Concerto No. 1 In G Major 
1 	Allegro Con Spirito 	10:34
2 	Romance: Andantino 	5:23
3 	Rondo: Allegro 	5:07
Concerto No. 2 In A Major 
4 	Allegro Con Spirito 	9:50
5 	Romance: Andantino 	6:53
6 	Rondo: Allegretto 	4:21
Concerto No. 3 In C Major 
7 	Allegro Con Spirito 	8:59
8 	Andante Poco Moderato 	6:02
9 	Rondo: Allegro 	4:04

Christian Benda – cello
Prague Chamber Orchestra

Carl Stamitz was a a relatively obscure contemporary of Mozart and Haydn who worked at the court of Mannheim.

He wrote three wonderful cello concertos. Nowadays his music is more performed and a bit better known, so can realize about his mastery as a composer. We are now fortunate to have a recording including the three concertos.

Those concertos are plenty of delight and are strongly recommended for readers who enjoy music of the 18th century, or good cello playing. These are excellently crafted works with good tunes, beautifully singing solo lines, and genial charm; it's impossible not to love them and those performances do the works justice. Soloist playing is consistently beautiful, and he is at his best in the most lyrical passages of these works. This is the best option to get the three concertos in one album. --- Colloredo von Salzburg, amazon.com

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1	Symphony In D Minor, Op. 15, No. 3: I. Presto	4:09	
2	Symphony In D Minor, Op. 15, No. 3: II. Andante	4:02	
3	Symphony In D Minor, Op. 15, No. 3: III. Prestissimo	3:33	
4	Symphony In E Flat Major: I. Allegro Con Spirito		6:46
5	Symphony In E Flat Major: II. Andante Non Troppo Moderato	6:05	
6	Symphony In E Flat Major: III. Un Poco Presto	5:10
7	Symphony In E Minor, Op. 15, No. 2: I. Allegro Non Moderato	6:22	
8	Symphony In E Minor, Op. 15, No. 2: II. Andante	4:22	 
9	Symphony In E Minor, Op. 15, No. 2: III. Minuetto: Trio	2:56	
10	Symphony In E Minor, Op. 15, No. 2: IV. Allegro Assai	4:12
11	Symphony In F Major, "La Chasse": I. Allegro Assai	3:30	
12	Symphony In F Major, "La Chasse": II. Andante	3:35	
13	Symphony In F Major, "La Chasse": III. Allegro Molto	4:03

L'Arte Del Mondo
Werner Ehrhardt – conductor

You probably recognize the name of German composer Carl Stamitz (1745-1801). He was the son of another musician famous in his time, the Czech composer Johann Stamitz (1717-1757). Both men were virtuoso violinists, and together they wrote about 800 symphonies, concertos, and chamber works in the popular Mannheim style the father founded. But can you actually name anything the young Stamitz wrote? Can you hum a piece of his music? I thought not. Carl Stamitz died in relative obscurity, and currently one can find only a handful of albums dedicated to his works alone. Such is the fleeting nature of fame.

This 2010 CPO release presents four of Carl Stamitz's symphonies, with Werner Ehrhardt leading the chamber orchestra L'arte del mondo, an ensemble Ehrhardt formed in 2004 to pursue early music on modern instruments. Stamitiz's symphonies, representative of the early classical period, feature mostly three-movement structures, usually omitting the minuets common to earlier arrangements. Because the symphonies are quite melodious, refined, and easy on the ear, one can understand why they became so popular, yet after listening to them, one can also understand why people so quickly forgot them.

The album starts off with the Symphony in D minor, Op. 15,3 (Kai 24). The salient point here is in the lively contrasts between each successive movement, from barely audible sections to momentous crescendoes. The piece is also quite concise, a little more than eleven minutes in length. Then we get the Symphony in E flat major (Kai 38), marked by a robust and invigorating opening Allegro con spirito, a sweetly flowing Andante, and an energetic conclusion.

Next is the Symphony in E minor, Op. 15,2 (Kai 23), the only symphony on the disc in four movements. It begins with a gentle, lyrical introduction that gradually moves into a more-animated passage. The succeeding Andante is far from slow but it is warm and friendly, suggesting a manner reminiscent of Haydn. After that, we get a Minuetto that is for all practical purposes a scherzo, changing the pace considerably. The work ends with a brisk Allegro assai that wraps up the symphony in a highly dramatic manner.

The album finishes with the Symphony in F major (Kai 34), subtitled "La Chasse" because of its hunting motif. We even hear hunting horns in the opening and closing movements. In between, there is much activity, motion, and invention, ending the program in a most imaginative way. Still, while Stamitz's music is pleasurable in the moment, it is largely unremarkable and hardly memorable.

Ehrhardt and his players obviously relish the variety in this music and perform it with precision, polish, and class. However, they are not without a sense of fun and joy in their performances, too, particularly evident in "The Chase."

The miking is fairly close and probably captures an accurate representation of the orchestra's sound. Although the recording seems a tad forward, it projects a clear, clean sonic picture, with plenty of detail on almost every front. It also displays a wide dynamic range that may have the listener reaching for the volume control on more than a few occasions. Perhaps the audio engineers could have found a bit more weight at the lower and mid bass end; otherwise, things sound splendid, with a nice sense of air and ambience around the instruments. --- JJP, classicalcandor.blogspot.com

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1 Konzert für Klarinette, Fagott und Orchester in B-Dur: I. Allegro moderato 
2 Konzert für Klarinette, Fagott und Orchester in B-Dur: II. Andante moderato 
3 Konzert für Klarinette, Fagott und Orchester in B-Dur: III. Rondo 
4 Quartett für Oboe, Violine, Viola und Violoncello in Es-Dur: I. Allegro 
5 Quartett für Oboe, Violine, Viola und Violoncello in Es-Dur: II. Adagio 
6 Quartett für Oboe, Violine, Viola und Violoncello in Es-Dur: III. Rondo 
7 Sonate für Viola und Klavier in B-Dur: I. Allegro 
8 Sonate für Viola und Klavier in B-Dur: II. Andante 
9 Sonate für Viola und Klavier in B-Dur: III. Rondo
10 Symphonie in Es-Dur: I. Allegro vivace 
11 Symphonie in Es-Dur: II. Andante 
12 Symphonie in Es-Dur: III. Menuett
13 Symphonie in Es-Dur: IV. Finale

Camerata Rhenania
Hanspeter Gmur – director (1-3)
Salzburger Solisten (4-6)
Helga Fiedler – viola (7-9)
Dieter Goldmann – piano (7-9)
Camerata Romana
Hanspeter Gmur – director (10-13)

The son of Johann Stamitz, Carl Stamitz was born in Mannheim, where he had his musical training from his father and his father’s successors. In 1770 he moved to Paris, subsequently travelling as a virtuoso violinist and later as a viola player.

Carl Stamitz wrote a quantity of symphonies and symphonies concertantes (orchestral works with contrasting groups of solo instruments). He added significantly to the concerto repertoire, not least in 15 authenticated violin concertos, a number of clarinet concertos and three viola concertos, the last of particular importance in a limited solo repertoire for the instrument.

Prolific also in his composition of chamber music, Carl Stamitz provided a varied series of compositions for ensembles, ranging from works for wind band to duos, a number of them involving the viola. His style is very much of its period, stemming from the Mannheim tradition. --- naxos.com

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Carl Stamitz
1. Cl Con No.3 in B flat: I. Allegro moderato
2. Cl Con No.3 in B flat: II. Romanze
3. Cl Con No.3 in B flat: III. Rondo
4. Cl Con No.11 in E flat: I. Allegro
5. Cl Con No.11 in E flat: II. Aria (Andante Moderato)
6. Cl Con No.11 in E flat: III. Rondo alla Scherzo (Allegro moderato)

Johann Stamitz (Jan Václav Stamic)
7. Cl Con in B flat: I. Allegro moderato
8. Cl Con in B flat: II. Adagio
9. Cl Con in B flat: III. Poco presto

Carl Stamitz
10. Cl Con No.10 in B flat: I. [Allegro]
11. Cl Con No.10 in B flat: II. [Andante sostenuto]
12. Cl Con No.10 in B flat: III. [Rondo (Poco allegro)]

Sabine Meyer - clarinet
Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields
Iona Brown – conductor

Mozart heard clarinets at the Elector Carl Theodor's Mannheim, and longed for them to include in his own symphonies in Salzburg. They add richness to many a symphony composed for the famous orchestra, and (even if Sabine Meyer plays a modern clarinet) these concertos indicate the kind of music that was being written for the instrument. There is none of Mozart's romantic richness here, not even in the slow movements (though the Rornanze of Carl Stamitz's No. 3 is in the manner of Don Ottavio's mio tesoro"); but the elegance, grace and courtesy of the music make easy listening.

Johann Stamitz (1717-57) still has one foot in the baroque. In his opening movement, after the striding bass, dotted rhythms and other baroque traits, the entry of clarinet tone does indeed, as Markus Schwering's judicious sleeve-note points out, sound surprising. Carl (1746-1801) wrote some dozen clarinet concertos: the three here recorded are amiable works cast in a similar mould—rather simple sonata-style first movement, expressive Romanze or Aria, and nimble Rondo. It is in the slow movements that the most expressive music is found, not surprisingly, with eloquent melodies intended to touch the affections. Mozart was piously disdainful when writing to his father of the behaviour of the Stamitz brothers, as of the clarinettist Joseph Beer who had a hand in some of Carl's works, but they gave him some ideas. And in their own right, played here with a lively appreciation of their worth and of their limits, these concertos can give much pleasure. --- Gramophone [11/1993]

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