American Record Guide

Robin Stevens composed numerous works for choir as music director of St Paul’s Church in York, England before he was sidelined by a debilitating illness for nearly two decades. In 2007 he returned to health and then composition.

This album is the first of his music to be released on Divine Art. These are all miniatures for winds, mostly for solo instruments with or without accompaniment, with a short wind quintet at the end. He sorts his pieces into three categories: “songs without words, character pieces, and more ambitious fledgling tone-poems”. I would further divide them between neoromantic and various modern styles. Taken all together, it can be overwhelming, moving rapidly between thorny, moody dissonance and sweet 19th Century romanticism. I advise listening in different sittings.

That said, most of these pieces are well written—a credit to Stevens’s versatility. Some of the unaccompanied solos are a bit too esoteric for my tastes, but other¬wise, I enjoyed this. I particularly liked the music with piano, as these pieces showed off his adventurous harmony.

These miniatures are bursting with ideas; I get the sense that he would be content to let some of these ideas unfold in larger-scale works. Ideally we won’t have long to wait—Divine Art is slated to release two string quartets and a quintet in the future. In all, an engaging, if scattered album.

—Nathan Faro