Michael Collins revisits his discography with this release,
re-making both the Finzi and Arnold concertos. He recorded the
Finzi with Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia back
in 1987 [Virgin Classics 790718-2]. It was a lovely disc, full
of quiet virtuosity and inherent lyricism, and was sympathetically
directed by Hickox. Here we must note the immediate difference:
Collins has dispensed with a conductor. He plays and directs,
and so all decision-making as regards tempi, balance and the
like are his alone.
I doubt it’s that, simply, which has accounted for a slight
shift in his approach. It’s not such a drastic difference,
in any case, considering a quarter of a century has elapsed
since that earlier disc. Still, he now takes slightly more room
to breathe in the slow movement and takes the first movement
just a notch faster. This in no way realigns the work, simply
slightly tautens its exciting opening and allows the Adagio
an extra quotient of pathos; pathos, moreover, that he enhances
and underlines through the use of some really unusually emotive
string phrasing.
He recorded Arnold’s Second Concerto in 1993 for Conifer
with London Musici directed by Mark Stephenson [CDCF228]. His
new recording is decidedly more pungent, both in his articulation
and dynamics and in terms of the recording’s sonic immediacy.
All systems are go with this one: it makes a deal more impact
all round. Tempi are unchanged, the interpretation is discernibly
from the same approach, but the BBC Symphony really digs in,
helped no end by the recording. The Conifer was a much flatter
acoustic and the result was pleasing but rather static. Again
there’s a greater depth to the slow movement, where sentiment
mixes with something here approaching grief. And the fun of
the varsity rag finale is almost immediately elided by the reflective
B section. The notes relate that the first movement cadenza
was written by Richard Rodney Bennett but strangely don’t
add that this was as a result of a commission from Michael Collins
himself (not a jazz player) specifically for the earlier recording
on Conifer.
Finally there is a discographic first for Collins in the shape
of Stanford’s genial Concerto in A minor of 1902. This
receives a winning reading, with Collins’s tone variegated,
and subtly deployed, seemingly unlimited by technical concerns.
Competition here comes from Thea King [Helios CDH55101] and
an archive off-air broadcast performance from her husband, from
whom she learned the work, Jack Thurston [Symposium 1259]. I
won’t suggest you must have the Thurston disc, not least
because of the age of the performance, but he did perform the
work under Stanford’s watchful and approving eye: the
composer wrote a letter of appreciation to the young clarinettist.
Thurston, playing beautifully and highly distinctively, was
accompanied by the BBC Scottish under Stanford Robinson in September
1952. Chandos’s sonics are that much more immediate than
the Hyperion/Helios, but I find huge merit in both performances
artistically; and while I’m at it, you will never in your
life hear keening portamenti in the concerto’s slow movement
such as Stanford Robinson evoked.
I’m pleased that Collins has returned to the Arnold and
Finzi, adding the Stanford. His decision to direct as well as
play is justified by the results. These are all terrific performances.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by Nick
Barnard (November 2012 Recording of the Month)
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BBC Symphony Orchestra/Michael Collins (clarinet) 