Many will remember Michael Collins as the fresh-faced teenager who was one of the earliest winners of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition back in the 1980's. Now, having passed his fiftieth year, it is clear that he still maintains that youthful enthusiasm in every note that he plays. He has, of course, continued to build on his extraordinary virtuosity as was evident in the final piece of this lunchtime recital and one of the great potboilers of the clarinet repertoire - Messager's Solo de Concours - which completely took the breath away and elicited the loudest cheer that I have heard in the Dora Stoutzker Hall.

What had however been clear throughout the rest of this marvelous recital was how unimportant technical wizardry per se was to Michael Collins. The dazzling technique was taken for granted as he delivered wonderfully sensitive performances of three contrasting twentieth century pieces.

He opened with what was indisputably a definitive performance of the Dance Preludes by Witold Lutoslawski. The composer had consulted the young Collins during the composition of this work, which has by now become part of the staple diet for any clarinetist, thirty years ago and, when asked about how one should approach the piece, the notoriously unassuming composer had merely replied ' It uses folktunes. Enjoy yourself'. Michael Collins certainly heeded this simple principle.

This was followed by Poulenc's Clarinet Sonata. The contrast to the brusque percussiveness of Lutoslawski's opener could hardly have been greater. Here there was suavity and lyricism with whispered pianissimo passages that had the audience holding its breath.

The excellent support of pianist Zoe Smith was nowhere more apparent than in the other work heard - the less familiar Time Pieces by Robert Muczynski.