“With.. Robert Plane in the Clarinet Trio, Op 114, it was the mix of eloquently melodic sweep with precise details of texture and colouring that held the attention. It was all music-making of the highest calibre.” The Guardian 2011 (Brahms Festival, RWCMD, Cardiff)

“With such a starry line-up of players the high quality of these performances will surely come as no surprise…such rapt sensitivity and tonal allure” Classic FM magazine (Alwyn Chamber Music) 2010

“superb premiere….brilliantly exploits the technical resources of the two soloists, their streams of notes fizzing and cart-wheeling” The Times 2010 (Simon Holt ‘Centauromachy’)

“Robert Plane is an eloquent and impassioned clarinettist. The playing is full-blooded and committed…” International Record Review 2010

“Hellawell has mastered the challenge of writing music that sounds familiar yet new, and he has a command of striking gesture. The strongest sense of trajectory was achieved in Degrees of Separation for strings. But better still was Agricolas , where the presence of Robert Plane as clarinet soloist provided the strongest sense of focus.” Irish Times (Piers Hellawell ‘Agricolas’ with RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland) Feb 2011

“I also liked Diana Burrell’s Birthday Candle, in which an array of tinkling percussion embellished Robert Plane’s dazzling clarinet cascades” The Times, Wigmore Hall, Mobius March 2008

“..but the performance of the Finzi Clarinet Concerto which, for me, gets right to the heart is the excellent Robert Plane’s….sinuous and flexible.” Recommended Recording, Building a Library, BBC Radio 3 2006

“The performances are excellent, and Robert Plane is responsive to the shifting moods of the mature sonata…a programme to intrigue all Bax enthusiasts”
BBC Music Magazine 2006

“….splendid performances.This richly rewarding release completes the Gould’s admirable cycle on a high note. Full of lyrical outpouring, warm and varied tone, and perfect judgement of tempi, all these performances display an all too rare ability to combine in equal measure instrumental cohesion and expressive individuality. These are conversations, never debates…heart-warming and mind-nourishing celebrations of community-vividly characterised, very shrewdly built, while never sacrificing small-scale detail to large-scale structure, and grippingly communicative.”
Piano Magazine 2006

” ….the result is gorgeous, as here in the serene conclusion to the slow movement of the Clarinet Trio…exuding poise and elegance.”
CD Review BBC Radio 3 2006 (Brahms Clarinet Trio)

“Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with soloist Robert Plane provided a serene oasis.” The Guardian 2003 (Swansea Festival)

“Congratulations to Robert Plane (clarinet), Philip Dukes (viola) and Sophia Rahman (piano), who this month celebrate ten years of playing together as a trio. The sight of their names on a CD cover or concert programme always excites the highest expectations of imaginative and dedicated musicianship and, as usual, this disc entirely fulfils that promise.” London Evening Standard 2002 (Bruch Chamber Music)

“..a terrific account of the Weber Clarinet Quintet, dazzlingly dispatched by Robert Plane.” Gramophone 2000

“The clarinet plays a brilliant top line in Weber’s Clarinet Quintet op.34. He is a weightless funambulist dancing along the stave, leaping up the leger lines and attacking with a breathless whisper. His two octave leaps are the joy of his instrument, and his finger work in the loud-soft hemi-demi-semi quaver-plus ascents is witness to the hours of effort in a practice room which those who sell records by hype cut short.” London Evening Standard 2001 (EMI Debut CD)

“..the marvellous Plane Dukes Rahman Trio. In Schumann’s Marchenerzahlungen the trio showed a mastery of the Wigmore acoustics. The warm textures were honey rather than treacle, clarity provided by the piquant tone of Philip Dukes’s viola. Balance was perfect. The clarinet-piano Fantasiestucke and viola-piano Marchenbilder were enriched by the same intelligent, fluid articulation, confirming the rightness of this affectionate but unsentimental view of Schumann.” (Wigmore Hall) The Daily Telegraph 1998

“A highly accomplished, indeed commanding performance of Finzi’s gorgeous Clarinet Concerto from Robert Plane. With his bright, singing tone and effortless technical mastery, Plane leaves a stylish impression … We also get an atmospheric account of Lawrence Ashmore’s idiomatic orchestration of the Five Bagatelles (with poignant ‘Romance’ a highlight). All in all, another remarkable British music bargain from Naxos.” Gramophone 1998

“..clarinettist Robert Plane, a formidable young player who combines the charisma and virtuosity of a solo player with the ensemble skills of the orchestral musician.” BBC Music Magazine 1998 (Diana Burrell Concerto London Premiere, Barbican)

“Appropriately, the cover picture is of autumnal woodland. There is a mellowness to these late chamber works by Schumann, a partial reconciliation between the conflicting sides of his nature, though passion is far from spent. The playing here has a similar equilibrium: three fine musicians combining without losing their strong individual characters. Clarinettist Robert Plane’s long, dark sound is a good foil to Philip Dukes’s sharply focused viola tone, and pianist Sophia Rahman’s velvet touch and awareness of inner voices complete the picture.” Daily Telegraph 1998

“Northern Sinfonia’s excellent principal clarinettist, Robert Plane…an assured and persuasive account of the solo role.’ (Diana Burrell Concerto London premiere) The Times 1997

“The concerto was specially written for Robert Plane, whose outstanding musicianship fully justified the composer’s confidence; made clear in both her pre-concert talk, and in her probing of the technical and expressive limits of this finely crafted score…Chamber orchestras ought to be queuing up for a chance at this concerto with Plane.” The Musical Times 1996 (Diana Burrell Concerto premiere)

“Monday Morning’s Pittville Pump Room concert was a perfect advertisement for this year’s Cheltenham Festival. The Plane Dukes Rahman Trio were on top form, there was a friendly rapport between performers and audience, and the programme exemplified the thoughtful planning of the new artistic director, Michael Berkeley. The whole programme suggested that for these musicians, superb playing is the most natural thing in the world.” The Daily Telegraph 1995

“Prime among the first clutch of artists were the pianist Thomas Ades and the clarinettist Robert Plane. There is a distinct lyrical quality in his clarinet playing…Paul Max Edlin’s And From the Tempest a Myriad of Stars and Edward McGuire’s Soundweft both extend the clarinet-player’s technique, and Robert Plane was fully equal to the demands.”Daily Telegraph 1993 (Purcell Room London Debut, Park Lane Group)

“..the star quality of some of the performers. Two stood out from the rest-the cellist Paul Watkins and clarinettist Robert Plane. Plane’s unremitting stamina, tonal variety and gelling accuracy kept a large audience riveted.”The Guardian 1993 (Purcell Room, London Debut, Park Lane Group)

“Rare graciousness and impeccable style characterised Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in which Robert Plane’s tone had a beautifully homogenous quality. He gave the slow movement a quiet rapture, notably in the hushed reprise of the opening.” Yorkshire Post 1993

“..a young man with technique to spare and musicality to match…the slow movement contained one of those rare moments – the audience awed into silence, a velvety halo round the clarinet – in which time stood still.” The Yorkshire Evening Press 1993