Mozart, Copland & Kats-Chernin: Works for Clarinet & Orchestra

�... In recent efforts, Collins has cultivated a cleaner sound to accompany his always impressive musicianship and technique, and his playing here is some his best. His timbre is clear and resonant, and while it naturally has a touch of British flavour, it is disciplined and colourful. The Mozart is beautiful, perceptive, and breathtaking; the Copland is intimate and exuberant; and the Kats-Chernin is urgent an raucous. His expressive risk-taking is enjoyable, too, from the joyful decorations in the Mozart to the sassy pitch-bending in the Kats-Chernin... The Swedish Chamber orchestra plays with seemingly effortless aplomb and professionalism, no matter the composer or the century.� --American Record Guide, May/June 2013

�...Throughout, Michael Collins is in his element, relishing every twist and turn of the music�s consistently imaginative invention ... Michael Collins is just as at home here [Copelands�s Concerto] as he is in the Mozart and Kats-Chernin, directing the Swedish Chamber Orchestra with idiomatic panache.� --Gramophone magazine, March 2013

 �...Collins is better integrated with the orchestra than virtually any of his predecessors ... The sense of spontaneous, organic interplay between clarinet and orchestra is most welcome ... Few recordings on either period or modern instruments manage this interplay as well � and few orchestras, period or modern, manage a collective sense of phrasing as convincing as the Swedish Chamber Orchestra here, making this a strong recommendation. The ravishing opening pages of the Copeland are given their full quota of swoon and the collective phrasing of the orchestral strings is consistently excellent - again the chamber-music qualities of this performance are a particular delight... Collins proves a strong and committed advocate for the work...� --International Record Review, January 2013