"Favourite dish in exchange for favorite music" – this perfectly summarizes the genesis of the Concert Pieces. When the clarinettist Heinrich Joseph Baermann and his son Carl, who also played the basset horn, stopped to pay a visit to Felix Mendelssohn in 1832, they came to a most curious agreement: they promised their composer friend a generous portion of "Dampfnudeln" (steamed dumplings) and "Rahmstrudel" (sweet-cheese strudel) that Mendelssohn was mad about, if he were to write a piece for them which they could use on their concert tours. The Concert Piece that originated in this fashion was followed shortly afterwards by a second one. Both are extremely effective works which wonderfully bring out the unique sound and performance technique of the two instruments from the clarinet family.
This edition contains an additional alternative part for a second clarinet to instead of the basset horn.