Franz Peter Schubert

“The other jewel is Tennstedt’s Beethoven: Ninth Symphony, crackling with nervous energy from the start and showcasing the LPO’s intuitive relationship with its late lamented German chief.” Financial Times, 27 October 2007

“An electrifying Beethoven Choral Symphony from Tennstedt.” Sunday Telegraph, 20 January 2008

“BBC Legends have done no greater service than issuing so much Richter, and this latest disc of Schubert and Schumann, with a magical Debussy encore, shows him at his most intimate with the composers he loved most.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 *****

“Schubert composed his A minor Sonata, D784 in 1823, the year in which he learnt he was suffering from an incurable venereal disease. Richter digs deep in this remarkably, bleak and uncompromising reading. The enforced optimism of the final Allegro vivace leaves us with a bitter taste, while the famously treacherous closing octave triplets are dispatched with breathtaking nonchalance.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“The performance is hypnotic, full of the subtlest shades of colour” Donald Manildi, International Record Review

“This is the most enjoyable account of Schubert's Octet I can remember, on disc or in concert. It would be hard to devise a more distinguished group, and that is reflected in the freshness of the playing. The Scherzo third movement is wonderfully bouncy and the following Minuet elegant in its phrasing, with a fine spring in the rhythm and nice interplay between clarinet and violin. The finale swaggers along infectiously. In the lovely song with clarinet obbligato, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Malcolm Martineau is the sensitive pianist accompanying the bright, fresh soprano of Ailish Tynan.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“What a heart! When Collins recapped the adagio theme in a ravishing hush, time and the world stood still” The Times

“A hugely enjoyable account of Schubert's Octet.
It is a work lasting an hour, which with its many repeats can easily outstay its welcome despite the freshness of Schubert's invention. But Michael Collins and friends give a performance that is wonderfully resilient and imaginative.
The Octet was commissioned by Count Ferdinand Troyer, steward to the clarinet-playing Archduke Rudolph, and that instrument is most regularly brought to the fore. Michael Collins, the most inspired British clarinettist of his generation, fully brings out the beauty of the writing. Schubert also knew that Ignaz Shuppanzigh, leader of the quartet most closely associated with performing Beethoven's later quartets, was to be the first violin, and he, too, was given the limelight. Isabelle van Keulen is the excellent first violin. Others in the brilliant team include the Norwegian viola-player Lars Tomter, double bass-player Peter Riegelbauer of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Robin O'Neill, first bassoon in the Philharmonia.
It would be hard to devise a more distinguished group, and that is reflected in the freshness of the playing. The Scherzo third movement is wonderfully bouncy and the following Minuet elegant in its phrasing, with a fine spring in the rhythm and nice interplay between clarinet and violin. The finale swaggers along infectiously. In the lovely song with clarinet obbligato, Der Hirtauf dem Felsen, Malcolm Martineau is the sensitive pianist accompanying the bright, fresh soprano of Ailish Tynan. The sense of a live performance in both Octet and song is beautifully caught.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The spirit of friends relaxing in each other's company is truthfully caught on disc” International Record Review, January 2011