Chandos has just released a new CD with Michael Collins (clarinet) and Michael McHale (piano) entitled ‘British Clarinet Sonatas Volume 2′ (CHAN 10758). Included on the CD is the premiere recording of Edward Gregson’s ‘Tributes’ for clarinet and piano, which was premiered by the same two performers in 2010 at a BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Recital from Glasgow.
‘Tributes’ is in five movements, each dedicated to a different twentieth century composer who wrote memorably for the clarinet: Poulenc, Finzi, Stravinsky, Messiaen, and Bartok. Each piece in turn is also dedicated to a different clarinettist with whom the composer has worked, the last of which is Michael Collins, for whom Gregson also wrote his large-scale Clarinet Concerto in 1994, and which Collins has recorded on the Chandos label with the BBC Philharmonic.