When Michael Collins has given so many inspired performances in concert of Mozart’s supreme masterpiece, it is surprising that we have had to wait so long for a recording from him. Yet what a bonus this new issue now brings, a daring transcription for the clarinet by Pletnev of the Beethoven Violin Concerto. The conductor is quoted as saying that ‘the clarinet needs more big works, and the Beethoven would certainly fill a gap.’ After all, Beethoven himself made a piano transcription, and in many ways the clarinet fits the music more comfortably.
Collins in his notes outlines the differences that the transcription has entailed, as for example over violin double-stopping, but tends to underplay the degree to which transpositions down an octave have been required in all three movements. The marvel is that Pletnev has managed the shifting up and down so deftly. What matters is that passagework has regularly been shifted to the register which most suits the clarinet, making passagework sound natural, whereas keeping the clarinet, like the violin, high up above the stave would have resulted in uncomfortable shrieking.
Collins makes no bones in his note about the problem of performing such a piece, not just interpretatively but technically, too. As he says, ‘there are places, in the first movement in particular, when the solo line just doesn’t stop, turning such mundane things as taking a breath into a major concern.’ The wonder is that he makes light of all problems, so that one can readily enjoy the music in a new way, with the warmth of Beethoven’s lyricism the more richly brought out in clarinet tone, not just in the slow movement – where Collins feels the advantages are greatest – but in the long first movement, too. Sensibly, the cadenza (by Pletnev) is kept to a modest length – barely two minutes – is predominantly lyrical, and produces fireworks only in the middle.
What is clear is that, whatever reservations there may be about the transcription, here is music which provides a most satisfying coupling for the Mozart.
Like his teacher, Thea King, Collins uses a basset clarinet in Mozart’s great work, relishing the extra downward range and richness of timbre. This is as masterful a reading as there is in the catalogue, providing a fascinating contrast to King’s on Hyperion, long my favourite. Collins’s speeds in the outer movements are markedly faster than King’s, wonderfully agile with the cleanest articulation and crisp rhythmic pointing as well as fine detail. It is a reading not just elegant but powerful, too, as well as deeply poetic in the slow movement. There Collins comes closest to King, fining down his tone to the gentlest pianissimo on the reprise of the main theme (track 2, 4'36'').
The playing of the Russian National Orchestra under Pletnev is refined and elegant to match. This is a unique and generous coupling which brings out the mastery of this brilliant artist more compellingly than ever.'