Donald Satz wrote:

>Starting from the ground floor, Weber wrote four piano sonatas which
>are highly regarded by some folks.  He wrote two piano concertos and a
>Konzertstuck for Piano and Orchestra; I like these more than the piano
>sonatas.  There are two masses of note which have been recorded a few
>times.

I'm the opposite I like the last two piano sonatas more than the clarinet
and piano concertos.  I'm not very good with words I've had to go to a few
CD booklets to help me explain this.  The first two piano sonatas and the
piano and clarinet concertos were written earlier in his career then the
last two piano sonatas, konzertstuck, and Der Freischutz.  The clarinet
concertos were written for a clarinet virtuoso, and Weber himself was a
piano virtuoso.  Consequently the concertos and first two sonatas are very
showy pieces.  The konzertstuck although showy was written when he was a
more refined composer.  The fourth piano sonata is in my opinion Weber at
his best.  It is one of his deepest works.

>Too bad he never wrote a "clarinet" opera.

The clarinet was used a lot in Der Freischutz and represents some of
Weber's more refined and less showy music for that instrument.

Weber also wrote popular piano pieces like Invitation to the Dance, and
some good lieder.

Joe
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