Isotonic: Commissions for Clarinet
Resonus Classics RES10319
Robert Plane (clarinet)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Geoffrey Patterson (conductor)
Gould Piano Trio
Benjamin Frith (piano)
Mark David Boden: Clarinet Concerto (clarinet and orchestra)
Huw Watkins: Four Fables (clarinet, violin, cello, piano)
Diana Burrell: Clarinet Concerto (clarinet and orchestra)
Sarah Frances Jenkins: Shivelight (clarinet and piano)
Throughout his career, clarinettist Robert Plane has given the premiere performances of a number of works written especially for him, and is renowned as a champion of contemporary music.
This album celebrates the results of the intense and very personal collaborations between Plane and the composers Diana Burrell, Huw Watkins, Mark David Boden and Sarah Frances Jenkins. Plane is joined by pianist Benjamin Frith, the Gould Piano Trio and the BBC Philharmonic under the direction of conductor Geoffrey Paterson.
Reviews:
‘Now when composer Mark Boden wrote a new concerto for clarinettist Robert Plane, it was a sporting enthusiasm they shared that propelled the piece: long distance running. So the concerto’s overall form is loosely based on the physiology of marathon running, beginning with ‘Adrenaline’, overflowing with the nervous excitement and rhythmic energy of a marathon runner….And after that adrenal rush, we’re taken through ‘Refuelling’ with its spikes of energy; then the dreamlike state achieved, they tell us, at about 16 miles or so when things can get tough and you ask why you’re doing it at all; then ‘Hypertension’, and the rush to the finish line: elation and exhaustion.
It’s an engaging new concerto I think. All of these pieces are commissions for Plane. Huw Watkins ‘Four Fables’ with the Gould Piano Trio are lovely things: a set of sensual, abstract tales inspired by Robert Schumann’s fairytales. The album’s called ‘Isotonic’, after the Boden concerto’s second movement, it’s new from Resonus Classics.’ Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 Record Review