On Monday 6th January, Michael Collins joined pianist Stephen Hough and the Castalian Quartet at Wigmore Hall to perform a Brahms feast: his two clarinet sonatas and his clarinet quintet, alongside Beethoven’s Spring sonata (arranged for clarinet quintet by Stephen Hough).
The concert has since received ravishing reviews:
The Guardian:
“Hough and Collins, old friends, joined forces in Brahms’s two clarinet sonatas with an ideal union of wistfulness and passion.”
“How Collins managed to sustain his energy, as well as his seemingly limitless, invisibly achieved breath control, is anyone’s guess.”
“To hear this music, so full of poetry, joy and sorrow, realised to such perfection, felt like a miracle.”
“Collins’ rich, rounded tone was in evidence right from the start…”
“Gloomy old Brahms? No, this was Brahms revelling in October sunshine, drinking in the colours – and doubtless the fruits of the wine harvest – around him. Sheer bliss.”
“Collins and Hough introduced freshness and vitality into this autumnal masterpiece.”
“Collins’s clarinet glided and hovered sky high in the final poignant moments of the last movement. A magical evening of superlative music making! If only Tchaikovsky and Britten could have been there to hear it.”
The concert will be broadcast on Radio 3 on Thursday 12 March, 7.30pm, then on BBC Sounds.
