Michael Collins and Michael McHale here present a new volume in their exploration of the lyrical clarinet repertoire. Their journey through works that encapsulate the variety of nuance and colour of which the instrument is capable, inevitably led them to another great composer for the medium: Max Reger.

The Brahms-influenced (see CHAN10844), essentially lyrical and tender works recorded here contrast particularly with the more familiar, contrapuntally rich – and loud – organ music usually associated with Reger. The three clarinet sonatas are among fourteen such duo works in his published output, composed between 1890 and 1915: effectively his entire compositional career. Although his continuing adherence to sonata-form principles is clearly evident in the two Op.49 sonatas, the greater formal clarity of Op.107 suggests that the lightness and geniality, even plainness, which Reger ascribed to it form part of an underlying ‘classical’ simplicity of conception, for all the music’s ‘modernistic’ surface.

On top of his conducting career (City of London Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra) and various recitals around the world, Michael Collins will hold a four-concert residency at LSO St Luke’s in the 2017–18 season, dedicated to chamber music and including recitals with Michael McHale.