Music Web International, Jonathan Woolf

Three virtuoso fantasias on music from famous nineteenth-century British operas form the bedrock of this recital from Robert Plane and Benjamin Frith… The first two are heard in the arrangements of Charles Le Thière (1855-1929), both edited by Howard Rogerson, himself a clarinettist who has a London-based ensemble called the Cosmos Wind Quintet. As he explains in his portion of the booklet notes, three decades ago he undertook the arrangement of The Lily of Killarney, modelling it on Le Thière’s work, and Covid-19 offered an opportunity to refine his work still further. Around these three pieces satellite much more recent works, widening the interest of the programme for the inquisitive listener.

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“…The disc is attractively recorded and presented in trademark house style and the Plane-Frith duo certainly draw the very most from the music.”