The Lyrical Clarinet
Norbert BURGMÜLLER (1810-1836)
Duo Op.15 (1834) [11:03]
Gerald FINZI (1901-1956)
Five Bagatelles Op.23 (1942) [14:59]
Heinrich Joseph BAERMANN (1784-1847)
Adagio arr. Pamela Weston from the Clarinet Quintet No.3 Op.23 (1821) [4:15]
Camille SAINT-SANS (1835-1921)
Clarinet Sonata Op.167 (1921) [15:55]
Arvo PRT (b. 1935)
Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) [9:15]
Paul READE (1943-1997)
Suite from The Victorian Kitchen Garden (for Emma Johnson) (1987) [11:23]
Francis POULENC (1899-1963)
Clarinet Sonata S184 (1962) [13:37]
Michael Collins (clarinet)
Michael McHale (piano)
rec. June 2010, Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk
CHANDOS CHAN10637 [80:27]
Michael Collins has been recording for Chandos what one might call thematic
mood albums; virtuosity has been covered [CHAN10615 - see review]
and here is lyricism. Burgmllers Duo is a single movement, but tripartite
piece, dating from 1834. It assuredly lives up to the disc billing, being
profusely lyric, but in its central panel cleverly evokes the operatic by
means of declamatory piano statements above which the clarinet spins vocalised
curlicues of decidedly virtuosic pretension. It hardly aspires to anything
especially deep, but makes for a good palette refreshing opener.
Finzis wartime Bagatelles are a clarinet staple. Collins's subtly coloured,
variegated tone is a perfect fit. Hes rhythmically sharp in the Prelude, and
elegantly relaxed in the Romance, though I have to admit I do prefer John
Denmans slightly brisker tempo. Collins however plays the Carol with disarming
simplicity, the tone remaining richly rounded, and he brings a very vocalised
sense to the Forlana with its echoes of the composers great setting of Hardys
For Life I Had Never Cared Greatly and specifically the lines Conditions
of Doubt/Conditions that leaked slowly out.
Heinrich Joseph Baermann was an elite clarinettist of his time. His Clarinet
Quintet of 1821 was rediscovered in 1922 and claimed to be a very early work
by Wagner. Pamela Weston has arranged the Adagio from the Quintet for clarinet
and piano, and most effectively, as its a lovely movement, rich and warm.
Paul Reades Suite from The Victorian Kitchen Garden comes from music for a
TV series, and can be accompanied either by piano (as here) or harp. The five
gentle scenes are atmospheric and engaging, the second (called Spring) having
requisite jauntiness and the third Mists just the right sense of stillness.
I know Prts Spiegel im Spiegel gets trotted out often in one of its
manifold arrangements, especially when mining pathos in TV war documentaries
the Barber Adagio de nos jours but I can certainly take the composers
clarinet/piano version nicely. Nine minutes doesnt seem a second too long.
And finally then to two very different French Clarinet sonatas. The Saint-Sans
was composed at the very end of his long life. Its suffused with easy going
charm and lyrical content. Collins drops to the chalumeau register in the
slow movement where the pianos rolled chords remind one very distinctly of
Csar Franck. Collins conveys the quietude and ending-without-regret quality
of this work very adeptly. The Poulenc too was a very late work, composed
the year before his death and dedicated to the memory of Honegger. Again this
is a convincingly argued performance. Its a touch more measured than, say,
Richard Horsfield and Ian Brown in the Nash Ensembles performance, but Collins
and Michael McHale balance the introversion of the Romanza with the freewheeling
dynamism of the finale well.
The warm recording comes courtesy of Potton Hall, an elite venue of choice
for chamber recitals.
Jonathan Woolf