On this showing Ludmila Peterková is the Czech answer to Germany’s Sabine Meyer‚ a characterful clarinettist‚ brilliant technically‚ with a wide range of tone­colours‚ who sparkles in everything she plays and brings a romantic warmth to such a work as the Bruch Double Concerto. She is consistently helped by the strong‚ sympathetic accompaniment of Ji·í BÆlohlávek and the Prague Philharmonia‚ here bidding to rival the Czech Philharmonic. As previous recordings of the Double Concerto have demonstrated – including one with the viola­player‚ Yuri Bashmet‚ in the alternative version with violin instead of clarinet (RCA‚ 3/99) – it has been seriously underappreciated since it was written just before the First World War. It was initially dismissed as being hopelessly out­of­date‚ a work in the high­Romantic style of 50 years earlier written in the period of Pierrot Lunaire and The Rite of Spring. Any anachronism of style no longer matters at all‚ and the wonder is that a composer in his mid­seventies could write such uninhibitedly passionate music. Nor‚ in a performance like this‚ is its unusual structure the shortcoming that some have suggested – including the writer of the liner­note. As in other concertos by Bruch‚ the opening movement is measured‚ a lyrical Andante leading to another lyrical movement which strikes the ear as slower than the mark­ing Allegro moderato might suggest. Only in the finale‚ Allegro molto‚ is the music both brisk and brilliant‚ but then you might say much the same of the ever­popular G minor Violin Concerto. Peterková is joined by another brilliant Czech artist‚ the prize­winning viola­player‚ Alexander Besa‚ rich‚ firm and true‚ and the impact of the performance is heightened by the warm‚ immediate recording. The two Mendelssohn Concert Pieces‚ each in three linked movements like a miniature concerto‚ are alleged to have been written as a challenge at high speed in the time it took the original performers‚ the clarinettist­composer‚ Heinrich Baermann and his bassett­horn­playing son‚ Carl‚ to prepare and cook a cream strudel‚ their speciality as amateur chefs. Mendelssohn later orchestrated the original piano parts‚ and it is sad that such delightful pieces should be neglected for not fitting easily into concert programmes. The interplay between Peterková and her accomplished partner‚ Nicolas Baldeyrou‚ on the bassett horn is a delight throughout‚ with the instruments blending as well as contrasting. Peterková’s pointing of rhythm with dotted notes exaggerated just enough to give a lift to the music‚ is masterly both in the two Mendelssohn pieces and in the two sets of Rossini variations‚ both of them very early works‚ written when he was in his teens‚ limbering up for his operatic career. This is fun music‚ a point clearly brought out by Peterková‚ with technical problems shrugged aside. In the mazurka passage of the Rossini Variations in C (track 6‚ 1'52") she points the rhythm so charmingly it almost makes you laugh out loud. The recording of the whole programme‚ made in Prague’s Demovina Studio‚ is immediate and detailed‚ giving plenty of body without any dryness.