{"product_id":"the-lyrical-clarinet","title":"The Lyrical Clarinet","description":"Michael Collins has been recording for Chandos what one might                     call thematic ‘mood’ albums; virtuosity has been covered [CHAN10615]                     and here is lyricism. Burgmüller’s 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.                     \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    Finzi’s wartime Bagatelles are a clarinet staple. Collins’s                     subtly coloured, variegated tone is a perfect fit. He’s rhythmically                     sharp in the Prelude, and elegantly relaxed in the Romance,                     though I have to admit I do prefer John Denman’s 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 composer’s great                     setting of Hardy’s \u003ci\u003eFor Life I Had Never Cared Greatly\u003c\/i\u003e                     and specifically the lines ‘Conditions of Doubt\/Conditions that                     leaked slowly out.’ \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    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 it’s a lovely movement, rich and warm. Paul                     Reade’s 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 Pärt’s \u003ci\u003eSpiegel im Spiegel\u003c\/i\u003e gets trotted out often                     in one of its manifold arrangements, especially when mining                     pathos in TV war documentaries – the Barber Adagio \u003ci\u003ede nos                     jours \u003c\/i\u003e– but I can certainly take the composer’s clarinet\/piano                     version nicely. Nine minutes doesn’t seem a second too long.                     \u003cbr\u003e                      \u003cbr\u003e                    And finally then to two very different French Clarinet sonatas.                     The Saint-Saëns was composed at the very end of his long life.                     It’s suffused with easy going charm and lyrical content. Collins                     drops to the chalumeau register in the slow movement where the                     piano’s rolled chords remind one very distinctly of César 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.                     It’s a touch more measured than, say, Richard Horsfield and                     Ian Brown in the Nash Ensemble’s performance, but Collins and                     Michael McHale balance the introversion of the Romanza with                     the freewheeling dynamism of the finale well. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    The warm recording comes courtesy of Potton Hall, an elite venue                     of choice for chamber recitals. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    -- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704189362456,"sku":"095115163726","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1806837.jpg?v=1777755903","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/the-lyrical-clarinet","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}