Customer Reviews

Mozart / Beethoven: Clarinet Concertos

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Mozart clarinet concerto is my favorite piece of music, and this recording may become the standard for me. I've had it in my car CD player for about a week and am struck each time I listen to it by how beautiful a recording this really is.

Concerning the the Pay/Hogwood recording which has been the standard classic for several years: Of course it is a very nice recording, and will continue to be a third choice for me. (Second is the fantastic 60's recording I have on cassette and conducted by George Szell). However, it's never been my favorite, partly because the sticking of the keys on Mr. Pay's basset clarinet are so LOUD, but also because their seems to my ear to be little to no feeling in the playing. The version at hand is also played on a basset (read: period) clarinet, but especially in the middle movement, the feeling is overwhelming.

The Beethoven concerto, originally for violin, is also outstanding and a real treat for clarinet lovers. There are things you can do on a violin you can't on a clarinet, but the whole thing has been transcribed by Pletnev, who went to great lengths to moderate the great length of the original violin line.

I strongly recommend this CD.

This is a wonderful recording that everyone should hear! I've only heard 2 recordings of Michael Collins, but from what I've heard so far, he has a really great sound (dark and centered, very clear) and excellent technique.

Collin's Mozart is well done, though he doesn't really "break any new ground" (of course, the piece is so well known and widely recorded that there isn't really anything new he could have done, even if he tried). The only thing that annoys me is that there is a certain spot in the central section of the middle movement where Collins (who is playing a basset clarinet) plays a passage in the range normally employed by the A clarinet. I realize this is a minor detail, but the thing I like best about the piece on basset is that in the slow movement, there passages in the middle section right before the return of the original melody which are normally changed for the A clarinet, but are much better when played in what is supposedly the original range on basset. This is the part I look forward to when listening to the slow movement. I was a little disappointed to hear that he left one of the passages in the altered state, although his instrument could play the lower notes... However, this is just a reflection of my personal tastes, and not any shortcoming on Collin's part.

The Beethoven is wonderful, and Collins does a great job. The only problem I find (and this is entirely my own problem) is that since the piece is 1) a HUGE piece in the violin repertoire that I am very familar with and 2) very difficult and contains some passages that are entirely out of character for the clarinet (such as passage where breathing is almost impossible, or awkward technical things) I am constantly aware that the piece is NOT a clarinet concerto, which is somewhat distracting. Collins pulls off the harder spots very well, and they sound good. I just can't help thinking about the technical aspects of the transcription, rather than just sitting back and enjoying the music. However, as I said, this is just me being unable to turn off that nagging voice in my head and just enjoy (I think that this would be much less of an issue if you didn't know the violin version so well).

Overall, this is a great CD. Collin's Mozart could probably stand up to any other version on the market (although Antony Pay's is my personal favorite). The Beethoven is an ambitious undertaking, and I think it is entirely successful (both from a musical and technical standpoint). Enjoy!

Forget any reservations you may have regarding the transcription of Beethoven's masterpiece - it is truly wonderful, sounding both lyrical and beautiful on the clarinet. Michael Collins performs the definitive Mozart Clarinet Concerto. This is simply the greatest reading of this work that I have ever heard. If you only buy one cd in this lifetime, this has to be the one!

British music lovers cherish their wind soloists, and Michael Collins is as beloved as his teacher, Thea King, before him. Fans had to wait until the year 2000 for Collins to record the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, which serves as the cornerstone of the classical clarinet repertoire. He gives a skillful, expressive reading with refreshingly quick tempos in the two outer movements. Like King, Collins plays a basset horn, that is, a tenor clarinet with a few notes added to the bottom of the range. It's well known that Mozart considered the clarinet a delightful addition to the orchestra, and his concerto exploits all the new tones and timbres the instrument affords. Collins is fairly demure where other soloists are more show-offy about what the clarinet can do technically, but this is a very enjoyable rendition among the many other good ones that came before.

As part of their general adulation, the Gramophone speaks admiringly of Pletnev's transcription of the Beethoven Violin Concerto. I can't see how it's more than a curiosity, like Beethoven's own piano transcription. I doubt anyone after Collins will ever play it, and the claim made in the liner notes that this expands the repertoire of the clarinet seems far-fetched. In the piano version tame, workaday chords and arpeggios had to be added to fill out the solo violin line, and the result ruins the texture of the work. It would have been interesting if Beethoven had totally transformed the music by delivering a virtuoso piano part, but he didn't -- he realized that the transcription was a toss-off.

To suit the clarinet, the score was transposed down an octave, double-stops were eliminated, and various adjustments in register were inserted as need be. If these changes hadn't been made, the high-flying violin part would have resulted in a constantly shrieking clarinet. But by squeezing almost every passage toward the middle of the instrument's range, we arrive at a dull timbre that lacks variety, esprit, sparkle, and (if I may say so) spirituality. I realize that I'm throwing cold water on every other reviewer's enthusiasm, but I can only give my personal reaction, which was boredom. Collins plays with his accustomed elegance and assurance. Pletnev's conducting is small-scaled, however, even timid.

Overall, these performances are recommendable to Michael Collins fans, but I doubt I will return to this CD in the future, certainly not to the Beethoven, which reduces a masterpiece to a curio.

I have many recordings of Mozart's sublime Clarinet Concerto, and they're all wonderful. This reading by British clarinetist Michael Collins, accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev, is one of my favorites. Mr. Collins performs the concerto on a modern Basset clarinet which extends the instrument's range downward several notes. Mozart wrote his concerto for the Basset clarinet, and it really makes quite a difference when hearing those marvelous arpeggios runs taken from the lower-most regions of the instrument's range. Michael Collin's plays the concerto with tremendous feeling, and demonstrates a flawless technique. Kudos go to the Russian National Orchestra as well for their beautiful and spirited accompaniment.

The other work on this CD is an arrangement of Beethoven's Violin concerto (by conductor Mikhail Pletnev) transcribed for clarinet. To my knowledge this is the only recording available of the clarinet arrangement, which makes this CD even more treasured. Needless-to-say, in the hands of Michael Collins it's outstanding in every way. BTW, there is also an equally outstanding piano arrangement of Beethoven's Violin concerto on Naxos (#8554288) coupled with his Triple concerto. I'm happy to report that Beethoven's Violin concerto has been beautifully adapted to each incarnation. Highly recommended CD!!!!

Mozart's clarinet concerto (Collins) certainly sounds better than Pay's "sticky key-pad" performance. The Beethoven violin concerto transcribed for clarinet sounds warm, relaxed and right at home. The violin concerto had to be rewritten slightly to allow Michael Collins to breathe while playing this piece! I believe Gramophone recommended this CD for the Mozart clarinet concerto. You know something, they were right......

Well, I'm a clarinetist, so I simply must give this five stars.

The Mozart clarinet concerto is well-played, but not all that special. Yes, it is on a basset clarinet, and I consider that essential. But there are other good recordings, such as by the very artistic Sabine Meyer, or by Antony Pay, or Joan Enric Lluna, or David Shifrin, or Thea King, or my favorite, Charles Neidich.

And yes, there are some options about just which notes ought to be lowered when the concerto is played on the basset clarinet. I think this is not a big issue.

Anyway, we all know why we are getting this album. It's for the Beethoven violin concerto, played on a clarinet, with great cadenzas by Pletnev. It is not an easy piece. In the first movement, one occasionally has to omit notes just to breathe.

I like it. I think clarinetists need to try playing concertos written for other instruments.

Forget any reservations you may have regarding the transcription of Beethoven's masterpiece - it is truly wonderful, sounding both lyrical and beautiful on the clarinet. Michael Collins performs the definitive Mozart Clarinet Concerto. This is simply the greatest reading of this work that I have ever heard. If you only buy one cd in this lifetime, this has to be the one!

Forget any reservations you may have regarding the transcription of Beethoven's masterpiece - it is truly wonderful, sounding both lyrical and beautiful on the clarinet. Michael Collins performs the definitive Mozart Clarinet Concerto. This is simply the greatest reading of this work that I have ever heard. If you only buy one cd in this lifetime, this has to be the one!