Luigi Magistrelli, Italian Classical Consort - F.X.Pokorný: clarinet concertos and chamber music with clarinet (2025)
BAND/ARTIST: Luigi Magistrelli, Italian Classical Consort
- Title: F.X.Pokorný: clarinet concertos and chamber music with clarinet
- Year Of Release: 2025
- Label: Da Vinci Classics
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: flac lossless (tracks)
- Total Time: 01:11:34
- Total Size: 283 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. Concertante: No. 1, Allegro
02. Concertante: No. 2, Andante
03. Concertante: No. 3, Tempo di Giusto
04. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro
05. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: II. Andante
06. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: III. Presto
07. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: I. Allegro
08. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: II. Andante
09. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: III. Allegro
10. Six Menuets: No. 1
11. Six Menuets: No. 2
12. Six Menuets: No. 3
13. Six Menuets: No. 4
14. Six Menuets: No. 5
15. Six Menuets: No. 6
16. Trio: No. 1, Allegro non molto
17. Trio: No. 2, Andante
18. Trio: No. 3, Fuga
19. Divertimento: No. 1, Andantino
20. Divertimento: No. 2, Presto
21. Divertimento: No. 3, Andante
22. Divertimento: No. 4, Presto-Andantino-Presto-Presto
23. Divertimento: No. 5, Minuetto-Moderato
24. Divertimento: No. 6, Presto
01. Concertante: No. 1, Allegro
02. Concertante: No. 2, Andante
03. Concertante: No. 3, Tempo di Giusto
04. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro
05. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: II. Andante
06. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: III. Presto
07. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: I. Allegro
08. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: II. Andante
09. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: III. Allegro
10. Six Menuets: No. 1
11. Six Menuets: No. 2
12. Six Menuets: No. 3
13. Six Menuets: No. 4
14. Six Menuets: No. 5
15. Six Menuets: No. 6
16. Trio: No. 1, Allegro non molto
17. Trio: No. 2, Andante
18. Trio: No. 3, Fuga
19. Divertimento: No. 1, Andantino
20. Divertimento: No. 2, Presto
21. Divertimento: No. 3, Andante
22. Divertimento: No. 4, Presto-Andantino-Presto-Presto
23. Divertimento: No. 5, Minuetto-Moderato
24. Divertimento: No. 6, Presto
František Xaver Pokorný was born on (20 December 1729 in Mies (now Stříbro) was a Czech Classical era composer and violinist. In 2014 Sterling E. Murray wrote an exhaustive doctoral essay about him. Most of the content of the text of these notes is coming from this essay. While young, he left his hometown for Regensburg where he studied violin playing with Joseph Riepel. In 1750 he went to Wallerstein, where he played violin in the Oettingen-Wallerstein court orchestra. In 1753 he went to Mannheim where he further studied with Johann Stamitz and Ignaz Holzbauer among others. After the death of Philip Charles Domenic Oettingen-Wallerstein in 1766 he asked for permission to leave the court for three to four years. He spent the last part of his life in the orchestra of Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, again in Regensburg. Nearly 150 symphonies are attributed to him, but his authorship is disputed for more than fifty of these, as after his death his surname was erased from his works and replaced by names of other authors by Theodor von Schacht, intendant of the Regensburg orchestra and also composer of plenty of clarinet concertos and wind music in general. Furthermore, Pokorny produced many works for wind instruments, tens of solo concertos including 45 for harpsichord, 3 for two horns, one for flute are attributed to him. He can be considered among the many court musicians of eighteenth-century in Germany who made substantial contributions to the orchestral repertory. Although long known to musical scholarship, in recent years Pokorny’s music has begun to attract the attention of performers. In reconstructing the life and works of this composer, scholars have encountered considerable confusion in determining the details of his date and place of birth and even his given name. Based on the present state of research, Pokorny was born 20 December 1729 in the small village of Meštec Králové (Königstadt), east of Prague. The son of Nikolaus and Maria Magdalena Pokorny, he was baptized Francis Thomas.2 In 1963, J. Murray Barbour proposed 1728 as the year of Pokorny’s birth. He explained out that this “date was ascertained from his baptismal record, and is a year earlier than that generally given,” adding that “apparently, Pokorny himself was mistaken about the year of his birth.” Barbour admits that he did not consult the records of the catholic church in Meštec Králové himself, but rather relied on the research of the Czech musicologist Tomaslav Volek. Although the count’s Hofmusik was not large, it included several talented performers, with a decided preference for musicians born and trained in Bohemia. Pokorny was an especially good hire, as he was capable of fulfilling a variety of tasks. In addition to playing violin in court instrumental ensembles, Pokorny was a composer and keyboardist, who functioned as music teacher to the count’s children. Either before coming to Wallerstein or during his early years there, Pokorny took composition lessons from Joseph Riepel (1709-1782) a member of the Hofkapelle of Prince Alexander Ferdinand of Thurn und Taxis (1704-1773). Pokorny’s earliest dated compositions are three symphonies composed for the Wallerstein Hofkapelle between June and late September 1753. His patron encouraged Pokorny’s interest in composition and in February 1754 granted him permission to travel to Mannheim to continue his composition studies with Ignaz Holzbauer (1711-1783), Johann Stamitz (1717-1757), and Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789). Pokorny later reported that his teachers there “have the same theory that I learned from Riepel, but they have been writing for a long time and have experience, while I have to discover the proper rules myself through daily study”. Later that same year, after his return to Wallerstein, Pokorny was promised the lucrative position of regens chori (music director) for the parish church of St. Alban’s. This promise was very slow to materialize; it was not until June 1764 that the position was officially transferred to him. Two years later the count died, and his wife, Countess Charlotte Juliane, undertook the regency for their seventeen-year-old son, Kraft Ernst. During this period, the countess made reductions in the Hofkapelle. Along with two horn players, Pokorny was loaned to the Taxis court. Over the next several years, he split his time between the Taxis palace at Dischingen and the nearby summer residence of the Wallerstein family at Hohenaltheim. Finally, in March 1770, Pokorny was released from Wallerstein service to join the Thurn und Taxis Hofkapelle, where he remained until his death at the age of sixty-five on 2 July 1794. Pokorny is buried in the graveyard next to St. Emmeram’s church. On his tombstone he is recognized as a “chamber musician of the Prince of Taxis (Hochfürstlich Taxisscher Kam[m]er-Musicus). Pokorny’s concertos focus on wind instruments. Included in this group are the two concertos for clarinet and orchestra, written around 1760. Today these concertos are preserved in autograph scores in the Fürst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek in Regensburg (D-Rtt). Both works are written on paper from the mills of Hans Caspar Bullinger in Christgarten-Anhausen. This paper was produced specifically for the Wallerstein court and bears the Oettingen coat of arms as its watermark. Pokorny clearly intended these concertos for the Wallerstein clarinetists, Ludwig Olivier and Heinrich Meißner. The presence of the scores in Regensburg, however, indicates that they were also performed there. Indeed, the remains of the Taxis court music collection include approximately two dozen concertos for solo and duo clarinets composed by house composers (Schacht, Schierl, and Riepel), Wallerstein composers (Rosetti, Wineberger), and composers from beyond this immediate circle (Carl Stamitz, Mysliveček, Hoffmeister). Pokorny has designed these works to feature the high and low tessituras of the instrument, labeling them primo and secondo in the tradition associated with horn music. Thus, the clarinet secundo part focuses primarily on chalumeau register. To further enhance this effect, the orchestral flutes required in the concerto for clarinet primo are absent here. Although neither of these concertos would be termed a flashy virtuoso exercise, both include passages that demand a more than modest facility on the instrument. The instrument in question is a B-flat five or perhaps four-keyed clarinet. Both works are in three movements with an opening Allegro and a fast-tempo conclusion framing a lyric Andante. Stylistically, these two works differ substantially from one another. The B-flat major concerto is shorter than its E-flat companion and in a chamber style. It relies much more on fussy rhythms and short-breathed phrases. By comparison, the E-flat major concerto is symphonic in scope and character. Themes consistently fall into four- measure phrases cast in broad and diverse rhythmic profiles. The thematic content and figuration patterns of this work bring to mind the style of Johann Stamitz’s symphonies. The general structural principle observed in the fast movements of both works is a ritornello design with four tutti sections, the last preceded by or including a cadenza. Opening ritornellos are extended and provide most of the thematic material later to occur in the movement. By contrast, solo sections are given over primarily to figural patterns designed to spotlight the facility of the performer. Although there are passages in which the first violin doubles the solo part, these are at a minimum. For the most part, the soloists are allowed to weave garlands of figuration against the string parts. The concluding Allegro of the E-flat concerto is cast in 6/8 and features rhythmic and thematic material strongly suggestive of the “La chasse” style that was to become so popular in the next decade. The slow movements of both concertos project a pastoral flavor quite in keeping with the composer’s Bohemian heritage. They are written according to the late barock style and they should be considerated the most significative earliest clarinet concertos even written. Actually we have earlier clarinet concertos written in 1728 by V. Rathgeber but they are quite primitive in the writing and conceived for an instrument resembling the characteristics of a trumpet. Then, J. M. Molter (1696-1765) wrote 6 Clarinet barock Concertos at mid of 18th century, but for D clarinet. Johann Stamitz, teacher of Pokorny in Mannheim, wrote also a beautiful clarinet concerto at mid of 18th century and then his son Karl wrote at least 10! Pokorny very probably intended to compose and dedicate to the already above cited clarientists Ludwig Olivier and Heinrich Meißner the Concertante, for two A clarinets and orchestra, to be considered the earliest solo piece with orchestra thought for a pair of A clarinets. The three Vivaldi Concertos and the two Chinzer Concertos called for two C clarinets and had been conceived in earlier times. However we must cite also the nine-movement Divertimento in D written in 1764 by Michael Haydn, the yongest brother of F. J. Haydn. In this Divertimento we find a solo A clarinet part in movements 5 and 6. Pokorny used A clarinets also in some of the beautiful six Minuets here recorded (the original version has strings, timpani, flute, clarini trumpets and clarinets). A clarinets can offer a better timbre, melding in a very good way with strings and they can be adapted to some particular keys. The Divertimento has a very peculiar, unique and interesting unusual instrumental combination with two b flat clarinets and three horns. It has six brief movements of different characters, also using some brilliant themes for different moviments. The Trio for two clarinets and cello is an arrangement from one of the many trios for two violins and cello written by Pokorny. In this trio we can hear many features in the writing recalling the style of Bach. The clarinet instead of violin can suit very well, having the important bass support from the cello. I wanted to have a lighter accompaniment for the Concertante, Minuets and two Concertos using a fortepiano with a cello as basso continuo. For the first time we have a recording with all the repertoire of F. X. Pokorny where the clarinet is a soloist or involved in some chamber music ensembles.
01. Concertante: No. 1, Allegro
02. Concertante: No. 2, Andante
03. Concertante: No. 3, Tempo di Giusto
04. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro
05. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: II. Andante
06. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: III. Presto
07. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: I. Allegro
08. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: II. Andante
09. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: III. Allegro
10. Six Menuets: No. 1
11. Six Menuets: No. 2
12. Six Menuets: No. 3
13. Six Menuets: No. 4
14. Six Menuets: No. 5
15. Six Menuets: No. 6
16. Trio: No. 1, Allegro non molto
17. Trio: No. 2, Andante
18. Trio: No. 3, Fuga
19. Divertimento: No. 1, Andantino
20. Divertimento: No. 2, Presto
21. Divertimento: No. 3, Andante
22. Divertimento: No. 4, Presto-Andantino-Presto-Presto
23. Divertimento: No. 5, Minuetto-Moderato
24. Divertimento: No. 6, Presto
01. Concertante: No. 1, Allegro
02. Concertante: No. 2, Andante
03. Concertante: No. 3, Tempo di Giusto
04. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro
05. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: II. Andante
06. Clarinet Concerto in B-Flat Major: III. Presto
07. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: I. Allegro
08. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: II. Andante
09. Clarinet Concerto in E-Flat Major: III. Allegro
10. Six Menuets: No. 1
11. Six Menuets: No. 2
12. Six Menuets: No. 3
13. Six Menuets: No. 4
14. Six Menuets: No. 5
15. Six Menuets: No. 6
16. Trio: No. 1, Allegro non molto
17. Trio: No. 2, Andante
18. Trio: No. 3, Fuga
19. Divertimento: No. 1, Andantino
20. Divertimento: No. 2, Presto
21. Divertimento: No. 3, Andante
22. Divertimento: No. 4, Presto-Andantino-Presto-Presto
23. Divertimento: No. 5, Minuetto-Moderato
24. Divertimento: No. 6, Presto
František Xaver Pokorný was born on (20 December 1729 in Mies (now Stříbro) was a Czech Classical era composer and violinist. In 2014 Sterling E. Murray wrote an exhaustive doctoral essay about him. Most of the content of the text of these notes is coming from this essay. While young, he left his hometown for Regensburg where he studied violin playing with Joseph Riepel. In 1750 he went to Wallerstein, where he played violin in the Oettingen-Wallerstein court orchestra. In 1753 he went to Mannheim where he further studied with Johann Stamitz and Ignaz Holzbauer among others. After the death of Philip Charles Domenic Oettingen-Wallerstein in 1766 he asked for permission to leave the court for three to four years. He spent the last part of his life in the orchestra of Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, again in Regensburg. Nearly 150 symphonies are attributed to him, but his authorship is disputed for more than fifty of these, as after his death his surname was erased from his works and replaced by names of other authors by Theodor von Schacht, intendant of the Regensburg orchestra and also composer of plenty of clarinet concertos and wind music in general. Furthermore, Pokorny produced many works for wind instruments, tens of solo concertos including 45 for harpsichord, 3 for two horns, one for flute are attributed to him. He can be considered among the many court musicians of eighteenth-century in Germany who made substantial contributions to the orchestral repertory. Although long known to musical scholarship, in recent years Pokorny’s music has begun to attract the attention of performers. In reconstructing the life and works of this composer, scholars have encountered considerable confusion in determining the details of his date and place of birth and even his given name. Based on the present state of research, Pokorny was born 20 December 1729 in the small village of Meštec Králové (Königstadt), east of Prague. The son of Nikolaus and Maria Magdalena Pokorny, he was baptized Francis Thomas.2 In 1963, J. Murray Barbour proposed 1728 as the year of Pokorny’s birth. He explained out that this “date was ascertained from his baptismal record, and is a year earlier than that generally given,” adding that “apparently, Pokorny himself was mistaken about the year of his birth.” Barbour admits that he did not consult the records of the catholic church in Meštec Králové himself, but rather relied on the research of the Czech musicologist Tomaslav Volek. Although the count’s Hofmusik was not large, it included several talented performers, with a decided preference for musicians born and trained in Bohemia. Pokorny was an especially good hire, as he was capable of fulfilling a variety of tasks. In addition to playing violin in court instrumental ensembles, Pokorny was a composer and keyboardist, who functioned as music teacher to the count’s children. Either before coming to Wallerstein or during his early years there, Pokorny took composition lessons from Joseph Riepel (1709-1782) a member of the Hofkapelle of Prince Alexander Ferdinand of Thurn und Taxis (1704-1773). Pokorny’s earliest dated compositions are three symphonies composed for the Wallerstein Hofkapelle between June and late September 1753. His patron encouraged Pokorny’s interest in composition and in February 1754 granted him permission to travel to Mannheim to continue his composition studies with Ignaz Holzbauer (1711-1783), Johann Stamitz (1717-1757), and Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789). Pokorny later reported that his teachers there “have the same theory that I learned from Riepel, but they have been writing for a long time and have experience, while I have to discover the proper rules myself through daily study”. Later that same year, after his return to Wallerstein, Pokorny was promised the lucrative position of regens chori (music director) for the parish church of St. Alban’s. This promise was very slow to materialize; it was not until June 1764 that the position was officially transferred to him. Two years later the count died, and his wife, Countess Charlotte Juliane, undertook the regency for their seventeen-year-old son, Kraft Ernst. During this period, the countess made reductions in the Hofkapelle. Along with two horn players, Pokorny was loaned to the Taxis court. Over the next several years, he split his time between the Taxis palace at Dischingen and the nearby summer residence of the Wallerstein family at Hohenaltheim. Finally, in March 1770, Pokorny was released from Wallerstein service to join the Thurn und Taxis Hofkapelle, where he remained until his death at the age of sixty-five on 2 July 1794. Pokorny is buried in the graveyard next to St. Emmeram’s church. On his tombstone he is recognized as a “chamber musician of the Prince of Taxis (Hochfürstlich Taxisscher Kam[m]er-Musicus). Pokorny’s concertos focus on wind instruments. Included in this group are the two concertos for clarinet and orchestra, written around 1760. Today these concertos are preserved in autograph scores in the Fürst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek in Regensburg (D-Rtt). Both works are written on paper from the mills of Hans Caspar Bullinger in Christgarten-Anhausen. This paper was produced specifically for the Wallerstein court and bears the Oettingen coat of arms as its watermark. Pokorny clearly intended these concertos for the Wallerstein clarinetists, Ludwig Olivier and Heinrich Meißner. The presence of the scores in Regensburg, however, indicates that they were also performed there. Indeed, the remains of the Taxis court music collection include approximately two dozen concertos for solo and duo clarinets composed by house composers (Schacht, Schierl, and Riepel), Wallerstein composers (Rosetti, Wineberger), and composers from beyond this immediate circle (Carl Stamitz, Mysliveček, Hoffmeister). Pokorny has designed these works to feature the high and low tessituras of the instrument, labeling them primo and secondo in the tradition associated with horn music. Thus, the clarinet secundo part focuses primarily on chalumeau register. To further enhance this effect, the orchestral flutes required in the concerto for clarinet primo are absent here. Although neither of these concertos would be termed a flashy virtuoso exercise, both include passages that demand a more than modest facility on the instrument. The instrument in question is a B-flat five or perhaps four-keyed clarinet. Both works are in three movements with an opening Allegro and a fast-tempo conclusion framing a lyric Andante. Stylistically, these two works differ substantially from one another. The B-flat major concerto is shorter than its E-flat companion and in a chamber style. It relies much more on fussy rhythms and short-breathed phrases. By comparison, the E-flat major concerto is symphonic in scope and character. Themes consistently fall into four- measure phrases cast in broad and diverse rhythmic profiles. The thematic content and figuration patterns of this work bring to mind the style of Johann Stamitz’s symphonies. The general structural principle observed in the fast movements of both works is a ritornello design with four tutti sections, the last preceded by or including a cadenza. Opening ritornellos are extended and provide most of the thematic material later to occur in the movement. By contrast, solo sections are given over primarily to figural patterns designed to spotlight the facility of the performer. Although there are passages in which the first violin doubles the solo part, these are at a minimum. For the most part, the soloists are allowed to weave garlands of figuration against the string parts. The concluding Allegro of the E-flat concerto is cast in 6/8 and features rhythmic and thematic material strongly suggestive of the “La chasse” style that was to become so popular in the next decade. The slow movements of both concertos project a pastoral flavor quite in keeping with the composer’s Bohemian heritage. They are written according to the late barock style and they should be considerated the most significative earliest clarinet concertos even written. Actually we have earlier clarinet concertos written in 1728 by V. Rathgeber but they are quite primitive in the writing and conceived for an instrument resembling the characteristics of a trumpet. Then, J. M. Molter (1696-1765) wrote 6 Clarinet barock Concertos at mid of 18th century, but for D clarinet. Johann Stamitz, teacher of Pokorny in Mannheim, wrote also a beautiful clarinet concerto at mid of 18th century and then his son Karl wrote at least 10! Pokorny very probably intended to compose and dedicate to the already above cited clarientists Ludwig Olivier and Heinrich Meißner the Concertante, for two A clarinets and orchestra, to be considered the earliest solo piece with orchestra thought for a pair of A clarinets. The three Vivaldi Concertos and the two Chinzer Concertos called for two C clarinets and had been conceived in earlier times. However we must cite also the nine-movement Divertimento in D written in 1764 by Michael Haydn, the yongest brother of F. J. Haydn. In this Divertimento we find a solo A clarinet part in movements 5 and 6. Pokorny used A clarinets also in some of the beautiful six Minuets here recorded (the original version has strings, timpani, flute, clarini trumpets and clarinets). A clarinets can offer a better timbre, melding in a very good way with strings and they can be adapted to some particular keys. The Divertimento has a very peculiar, unique and interesting unusual instrumental combination with two b flat clarinets and three horns. It has six brief movements of different characters, also using some brilliant themes for different moviments. The Trio for two clarinets and cello is an arrangement from one of the many trios for two violins and cello written by Pokorny. In this trio we can hear many features in the writing recalling the style of Bach. The clarinet instead of violin can suit very well, having the important bass support from the cello. I wanted to have a lighter accompaniment for the Concertante, Minuets and two Concertos using a fortepiano with a cello as basso continuo. For the first time we have a recording with all the repertoire of F. X. Pokorny where the clarinet is a soloist or involved in some chamber music ensembles.
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