Robert Plane/Bbcsso - Reawakened: Robert Plane

Clarinettist Robert Plane�s passion for British clarinet music reaches new heights on this album of world premiere recordings. A first-rate journey of discovery through newly discovered clarinet music that deserves a place in the international repertoire, led by a master of the instrument. Over a 25-year recording career, Robert Plane has made remarkable new discoveries of works by Bax, Holbrooke, Milford and others: here he turns his attention to lost concerto repertoire for his instrument, the clarinet. This album showcases rediscoveries of works by celebrated composers who have become unjustly neglected; each work adding a distinctive and fascinating new voice to the genre of the British clarinet concerto. Iain Hamilton�s concerto � a large-scale, RPS-Award-winning work by an admired composer � has been un-played for over 50 years, probably because the orchestral parts were mislaid after just a handful of performances; Ruth Gipps was a wonderful composer simply struggling to be heard in a male-dominated musical world; Richard H Walthew left his clarinet concerto in manuscript and un-orchestrated on his death, here sensitively and stylishly orchestrated by Alfie Pugh. This album also features John Ireland�s much-loved Fantasy Sonata. A highly successful showpiece for the clarinet, an instrument Ireland was justifiably fond of, this is superbly effective in Graham Parlett�s orchestration for clarinet and strings, bringing its joyous pastoral character to the fore.