CD REVIEW -
The Lily of Killarney
Clarinet Fantasias from England
and Ireland
ROBERT
PLANE - CLARINET / BENJAMIN FRITH
- PIANO
MPR118 [79:31]
This is a
well-filled well played album of
largely lightish music kindly
sent by the previously unknown to
me Mike Purton Recordings
(started in 2014) as being of
possible interest to our readers.
Two very
distinguished musicians are
involved. Robert Plane has had
over a thirty-year musical career
and was principal clarinet of the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
for over 20 years, at other times
holding the same position with
the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra and Royal Northern
Sinfonia. He has played the world
premieres of concertos by four
composers. A BBC Radio 3 review
referred to him "…
exuding poise and elegance
…" He is now Head of
Woodwind at the Royal Welsh
College of Music and Drama.
Plane's
duo-musician, Yorkshire-born
(1957) pianist Benjamin Frith, is
not a new name here as back in
2017 he was enthusiastically
reviewed on an album of E J
Moeran's music, one of many for
the Naxos label. He has recorded
over 80 albums including 17 for
solo piano. Gramophone magazine
once opined "… he
possesses a formidable talent
both musically and
technically".
I am pleased to
see the name of Ernest Tomlinson
– for Canzonetta
– among the 11 composers on
20 tracks. Some of you will
probably know that he was a
second study clarinettist during
his student days. The opening
number is Michael Balph's Fantasia
on The Bohemian Girl with
its reminder of I dreamt I
dwelt in Marble Halls, a
very popular aria in my younger
years.
The main and
longest work, a tad over 15
minutes, by Julian Benedict, who
in 1838 became the conductor of
the English Opera at Drury Lane,
has the same name as the album.
It's an Irish story helping to
place it alongside the works of
that country's composers Balfe
and Wallace in the so-called
'Irish Ring'.
Thomas Dunhill's Phantasy
Suite, Howard Ferguson's Four
Short Pieces, William
Vincent Wallace's Fantasia on
Maritana and mainly
miniatures by Ruth Gipps, Joseph
Holbrooke, Elizabeth Maconchy,
Thomas Pitfield and Clarence
Raybould complete the selection.
Himself a
clarinettist of some fifty years
standing, Howard Rogerson, who
devised and financially supported
this release, writes an
Introduction and with Plane six
pages of Notes in the booklet,
which also contains coloured
photos of the two musicians.
An all-round
quality product well worth
investigating. It can be sampled
and purchased at www.mikepurtonrecording.com
©
Peter Burt, August 2025
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