diff --git a/src/Compilers/CSharp/Portable/Parser/LanguageParser.cs b/src/Compilers/CSharp/Portable/Parser/LanguageParser.cs
index aeb22d38d17cdb5df9841129bdaa29df1b69d0cc..efbab3eab8e5c956f2c0df8c797b2de9b4572279 100644
--- a/src/Compilers/CSharp/Portable/Parser/LanguageParser.cs
+++ b/src/Compilers/CSharp/Portable/Parser/LanguageParser.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Diagnostics;
+using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
 using System.Threading;
 using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Symbols;
 using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Text;
@@ -7146,35 +7147,44 @@ private bool IsEndOfFixedStatement()
 
         private StatementSyntax ParseEmbeddedStatement()
         {
-            // The consumers of embedded statements are expecting to receive a non-null statement 
-            // yet there are several error conditions that can lead ParseStatementCore to return 
-            // null.  When that occurs create an error empty Statement and return it to the caller.
-            StatementSyntax statement = this.ParseStatementCore() ?? SyntaxFactory.EmptyStatement(EatToken(SyntaxKind.SemicolonToken));
+            // ParseEmbeddedStatement is called through many recursive statement parsing cases. We
+            // keep the body exceptionally simple, and we optimize for the common case, to ensure it
+            // is inlined into the callers.  Otherwise the overhead of this single method can have a
+            // deep impact on the number of recursive calls we can make (more than a hundred during
+            // empirical testing).
 
-            switch (statement.Kind)
+            return parseEmbeddedStatementRest(this.ParseStatementCore());
+
+            StatementSyntax parseEmbeddedStatementRest(StatementSyntax statement)
             {
+                if (statement == null)
+                {
+                    // The consumers of embedded statements are expecting to receive a non-null statement 
+                    // yet there are several error conditions that can lead ParseStatementCore to return 
+                    // null.  When that occurs create an error empty Statement and return it to the caller.
+                    return SyntaxFactory.EmptyStatement(EatToken(SyntaxKind.SemicolonToken));
+                }
+
                 // In scripts, stand-alone expression statements may not be followed by semicolons.
                 // ParseExpressionStatement hides the error.
                 // However, embedded expression statements are required to be followed by semicolon. 
-                case SyntaxKind.ExpressionStatement:
-                    if (IsScript)
-                    {
-                        var expressionStatementSyntax = (ExpressionStatementSyntax)statement;
-                        var semicolonToken = expressionStatementSyntax.SemicolonToken;
+                if (statement.Kind == SyntaxKind.ExpressionStatement &&
+                    IsScript)
+                {
+                    var expressionStatementSyntax = (ExpressionStatementSyntax)statement;
+                    var semicolonToken = expressionStatementSyntax.SemicolonToken;
 
-                        // Do not add a new error if the same error was already added.
-                        if (semicolonToken.IsMissing &&
-                            !semicolonToken.GetDiagnostics().Contains(diagnosticInfo => (ErrorCode)diagnosticInfo.Code == ErrorCode.ERR_SemicolonExpected))
-                        {
-                            semicolonToken = this.AddError(semicolonToken, ErrorCode.ERR_SemicolonExpected);
-                            statement = expressionStatementSyntax.Update(expressionStatementSyntax.Expression, semicolonToken);
-                        }
+                    // Do not add a new error if the same error was already added.
+                    if (semicolonToken.IsMissing &&
+                        !semicolonToken.GetDiagnostics().Contains(diagnosticInfo => (ErrorCode)diagnosticInfo.Code == ErrorCode.ERR_SemicolonExpected))
+                    {
+                        semicolonToken = this.AddError(semicolonToken, ErrorCode.ERR_SemicolonExpected);
+                        return expressionStatementSyntax.Update(expressionStatementSyntax.Expression, semicolonToken);
                     }
+                }
 
-                    break;
+                return statement;
             }
-
-            return statement;
         }
 
         private BreakStatementSyntax ParseBreakStatement()