The best is left till last here. Mercadante’s E flat Clarinet Concerto, probably written around 1817-20, is quite a substantial piece consisting of an Allegro maestoso that manages its own version of sonata form, an eloquent, quasi-operatic Largo and an Allegro that cheerfully cashes in on the romantic fashion for polacca finales. ‘Weber Goes to Italy’, in fact. Mercadante lacks Weber’s instrumental subtlety, but the operatic elements, both in the Largo’s song and in the coloratura of the finale, come straight off the stage. It is an attractive piece that could well find a place in the concert repertory, and Joy Farrall is much at home with its amiable charms, performing with virtuosity lightly worn.
The other pieces are succulent morsels rather than anything more nourishing. Donizetti’s Study is of curiosity value only, but his so-called Concertino, really a pair of movements salvaged from sketches, is well worth the effort, if only for the ravishing melody of the opening Andante. Otherwise the tendency, as one would expect from composers of the day more naturally at home on the stage than in the concert hall, is to go for variations. Mercadante produces an effective set as the second movement of his B flat Concerto, but the true maestro here is Rossini. Sustaining interest calls for melodic charm and for the cunning to offer a virtuoso plenty of opportunities, not least a plentiful salting of wit so that there is no question of anything being taken too seriously. Needless to say, Rossini has no problems here, and the players enter into the spirit of it all.'