Eric Craven – Entangled States

“

Stylistically, the music varies dramatically, sometimes vaguely echoing Prokofiev, at others taking on a Satie-like coolness, at times sounding like an out-take from Bartok’s Mikrokosmos, at others darting over the keyboard like some anonymous post-Webernist [with] a number of vital and delightful pieces. There can be no complaints about the performances or the sound.

” —Peter J. Rabinowitz

“

[A] pretty unique, but interesting conceptual album. Composer and performer work together for one reason and one reason only, a totally individual compositional performance. Mary Dullea does a splendid job of pulling everything together into a complete whole, showing her excellent pianistic skills and creative interpretation. All in all, this is an interesting pianistic album of both power and finesse, and a work which one hopes should have the opportunity of more performances.

” —Peter Byrom-Smith

“

This double CD of solo piano (the ever-reliable Mary Dullea) reminded us of Bach’s Goldberg Variations — not because of the variations (there aren’t any) but because of the way it wends in and out of your consciousness. Neither unstructured or formless, it’s never strident or intrusive.

” —Jeremy Condliffe

“

[The music] could be described as Kaikhosru Sorabji having cocktails with Bill Evans, Count Basie, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky. This is a sweeping stylistic simplification, but it may help. The music is not difficult, it is typically comprehensible to the listener and nearly always pleasing to the ear. The sound quality is excellent, the playing is impressive, ‘inventive’ and dynamic. Everything tells me that this is an ideal ‘wrap’. This is an impressive and often quite beautiful production.

” —John France