Robert Plane and the Gould Trio

“An admirably well judged, scrupulously expressive performance”

Gramophone

“a perfect balance of structural exactitude and lyricism”

The Guardian

Robert Plane and the Gould Trio have been giving concerts, recording and touring together for thirty years. They were initially brought together in performances of Messiaen’s monumental Quartet for the End of Time, a work of extraordinary power, luminous beauty and spiritual enrichment. They’ve given countless performances over the years, particularly in 2008, the centenary of Messiaen’s birth, when they also made their CD recording for Chandos, hailed by BBC Music Magazine as the ‘finest modern recording’ of this epic masterpiece, and garnering acclaim across the press.

Perhaps the immensity of Messiaen’s work is responsible for the relatively few works for this combination of instruments. In a quest to change this the ensemble asked composer Huw Watkins to compose for them, to mark the 20th-anniversary of the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival, which they direct together in Northumberland. With co-commissioners the Swansea International Festival, Three Choirs Festival and the Wigmore Hall onboard, they gave the premiere of Four Fables at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford on July 31st 2018. Thrilled that Huw produced such an inspired, poetic and exhilarating work for them, the dedicatees have already given over twenty-five performances, from the Wigmore Hall and a US premiere in Portland, Oregon at the distinguished Friends of Chamber Music series, to Festivals and music societies throughout the UK. They have recently explored the music’s natural affinity with movement in performances with dancer Mayuri Boonham.

Their CD collaborations include cycles of the complete trios of Beethoven and Brahms, as well rarities of the twentieth century English repertoire by Bax, Stanford, York Bowen, Cyril Scott and Robin Milford. February 2023 saw the release of their latest joint recording, a disc of chamber works by Pamela Harrison receiving their world premiere recordings, which was given a special feature in Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine and selected as one of Gramophone Magazine’s “best new classical albums”.

Robert Plane’s career as a solo and chamber clarinettist is rich and varied. Concerto appearances in Europe, Asia and North America have included performances of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in Madrid with the City of London Sinfonia, Beijing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and in the USA with the Virginia Symphony. A champion of new music as well as the classics, Rob is equally at home performing Christian Jost’s concerto Heart of Darkness with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker and Simon Holt’s Centauromachy at the 2011 BBC Proms as playing Finzi with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Stanford with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Copland with the London Mozart Players. He has given the world premieres of concertos by Judith Bingham, Diana Burrell, Piers Hellawell and Mark Boden.

Rob has tirelessly pursued a particular passion for British clarinet music in concert and on disc, his Gramophone Award-winning account of Finzi’s Concerto and Gramophone Award-shortlisted Bax Sonatas being just two of a large collection of recordings of works by the great English Romantics.

Rob has explored the clarinet quintet repertoire with a number of the finest string quartets, including the Skampa Quartet (Brahms live on BBC Radio 3 from St George’s, Bristol) and Elias Quartet (many appearances including Brahms and Bliss at Wigmore Hall and the upcoming premiere of Judith Bingham’s new clarinet quintet at the 2024 Three Choirs Festival), as well as concerts with the Mandelring, Marmen, Castalian, Heath, Maggini, Brodsky, Carducci, Sacconi and Callino Quartets.

Rob is clarinettist of Ensemble 360 and enjoys exploring chamber music of all kinds with them at their home in the Crucible, Sheffield and country-wide. He is also a member of Trio Meister Raro alongside violist Rachel Roberts and pianist Tim Horton.

Always keen to take on a challenge, Rob has performed Boulez’s epic Dialogue de l’ombre double at Belfast Sonorities Festival in 2018, Manchester’s Stoller Hall in 2019 and Cardiff’s WhirlWinds Festival in 2022. Rob’s disc Reawakened features concertos he himself unearthed by Iain Hamilton, Ruth Gipps and Richard Walthew, recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and released in July 2020 by Champs Hill Records. His recent solo album, Isotonic, was released on Resonus in July 2023, and features four of his commissions from the past twenty-five years, including the clarinet concertos of Diana Burrell and Mark David Boden, recorded with the BBC Philharmonic. Releases in 2024 included Pierrot Portraits (“a Pierrot to treasure”) with Ensemble 360 and soprano Claire Booth (as well as a second volume of the chamber music and songs of Pamela Harrison.

Rob was principal clarinet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for over twenty years and has held the same position with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia. A respected teacher and educator, he holds the post of Head of Woodwind Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The Gould Piano Trio has been compared in the Washington Post to the great Beaux Arts Trio for their “musical fire” and “dedication to the genre” and has remained at the forefront of the international chamber music scene for over a quarter of a century.

Launched by winning first prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, they were European Concert Halls Organisation “Rising Stars”, making a highly successful debut at New York’s Weill Recital Hall, described by Strad Magazine as “Pure Gould”. Their many appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall have included the complete piano trios of Dvořák, Mendelssohn and Schubert, and they returned to this iconic venue to present a Beethoven Cycle in the 2022-2023 season.

The trio’s passionate belief in the importance of developing new repertoire has resulted in commissioning works from many contemporary composers. Commissions from Sir James MacMillan and Mark Simpson saw premieres at the Bath International Festival and the PRS New Music Biennale in Hull, City of Culture, 2017. Their most recent commission, John Casken’s Lust of Roots, was premiered at the 2022 Buxton Festival, and at their Cheltenham Festival appearance the same year they performed the RPS commission, ilk, by Andrew Chen.