1809 C major variations: from MPH. Reprint score here.

The C minor introduction, theme and variations were published in 1968, would have to check who published though. See here for some of the information...

[Richard Moss]

Eric,

Many thanks for digging that info out - much appreciated.  The 'La Donna' variations (of 1819) appear to be the same as the E-flat variations, which the IMSLP link dates at 1819 but gives the key as  C minor.  For some reason the Klocker and other CDs gives the key(s) as E-flat/B-flat. 

As that Klocker CD also claims to have another set in B minor, I'll try and do a sound-bite check to see if it is or isn't the same as 1809 C (minor?) set for 'piccolo' orchestra.

Best wishes

Richard Moss

[terry martyn]

I own all the nineteenth century clarinet concerto recordings that Klocker made (or ,at least I think I do!). The mention in this thread that he might have composed a number of his discoveries has gnawed at me. Can anyone point me to the evidence about this allegation or mention the pieces that are potentially spurious?  I hope that they aren´t his Rossini renditions.

[Gareth Vaughan]

You can hear the C major Variations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRQsIPxOrNk
And the B minor/major Variations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewhn3ZiVqQc&t=54s

They are very different.

[TerraEpon]

I own all the nineteenth century clarinet concerto recordings that Klocker made (or ,at least I think I do!). The mention in this thread that he might have composed a number of his discoveries has gnawed at me. Can anyone point me to the evidence about this allegation or mention the pieces that are potentially spurious?  I hope that they aren´t his Rossini renditions.

No evidence, just that 1) I've seen it written before (do not remember where, might have even been an Amazon review) and 2) There seem to be NO other sources for at the least the Haydn and (some of) the Rossini pieces.