Robert Plane

Robert Plane has served for many years as principal clarinetist of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales while simultaneously building a robust solo profile. His work has drawn particular attention for its deep engagement with British clarinet literature and its consistent championing of contemporary compositions.

Born in Great Yarmouth on England’s eastern coast, Plane first studied a wind instrument at school by taking up the recorder. He changed to the clarinet after attending a recital by the celebrated Jack Brymer at the local Hippodrome; the performance occurred, as he later noted, immediately following the departure of a circus from the hall, leaving behind the lingering odor of the animals. His principal instructor was Thea King, who held the post of principal clarinetist with the English Chamber Orchestra for an extended period. Recognition arrived in 1992 when he captured first prize in London’s Royal Overseas League Music Competition, after which solo engagements followed with ensembles that included the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Malta Philharmonic, and the City of London Sinfonia.

Throughout most of his professional life Plane has held orchestral positions. These included principal clarinet posts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Northern Sinfonia before he assumed the same role with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 1999. He has also served on the clarinet faculty of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as well as Queen’s University. In the chamber-music sphere he has frequently performed clarinet quintets with Germany’s Mandelring Quartett and with several ensembles from Britain and the United States. Contemporary music has formed a central focus of both his concert activity and his discography; his BBC Proms debut took place in 2011 in Simon Holt’s double concerto Centauromachy.

Plane’s extensive recorded output began in 1998 with Gerald Finzi’s Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra, Op. 31, and has remained centered largely on British repertoire. A notable entry is the 2008 release of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with the Gould Piano Trio, issued to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth and widely praised by critics. His recordings have appeared on the Naxos, Chandos, and Resonus Classics labels, among others; for Resonus he participated in the 2019 album By Footpath and Stile, devoted to Finzi’s chamber works.