Reviews

A thoughtfully constructed programme

Divine Art move forward with their fine overview of Russian Piano Music. Anthony Goldstone is not just any pianist, and he still finds many new things to say within this old warhorse (Pictures at an Exhibition). Another fine addition to the series, which like its predecessors, does a good job of capturing the essence of the composer in one snapshot. It’s like receiving a picture postcard from Russia.

Possibly the most important recording in Anthony Goldstone’s series. There is no let-down … an essential purchase for Mussorgsky enthusiasts. A worthy addition to an important series, strongly recommended.

Surely there is no more entertaining or exploratory a piano duo in the world today than Goldstone & Clemmow. [They] have undertaken a recording programme that is throwing up many more first performances, arrangements and novelties than ever before. I’ve enjoyed this disc immensely… when the playing and recording are as good as this, I don’t think you could possibly complain.

[Divine Art] is lucky to have under contract pianist Anthony Goldstone. At last, a Pictures as the composer intended it. I must especially praise the program notes by the pianist for the detailed insight into the music.

For good value Goldstone gives earlier versions of three representative ‘pictures’. In Goldstone’s performance the ‘Great Gate’ and its peal of bells have a massive solidity.

Goldstone’s excellent series is dominated by the manuscript version of Mussorgsky’s magnum opus for piano… [the composer’s work has a] strikingly novel quality.

They’re at their brilliant best… these performances are never less than richly experienced and musicianly and Divine Art’s sound is admirably clear, leaving you to wonder what this admirable duo still have up their sleeves and their fingers.

Surely there is no more entertaining or exploratory a piano duo in the world today than Goldstone & Clemmow. [They] have undertaken a recording programme that is throwing up many more first performances, arrangements and novelties than ever before. I’ve enjoyed this disc immensely… when the playing and recording are as good as this, I don’t think you could possibly complain.

The arrangements – some lovingly done by the composers themselves – and playing are both so spirited and accomplished that I’m entirely won over. A most enjoyable musical tour of Spain, very attractively and very stereophonically recorded as well.

Here is one brilliant idea: collect approximately 75 minutes of highly accessible music… and have one of today’s best piano duos record it. That pretty much sums up Delicias. The performances are superb … their playing has a unity of purpose. It is particularly impressive how the pianists treat all the scores with respect and manage to avoid ever sounding cheesy. The engineering is excellent, as are Goldstone’s informative notes. Enthusiastically recommended.

I must label this delightful in every way…fabulously performed… the performance makes you forget that you are listening to two pianists. [A] most entertaining release.

Pieces of coruscating brilliance. Joyous recital

Two excellent individual pianists who work so well together that they truly do play as one. This is a CD that you actually want to listen to over and over again. You’ll want to sit down with your headphones on and experience how really wonderful this disc is.

Madrigali is a rewarding work. Rewarding but not easy to perform. Lauridsen’s style is quickly recognizable: richly consonant chords occasionally spiced with mild dissonances. Mealor’s writing is fundamentally conservative [but his] use of micropolyphony … is not far from Ligeti. A very good performance by any standard.

Interesting in many ways… that they are performed by a Russian pianist somehow adds extra Russian taste. Mr Dukachev [has] trademark Russian pianistic technique – steely tone, masculine power and glitzy virtuosity… meticulous attention to the structural elements of the music. Music lovers may well wish to put [this] on their CD shelves

[This series is] intriguing us certainly, and perhaps edifying us also. Rachmaninov characteristically lets rip with much whizz-bang pianism. Dukachev shares with [the composer] both a first name and a comparably enviable technique.

A far reaching overview of Prokofiev’s output. Pianist Sergei Dukachev finds the Russianism within each work and places it front and center, His playing is constantly at the music’s service. If you are looking for an all-in-one neat little package of the piano works of Prokofiev, you can’t do much better than this.

[The works on this disc] make a splendid coupling, and I admired the virility and poetry couched in superlative ambience.

Absolutely compelling. This is musical architecture at its highest, and Diana Boyle reads it very personally and with profound feeling and sincerity, while at the same time faithfully conserving the music’s universal quality. It is one of the most exciting and technically excellent interpretations I know.