Reviews

No one should easily pass up the chance to hear Goldstone’s insouciant virtuosity. {He brings] cultured and cultivated tonal qualities… playfulness too, conjured with a sense of breadth and tonal imagination, and warm phrasing. These qualities are reinforced by the excellent recording and good notes.

[Goldstone] delivers as rousing and scenic a version as 80 orchestral musicians. The only thing missing is cymbals on his feet. This level of musicianship makes the orchestra redundant. Highly recommended to all pianophiles and Tchaikovsky fans alike.

An underrated musician with an unrivalled pedigree… thumpingly effective.. a magnificent account of the Serenade for Strings which completely defies expectations and comes brilliantly and sonorously to life in the hands of this consummate expert and masterly technician.

No one should easily pass up the chance to hear Goldstone’s insouciant virtuosity. {He brings] cultured and cultivated tonal qualities… playfulness too, conjured with a sense of breadth and tonal imagination, and warm phrasing. These qualities are reinforced by the excellent recording and good notes.

Goldstone makes his bravura mark from the outset .. luminous keyboard sound, and his polyphony quite sweeps us along to the end … a fascinating excursion into Tchaikovsky.

Exhilaration not just of the music itself … but of defiant medium-crossing. Creating stringiness on an essentially percussive instrument brings an added zest.

One has to compliment [Goldstone] on recording all this music with the necessary virtuosity and enormous stamina which is required. A musicological exercise – and a very good one…this pianist’s remarkable recorded legacy … will maintain his presence in catalogues of the distant future.

I love to hear [piano versions] for a better look at the inner structure … these selections are all wonderful.

Anthony Goldstone has always provided me with the greatest of pleasure by the consistency of his interpretations. He delights in the unusual in his choice of material and this is no exception.

Goldstone plays them all [the pieces] with great fluency and panache

A luminous collection, the showpiece is Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal by Paul Mealor… an impressive choral work that superbly combines the clean and open harmonies of the Renaissance with the more distant harmonic intervals of today. The blend of voices is in perfect equilibrium. The sound recording… wraps you in a warm blanket of sound.

This disc presents a very imaginative approach… obviously there is no competition in this sort of recital and the singing by the choir is always perfectly tuned and beautifully recorded.

This is a fascinating collection of madrigals from various eras. Con Anima’s careful execution of each piece seems to add character. The engineers at Divine Art have done well in making you feel as though you are in a small hall listening to this wonderful choir.

This is a must for anyone relishing the choral expression of passionate poetry across the ages.

A golden blend of a cappella repertoire both ancient and modern. Juicy atmospherics. Rating ****

The performer[‘s] attention to detail and nuance, especially in the ornamentation, makes listening most enjoyable. The disc offers excellent value and is one to which I shall return.

In this recital you get some gems… recognisably crafted with extraordinary and humble genius. A fine meeting of instrument and performer. I’ve had hours of pleasure from this CD already and there are many more to come.

David Hamilton is clearly a fine organist, but there’s no doubt that the instrument is the real star of this disc… what this organ lacks in power it makes up for in the precision of the sound and the subtle combinations of the tone colours. Hamilton is quite conservative in his use of ornaments and his rubato is either non-existent or so subtle as to be imperceptible. The result is a series of very clean interpretations, an approach ideally matched to the tone and scale of the instrument. The sound quality is good, and it seems that the organ and the acoustic are ideally matched. An enjoyable disc then, and not your usual Bach greatest hits.

Hamilton feels a natural affinity for the music of Baroque composers such as Bach and this crisply crafted offering serves up a varied and representative selection of the great man’s organ works, taking advantage of the naturally warm acoustic that this Danish designed instrument offers to the skilled practitioner.

Start with Bach and organ, add a cat that knows and loves both and let the fun begin. Well done and tasty.