La Clarinette Parisienne

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The four canonical pieces need no puffs from me and, like everything else on the disc, are played superbly...Ogawa is both self-effacing when required, and unfailingly prompt and sympathetic... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2021 More…

Release Date: 28th May 2021
Catalogue No: BIS2497
Label: BIS
Length: 61 minutes

Presto Editor's Choice

May 2021
Gramophone Magazine

September 2021

Editor's Choice

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

Debussy: Première rhapsodie, L.116

Work length7:54

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

Michael Collins (clarinet), Noriko Ogawa (piano)

Widor: Introduction et Rondo (op. 72)

Work length7:45

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

Michael Collins (clarinet), Noriko Ogawa (piano)

Saint-Saëns: Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167

Work length15:27

$4.00

$5.20

$7.00

Michael Collins (clarinet), Noriko Ogawa (piano)

I. Allegretto

Track length4:20

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Allegro animato

Track length1:57

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Lento

Track length4:04

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

IV. Molto allegro

Track length5:06

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Messager: Solo de concours

Work length5:37

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Michael Collins (clarinet), Noriko Ogawa (piano)

Rabaud: Solo de concours, Op. 10

Work length5:25

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Michael Collins (clarinet), Noriko Ogawa (piano)

Poulenc: Sonata for Two Clarinets, Op. 7

Work length5:53

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Michael Collins (clarinet), Sérgio Pires (clarinet)

I. Presto

Track length1:44

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Andante

Track length2:12

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Vif

Track length1:57

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata, Op. 184

Work length13:32

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Michael Collins (clarinet), Noriko Ogawa (piano)

I. Allegro tristamente

Track length5:26

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Romanza

Track length4:51

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Allegro con fuoco

Track length3:15

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

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About

Up until around 1900 the clarinet repertoire was dominated by music from the German-speaking lands, largely due to the influence of three outstanding clarinettists. Inspired by Anton Stadler, Heinrich Bärmann and Richard Mühlfeld respectively, Mozart, Weber and Brahms composed some of the finest clarinet works ever written. But especially after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French cultural establishment became increasingly concerned with cultivating a national voice of its own, and Michael Collins’s new release is a reminder of this. The works recorded here all date from the last years of the 19th century and afterwards, and it is striking that four of them (Debussy, Widor, Messager and Rabaud) were written as competition pieces for the Paris Conservatoire –the institution which played such a decisive role in shaping French musical life. But even though they were commissioned for educational purposes there is nothing academic about them: from Debussy’s seductive Rhapsodie to Messager’s light-heartedly brilliant Solo de concours there is instead a definite French – maybe even Parisian – quality to them. This also applies to the Clarinet Sonata by Saint-Saëns, composed in the last year of his life but full of charm and courtly irony. Closing the disc are two works from either end of Francis Poulenc’s life. While the brief Sonata for two clarinets from 1918 is pure and cheeky fun, the 1962 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano is more conflicted emotionally, as indicated by the first movement’s tempo marking Allegro tristamente. Throughout the greater part of the programme, Collins is partnered by Noriko Ogawa, whose pianism has won her particular acclaim in French repertoire, with Sérgio Pires making a guest appearance in Poulenc’s clarinet duo.

Reviews

September 2021

The four canonical pieces need no puffs from me and, like everything else on the disc, are played superbly...Ogawa is both self-effacing when required, and unfailingly prompt and sympathetic in support. The excellent recording allows us to savour the duo’s beautiful tone and their wide, and accurate, range of dynamics.

September 2021

You get a real sense of almost instinctive give and take between Collins and Ogawa here...A most engaging disc, beautifully done.

May 2021

This lovely programme is the perfect companion for an early summer’s evening: though several of the works here were written as competition-pieces for the Paris Conservatoire, everything feels like real chamber-music rather than display-vehicles, with Collins and Ogawa bringing bags of poise and wit to the entire programme. Poulenc’s tiny Sonata for Two Clarinets (for which Collins is joined by Sérgio Pires) is such fun that I found myself wishing it was at least four times longer.

La Clarinette Parisienne

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