Michael Collins Plays British Clarinet Sonatas, Vol. 2 Michael Collins & Michael McHale

• Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006): Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 29:
• 1 Arnold: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 29: I. Allegro con brio 02:36
• 2 Arnold: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 29: II. Andantino 02:35
• 3 Arnold: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 29: III. Furioso 02:09
• Arnold Cooke (1906 - 2005): Sonata in B-Flat for Clarinet and Piano:
• 4 Cooke: Sonata in B-Flat for Clarinet and Piano: I. Allegro moderato 06:04
• 5 Cooke: Sonata in B-Flat for Clarinet and Piano: II. Scherzando 03:13
• 6 Cooke: Sonata in B-Flat for Clarinet and Piano: III. Adagio ma non troppo 06:23
• 7 Cooke: Sonata in B-Flat for Clarinet and Piano: IV. Molto vivace 03:28
• Edward Gregson (b. 1945): Tributes:
• 8 Gregson: Tributes: I. To Francis Poulenc (For Emma Johnson) 01:41
• 9 Gregson: Tributes: II. To Gerald Finzi (For John Bradbury) 03:54
• 10 Gregson: Tributes: III. To Igor Stravinsky (For Linda Merrick) 03:24
• 11 Gregson: Tributes: IV. To Olivier Messiaen (After "Louange á l'Éternité de Jésus") (For Nicholas Cox) 05:39
• 12 Gregson: Tributes: V. To Béla Bartók (For Michael Collins) 03:09
• George Benjamin (1893 - 1960): Le Tombeau de Ravel:
• 13 Benjamin: Le Tombeau de Ravel: Valse-Caprices 13:01
• Joseph Horovitz (b. 1926): Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano:
• 14 Horovitz: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: I. Allegro calmato 04:51
• 15 Horovitz: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: II. Lento, quasi andante 04:08
• 16 Horovitz: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: III. Con brio 03:35
• Total Runtime 01:09:50

Info for Michael Collins Plays British Clarinet Sonatas, Vol. 2

This is Volume 2 in the series ‘British Clarinet Sonatas’, in which Michael Collins is joined by the pianist Michael McHale. BBC Music awarded five stars to Volume 1, and wrote: ‘Collin’s clarinet-playing mesmerises the ear: the closing phrase of Stanford’s ‘Caoine’ movement shows what a player in this league can convey in just two quiet notes. Without snatching the limelight, Michael McHale’s accompanying finds a range of keyboard colours in, above all, the works by Ireland and Howells, making their individual sound-worlds seem unexpectedly subtle and rich.’ On this disc the pair turns to works for clarinet and piano by Arthur Benjamin, Edward Gregson, Joseph Horovitz, Sir Malcolm Arnold, and Arnold Cook.

Arthur Benjamin was Australian-born, but lived out much of his life in England. In its melodies, harmonies, and rhythms, his Le Tombeau de Ravel reflects a deep and long-standing admiration for the music of the French composer – the title itself pays tribute to Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. But whereas Ravel’s Tombeau consists of a prelude and several dances, Benjamin’s is a sequence of ‘Valse-caprices’, which has more in common with a different work by Ravel, the Valses nobles et sentimentales for piano and for orchestra.

Edward Gregson completed his five Tributes in 2010, having started the first of the set some twenty years earlier. Each of the Tributes is written as homage to one of five noted twentieth-century composers who wrote memorably for the clarinet in solo or chamber works. In his own words, Gregson ‘tried to invade the stylistic worlds’ of these composers – namely Poulenc, Finzi, Stravinsky, Messiaen, and Bartók – in much the same way that Arthur Benjamin had channelled Ravel in Le Tombeau de Ravel.

Joseph Horovitz was born in Vienna, but immigrated to England as a boy, and has lived in London for more than seventy years. His output includes operas, ballets, choral works, chamber music, several pieces for brass band, and of course this Sonatina for clarinet and piano, written in 1981 and first performed by Gervase de Peyer and Gwenneth Pryor at the Wigmore Hall, London later that year.

Also on this disc are Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Sonatina for clarinet and piano, written between 1948 and 1951 for the eminent British clarinettist Frederick Thurston, and Arnold Cooke’s Sonata of 1959. Cooke was a student of Paul Hindemith’s in Berlin, and this work is strongly inspired by Hindemith’s trademark compositional use of traditional tonal construction, and clear, cool contrapuntal textures.

"The strongest music on the programme turns out to be the first, where Collins's huge reserves of gorgeous-toned musicianship are rewarded in...Malcolm Arnold's sharp-focus, irreverently brilliant three-movement tour de force...As in Vol. 1 of the series, Collins's lustrous expertise is fully in evidence, as is Michael McHale's top-flight accompanying." (BBC Music Magazine)

"This is a delightful disc, not just through the warmth and fun of the five works by five composers, but through the magic of the great clarinettist Michael Collins" (Gramophone Magazine)

"Collins and McHale have a special affinity for these attractive British chamber music scores. Collins’ exquisite playing is crisp and evinces sure articulation, refined phrasing and agreeable intonation. McHale is sensitive and supportive. Both players radiate pleasurable music-making." (MusicWeb International)

Michael Collins, clarinet
Michael McHale, piano

Michael Collins
is one of the most complete musicians of his generation. With a continuing, distinguished career as a soloist, he has in recent years also become highly regarded as a conductor and in 2010 took the position of Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia. Recent guest conducting and play-directing highlights have included engagements with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Ulster Orchestra, and the HPAC Orchestra in Kyoto, Japan.

This season Michael will also conduct and perform wth the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a studio concert and work with the Kymi Sinfonietta and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra for play-direct programmes. He also and makes his debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, playing and directing a programme of Mozart, Weber and Rossini. As a soloist, he will work with the Charlotte Symphony and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Future plans include OSESP Sao Paulo, as well as a return to the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of the clarinet for many years. He has given premières of works such as John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons, Elliott Carter’s Clarinet Concerto - for which he won a Gramophone award for his recording on Deutsche Grammophon - Brett Dean’s Ariel’s Music and Turnage’s Riffs and Refrains, which was commissioned by the Hallé Orchestra. Collins has gone on to perform Turnage’s work with the Residentie Orkest, Royal Flanders and Helsinki Philharmonics, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Collins has received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2007 in recognition of his pivotal role in premièring repertoire by some of today’s most highly regarded composers.

In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs regularly with the Borodin and Takács quartets, András Schiff, Martha Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Lars Vogt, Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis. His ensemble, London Winds, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2013 and the group maintains a busy diary with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival, City of London Festival, Cheltenham International Festival and Bath Mozartfest. He has a regular relationship with the Wigmore Hall and was one of their Artists in Residence in 2015/16, which includes concerts with London Winds and Christine Rice, Ailish Tynan and with the Borodin Quartet – with whom he will also work at the Cite de la Musique in Paris. Collins is also Artistic Director of the Liberation International Music Festival in Jersey.

Michael Collins records exclusively for Chandos and has covered a wide range of repertoire in his prolific recording career, which also includes releases on Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI and Sony. Recent releases include a disc of British Clarinet Concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which features Collins as soloist and conductor, as well as a disc of Brahms and Reinicke Clarinet Sonatas with pianist Michael McHale. Collins’s 50th Birthday was celebrated with a Chandos release of Weber Concertos conducted and performed by himself with the City of London Sinfonia. He has also recorded concertos by Corigliano, Adams, Carter, as well as Spohr, Copland and of course Mozart. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2015, Michael Collins was awarded an MBE for his services to music. He plays exclusively on Yamaha clarinets.

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