BBC Music Magazine, Ingrid Pearson
Four Stars
Clarinetist Robert Plane and pianist Benjamin Frith present a selection of English and Irish clarinet fantasias in their new release. Composers represented include Michael Balfe, Julius Benedict, Thomas Dunhill, Howard Ferguson, Ruth Gipps, Joseph Holbrooke, Elizabeth Maconchy, Thomas Pitfield, Clarence Raybould, Ernest Tomlinson and William Vincent Wallace. This judicious mix of well-known and less familiar names admirably uses the medium of recording to expand the canon of clarinet repertoire.
The album takes its name from Benedict’s 1862 grand opera, on which clarinettist Howard Rogerson’s Fantasia is the album’s most substantial offering. This charming addition to the repertoire receives an equally appealing interpretation from Plane and Frith. It also nicely forms a trilogy with two other fantasias by Charles Le Thière (né Thomas Wilby Tomkins)…
“Imbuing Maconchy’s Fantasia with rhythmic panache, Plane and Frith capture its introspection and drama.”
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“With Gipps’s music finally taking its rightful place in the canon, her Cool Running Water here receives an evocative and thoughtful rendition, showcasing the warmth of the clarinet in A.”
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