About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

In what must be a special sense of mission or spirit of dedication, Hyperion promotes the works of Louis Spohr with more care, consistency, and quality than almost any other label, and presents his works with the finest performances, production, and sound it can muster. Its recordings of Spohr's chamber works -- the "Octet" and "Nonet" with the Gaudier Ensemble, as well as the four double quartets with the strings of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields -- are already bona fide classics, so the excellence of this 2005 release of the "Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in C minor" and the "Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E flat major," performed with radiant tone and smooth virtuosity by clarinetist Michael Collins, should come as no surprise. Backed by the technically polished yet expressively warm accompaniment of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, sensitively conducted by Robin O'Neill, Collins demonstrates not only his phenomenally fluid technique, but also an exquisite sense of period flavor. These purely Classical works of Spohr's youth, which often resemble the music of Mozart, Collins, and O'Neill, have taken care to re-create a proper late eighteenth century sound and avoid any anachronistic hints of Beethoven or Weber. The rather frivolous "Potpourri in F major" and the quasi-operatic "Variations in B flat major" are provided as entertaining filler; but the two concertos are definitely worth hearing, and more than once by serious connoisseurs of Spohr's best work. Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

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