Reviews

…engrossing…Although the four pieces here are different in important ways, they all share a linear sense of energy…I found the music to be pretty in its modernistic way…engaging.

Estrellita is an excellent release…a lovely look at a musical world that is largely unknown to all too many people outside Spain or Latin America.

This release is a must for any art song aficionado…truly a top recommendation for those who want to explore some fantastic Spanish songs with performances to match.

This is an album of contemporary music that I think will have wide appeal…Many…might also find a surprising element of comfort in difficult times here, and that alone is cause for celebration. Strongly recommended.

A very moving album, well performed, recorded, and annotated. More, Buller’s music reaffirms music’s crucial role in reminding us who we are, and what is important. Recommended.

Conspirare sings Mark Buller’s music with radiant beauty, affecting dramatic involvement, and clear, precise diction. Buller’s colorful, diverse instrumental writing is beautifully served by Conspirare’s strings, guitar, and percussion complement. Fine performances of searching, communicative works. Recommended.

Cantores Lucis…is a top notch ensemble. This is music of true devotion…fine work.

Pace’s performances are magnificent: this is music he plays with absolute authority and conviction, and the results should absorb anyone coming to this music…A landmark recording.

Combine Hicks’s refined and intelligent pianism with his detailed exploration of the sources, and the result is engrossing.

Esther Rayo invites you to this experience, as unforeseen as it is captivating, and she does it with the infinite warmth and sweetness of her timbre. Peter Grünberg, with a very well articulated interpretation and sober in its exquisiteness, greatly delights listening.… Rayo and Grünberg offer dazzling performances here.

…a joy to listen to…Her playing captures and projects the ‘spur of the moment’, the ‘swing’ elements of Kapustin’s music…and all of it without missing a beat.

Ophelia Gordon’s rolling left hand and rhythmic aplomb makes Kapustin’s pieces snap into life. ‘Big Band Sounds’ feels like a collage of asides from Gershwin songs, the swingtastic ‘Paraphrase on Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca’ had me dancing round my speakers. A delight.

Kapustin’s thrilling, toe-tapping piano jazz is performed with virtuosic daring.

Ophelia Gordon plays…with admirable ease: the rhythmic accuracy and richness of color are captivating…a truly great album and an important one in the discography.

…an impressive debut recording that leaves one wanting to hear more from this bold and authentic artist.

Rayo’s warm, sweet tone and silky-smooth legato is especially successful in tender, lyrical songs… while in faster songs…she dances nimbly through the syncopated rhythms. … a joy throughout… surprisingly affecting.

The organ music is certainly rich in both intellectual depth and imagination…the brilliant young organist Forrest Eimold has produced an impressive double CD of these complex works.

The orchestration…is very skillfully done. Combined with the excellent singing of Ryan De Ryke, Ryan Townsend Strand and Kimberly Jones, the three well-chosen extracts [Two Soldiers] are a fine introduction to the individual and accessible style of Lofstrom. The song cycles which follow…show Lofstrom’s invention and his facility for word setting. Overall, this is a very attractive introduction to Doug Lofstrom’s vocal music.

This is unquestionably a tour de force and a highly significant issue. Pace is superbly equipped to tackle Finnissy’s exhilarating demands…making this set indispensable for those wishing to explore the outer reaches of transcendent virtuosity and imagination. 

The traditions of Western and Arabic music have profitably encountered each other at several points in history…none has explored the mixture in as much depth as Haitham Haidar. its ambition and passion are to be welcomed. It is an album unlike any other…