Crusell, Concerto No. 3

Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775–1838) was a Swedish-Finnish clarinet virtuoso and one of the most significant Finnish-born composers before Sibelius. He spent most of his career in Stockholm (as principal clarinet of the Royal Court Orchestra!) and studied composition with Abbé Vogler and later in Paris—so his music sits right between Classical poise and early-Romantic lyricism, written by someone who knew the instrument from the inside.

Crusell wrote three clarinet concertos, all beautifully idiomatic: No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 1; No. 2 in F minor, Op. 5 (1815/1818, dedicated to Tsar Alexander I); and No. 3 in B-flat major, Op. 11 (published 1829). Together they trace the clarinet’s growing range and expressive potential in the early 19th century.

This week we're looking at his third clarinet concerto. Here we have a confident, three-movement design: a first movement rich in thematic contrast (with juicy chalumeau writing), an expansive and deeply expressive slow movement—Crusell even gives a written-out cadenza here—and a finale in bright polacca style (a sonata-rondo that sparkles but still sits well under the fingers). One of the things I love, particularly in the first movement, is how the clarinet seems to "interrupt" the orchestra - it comes in before the orchestral introduction is over, and interrupts again before the introduction is over. 

I've picked three excerpts from the three different movements to focus on three aspects of clarinet playing: smooth register shifts in the first movement, long-line breath planning in the Adagio, and articulate, dance-like clarity in the polacca.

You can download the excerpts we'll be covering above, or you can download the whole score on IMSLP. 

First Movement - Allegro risoluto

https://youtu.be/n47NvMNxJvQ?si=4XR9b5i4wBNBea06&t=88

• Start with your metronome no faster than quarter = 76, and working up to 116
• If any of the articulated passages are giving you trouble consider practising them first legato - but also do make sure you are doing some tonguing exercises as part of your warmup! 
• Musically everything should be very light and snappy - especially those dotted 16th/32nd note patterns towards the end of the excerpt
• Isolate tricky bars for focused practice, i.e. 66-67 - repeat as many times per session as you can, working the metronome marking up.

Second Movement - Andante moderato

 https://youtu.be/Y-d-ihQ4Fmw?si=1YASgSsLPtLxdwzJ

• Here I want to hear nice smooth lines, despite these tricky dotted rhythms - in the above recording of Martin Fröst, he demonstrates beautifully how to execute these ornamentations so important during the classical period. Listen to him and see if you can imitate what he does - easiest to do this if you've half-memorised a few bars so that you don't need to look at the music but really focus on using your ears. (It's also okay if you want to make other phrasing or ornamentation choices, but he provides a great starting point!)
• As ever I love the trampoline metaphor - use the low F in 16 to help "launch" you up to that high C, we are moving from quite a low tongue position ("hoo") to a high one ("hee"). 
• If you're struggling with control in these soft dynamics, try playing a line in your loudest possible dynamic first, and then go soft - but it's also worth remembering that when Crusell writes "piano" he means "solo piano" - i.e., there's still an orchestra behind you, so it can't be whisper-soft!

Third Movement - Alla polacca

https://youtu.be/xGVOPRxbFGg?si=EDrsbskuo5exxITy&t=1273

• Who doesn't love a good alla polacca. “Alla polacca” just means “in the style of the Polish polonaise”—that noble, dotted 3/4 dance that composers loved to use for finales in this era. There are alla polacca third movements in quite a few other classical clarinet concertos, including Weber #2, Spohr #2 and Krommer's second concerto for two clarinets. 
• Light and bouncy is the way here! If you want to try out some of the really challenging dotted rhythms in this movement, you could also download the complete part on IMSLP and try the opening, but here I've chosen a technical passage from later in the concerto - we are crossing registers, we are doing some great accents in the clarion register, and we are in general having a beautiful fluid technique - just coming back to those dotted rhythms towards the end of the excerpt.