Concert Pieces, Op. 113 and 114

"Favorite dish in exchange for favorite music" - this perfectly summarizes the genesis of the Konzertstucke. When the clarinettist Heinrich Joseph Baermann and his son Carl, who also played the basset horn, stopped to play a visit to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in 1832, they came to a most curios agreement: they promised their composer friend a generous portion of "Dampfnudeln" (staemd dumplings) and "Rahmstrudel" (sweet-cheese strudel) that Mendelssohn was mad about, if he were to write a piece for them which they could use on concert tours. The Konzertstucke in f minor that originated in this fashion was followed shortly afterwards by a second one in d minor. Both are extremely effective works which wonderfully bring out the unique sound and performance technique of the two instruments from the clarinet family.