Reviews

Trevor Barnard plays these often difficult pieces very well, achieving a wonderful full sound. The recording is exemplary. The cover design and full notes (many by the composers) are excellent. The disc is an interesting one and indicates the wealth of composing talent in the Antipodes.

Superbly interpreted by Trevor Barnard, who plays with feeling, sensitivity and enormous conviction… a splendid recording

This release is another magnificent offering from this fine performer.

Pianist Raymond Clarke has long been associated with both of these composers, and ….. is particularly good at creating a sense of atmosphere in the delicate passages of these works. The Pentasonata is an impressive achievement.

Committed and perceptive playing from Clarke, who for more than a decade now has been among the most stimulating and wide-ranging pianists of his generation, and a recorded balance which does justice to the crisp, clear outlines of the music.  More discs from this source are keenly awaited.

This is an important CD, which is strongly recommended on every level. …….played with notable understanding and virtuosity. ….. Raymond Clarke is much to be commended for his promotion of such beautifully written compositions…… A terrific issue, very well recorded.

Fine, enterprising and intelligently planned…rigorous, strong and thoughtful….Clarke fully exploits all the sustained power his Steinway can give him…a very welcome release

… a fascinating program intelligently executed. Raymond Clarke… plays all these coolly passionate works superbly and contributes expansive notes. The recording, made at the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne, has plenty of depth and color. Highly recommended.

Raymond Clarke plays this music with great affection and understanding

Clarke is especially good at conveying the off-the-wall perversity of the Ten Aphorisms, and his absolute technical control is vital in the exposed textures of the Panufnik. His masterly booklet essay reveals that he is also a first-rate writer on music.

Five Preludes from op.2,3 by Shostakovich, plus the premiere recording of all Sir Andrzej Panufnik’s music. The music is easily absorbed, even light in nature in the case of Shostakovich, and very approachable. Raymond Clarke’s playing is effective and clean. Recorded in the King’s Hall of Newcastle University it’s worth a try. * * * […]

This is a marvellous showcase disc for the formidable talents of Tamara Gries…Cronin’s Suite for Recorder and Strings is a minor masterpiece…This is a wonderful disc for the recorder aficionado but it also ought to draw a much wider appeal… all the new music here and much of the old is well worth your attention… an interesting, stimulating and ultimately moving selection of works ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A lovely and unpretentious CD… I … will be playing this one many times.. and I am sure you will too

very beautiful: refined in line and texture, haunting yet spare and superbly captured by [McLachlan] Recording ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Performance ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clear sound, committed performances

Surely this must be counted as one of the most important piano recordings ever issued of Charles Camilleri’s music. As time goes by, the mind becomes more lucid, assimilates influences fairly spectacularly and contributes ideas of such hallowed genius that the all-embracing universe can only hope to contemplate cosmologies and harmony. ‘Paganiniana’ is a delightful […]

The prolific output of the Maltese-born composer Charles Camilleri has gone through a number of phases, as explained in Murray McLachlan’s booklet notes, and this new CD is made up of music from the composer’s recent, more spiritual, period; that is from the late 1970s to the present day. Throughout Camilleri’s varied career there have […]

something of a tour de force… Murray McLachlan is an impressive exponent of this score and he is very well recorded – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Stevenson displays]… a revelatory understanding of the keyboard… both an astonishing compositional achievement and a deeply impressive emotional experience. The CD is a considerable achievement in musical and sound-recording terms: a wonderful 75th birthday present for the composer. Strongly recommended.

Murray McLachlan… turns in a noble, committed, sometimes harrowing performance