Concert Pieces op. 113 and 114

Favourite dish in exchange for favourite music this perfectly summarizes the genesis of the Konzertstücke. When the clarinettist Heinrich Joseph Baermann and his son Carl, who also played the basset horn, stopped to pay a visit to Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in 1832, they came to a most curious agreement: they promised their composer friend a generous portion of “Dampfnudeln” (steamed dumplings) and “Rahmstrudel” (sweet-cheese strudel) that Mendelssohn was mad about, if he were to write a piecefor them which they could use on their concert tours. The Konzertstück 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 uniquesound and performance technique of the two instruments from the clarinet family.