The clarinet began life as a poor relation to the oboe and flute. Players usually doubled roles, and it was not until the 1770s, nearly eighty years after the instrument's invention, that any significant dedicated repertory developed.

The concertos on this recording show the extent to which native English composers quickly embraced the galant idiom in works of great spirit which frequently exploit the more colourful palette to be drawn from the clarinet when it is employed in tonalities remote to the natural pitch of the instrument.