Reviews

Melody is always to the fore and while there is lyricism there are moments of exciting dash … there is no padding and time wasting. The variety in the music holds the attention; there is always something new happening. The Toccata Op 33 is very impressive and calls for a pianist with a cool head and tough fingers; it is simply splendid. The Six Preludes Op 37 are a delight. They require real skill from the performer, who is excellent. This CD is a joy and we should hear some of this music in recitals.

Breath-taking … for the breadth of insight Natalia Andreeva brings to these scores. Ustvolskaya has a voice all of her own. There is a Webernian concision to her expressive means; nothing is wasted, nothing is frivolous. Strongly recommended as a reminder of the sheer power music can wield.

[Ustvolskaya’s] music is completely original, yet quintessentially Russian. Ms Andreeva is most impressive. This is astonishing music (Shostakovich thought so as well). A welcome release.

Skilled and totally committed readings. Galina Ustvolskaya was a significant figure even when the concert public barely knew of her. We are drawn lucidly into an output for the piano that can sound like … the evolution of an original artist who rigorously controlled the process of change. Personally, I found it liberating to listen to this release; it added a dimension to Soviet music culture that I barely suspected, besides introducing one of the most intriguing Modernist imaginations one could ever imagine surviving under such hostile conditions.

Natalia Andreeva gives us finely honed, expressively thoroughgoing renditions …[she] conveys to us the picture of a composer of acute demeanor, a school of one if you like. It is beautiful music, totally without concessions, extraordinarily original, turgid, high modern without respite. That means you must put yourself squarely into her world to appreciate her the more deeply. And if you do that repeatedly there is magic. Ustvolskaya, based on this recording, is a discovery of great magnitude. I salute Ms. Andreeva and those at Divine Art for making this music so vibrantly available to us. Galina Ustvolskaya and this set of the piano music is a highly important one, something that will surely give you another way of hearing musical modernity. Bravo! Terrific!

I can detect no shortcomings in Andreeva’s interpretations. Her playing is technically proficient, and she is scrupulous in matters of weighting and dynamics. The sound of this recording is spacious, vivid, and clear. This release has persuaded me that Galina Ustvolskaya is a very interesting composer, one whose music is well worth exploring, and I recommend it.

Natalia Andreeva gives [the music] more spiritual than acoustical weight … it is understatement and melancholy that characterizes the interpretation. The interpretation and playing is consistently insightful.

Russian pianist Natalia Andreeva, who now lectures in Australia, has studied Ustvolskaya in depth and captures the sound the composer wanted. We like Ustvolskaya because she asked people not to analyse her music, just listen, and it is music that should be taken as it is. In a nutshell this is the opposite of romantic: it’s the melancholy of Russia, where happiness is probably laced with vodka and life is hard.

Ustvolskaya was an enigma: a quiet, reserved and introspective individual who wrote powerful, massively constructed (yet short in length) music which astounded her audiences. Russian pianist Natalia Andreeva has studied Ustvolskaya’s music in great depth and while fully committed to the great mechanistic climaxes also brings out in these recordings the lyrical and melodic qualities which are always present, expecially in the earlier works such as the picturesque Preludes. This double CD is an invaluable introduction to a composer who will be seen in hindsight as a pivotal figure in the development of twentieth century Soviet/Russian music.

Even the briefest of introductions to this music divulges a sound-world that is far removed from anything we have come to expect of Soviet Russian music. I recognise its huge importance and its massive contribution to Russian music. Ustvolskaya has been given the soubriquet as ‘The Lady with the Hammer’ and this is sometimes appropriate. However, much of this music sounds tentative rather than violent or abrasive. The first-rate liner notes by the present pianist Natalia Andreeva set out detailed information about all these pieces as well as some interpretive commentary. The present pianist contributes well to the bleakness, the barbarity and the abstraction of this music. She exhibits superb technical mastery of the music.

You can hear [the Preludes] as a mid-point in Ustvolskaya’s stylistic evolution, paring back the harmony (what remains is often generated by the counterpoint) and reducing melodies to angular, often repeated, shapes. It may be too hard-edged to be spellbinding, but its incantatory patterns and relentless repetitions do have a hypnotic effect. It says much for Natalia Andreeva that she gets such variety of expression from such self-contained material. Most importantly, Andreeva gives us more to listen to than had struck me in this seemingly rebarbative music.

The music on this beautiful Divine Art release stands in the mainstream English musical idiom well-known in the works of Malcolm Arnold, and aesthetically related to the pastoral sound of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The Partita is a stunning work for recorder and cello. This disc provides high audio quality, and the CD package is very well designed. The notes by the composer invite the listener into the pieces. The enunciation of Bowman and Rogers is so clear that the inclusion of song texts in the booklet is almost unnecessary.

A most gifted composer… 71 minutes of sheer delight … utterly clear, undistorted, intimately comforting sound. The musicians serve this beautiful music with a neat mix of flair and accuracy coupled to that elusive style so difficult to imitate, so impossible to pin down, so quintessentially English.

The writing is always concise and well made, and the manner is generally genial… Wood has succeeded admirably with this appealing music.

[The Concertino is] an enjoyable and approachable work that deserves a place in the concerted recorder repertoire. There is a simplicity [in the Motets] that is both moving and inspirational. They are beautifully sung by Lesley-Jane Rogers.This significant work [(Aria, Recitative and Rondo)] is ideally suited to Bowman’s fabulous voice. The sound quality of this Divine Art disc is clear and vibrant. The playing by all the performers is, as would be expected, absolutely splendid. Special commendation goes to John Turner’s superb recorder playing and Lesley-Jane Rogers’ delightful soprano voice.

Woods’s own characteristic musical language is ever present, especially in his writing for the voice. Philip Wood is a composer who displays his craft and inspiration in music of considerable appeal; the musicians on this CD are clearly at one with his musical creativity, and give fine performances of considerable insight and commitment – highly recommended.

Music that lies firmly and delightfully in the neo-classical camp, with a pronounced sort of late renaissance/baroque-meets-modern feel. Wood is a new voice who carries on with music that captures the English countryside as the English composers are fond of capturing it – regenerative, idyllic, like Hardy’s Wessex, only without his ultimately tragic outlook. Performances are first-rate and the music transcends some of our weary, dreary present! Recommended!

This is one of the finest discs of music for flute and piano I have heard in years. The performances are immaculate: suffused with notable musicianship throughout, they are very well recorded. An excellent disc.

Odinn Baldvinsson and Patricia Romero have developed a sensitive rapport as joint performers with controlled virtuosity and musicianship evident in their performances. An impressive and enjoyable CD.

All in all, this is a fascinating CD. The playing by Odinn Baldvinsson, flute and Patricia Romero, piano is superb in every way. All of these works are technically demanding. The recording is excellent. The notes are clear, easy to read and immediately helpful. For all enthusiasts of flute music this disc is a must. My favourite work was the Widor, but all the other pieces are of huge interest and musical value.