Reviews

A fascinating and stimulating recital.

Murray McLachlan is a wizard of technical piano prowess. More importantly, he reveals an amazing depth of understanding regarding music which though thoroughly attractive, poses multiple questions regarding its formal structures. Geoffrey Allen could not have found a better evangelist of the piano than Murray McLachlan.

Fluent and inventive. The CD is altogether an ingratiating portrait of a composer well worth attention.

Premiere recordings of a remarkable set of compositions. Those interested in solo piano music of the post-war era will be rewarded if they seek out these fine performances of Geoffrey Allen’s sonatas. Having heard the discs I believe that he is a significant, if unfamiliar, contributor to the solo piano literature. His music has been exceptionally well served here. There’s plenty of depth in the music, which is consistently of genuine worth. Métier have done Allen proud in terms of presentation. The sound is very satisfactory. The documentation is excellent: Murray McLachlan’s notes are invaluable.

All the items are very well played in a way which makes you forget that you are listening to modern grand piano; one is simply conscious of Bach’s music, which is as it should be. The effect is very pleasing and in the best possible way, tranquillising. It did make me want to hear more of Jonathan Phillips’ Bach-playing.

This is an impressive cycle of Spanish-inspired works, performed with fervent devotion by Sheppard Skærved and Chadwick. Gregory Fritze writes in an unabashedly tonal idiom, but somehow it appears fresh as a daisy.

Blake cites the strong influence of African musical techniques, melodic patterns, and rhythms in shaping these pieces. Australian pianist Antony Gray plays every piece with conviction and skill. The recorded sound is excellent. I can recommend this release to curious listeners interested in exploring new keyboard repertoire, but in a style still tethered to tradition.

This is a superb release, thought-provoking and utterly involving. Roderick Chadwick is a name to remember; his command and understanding of Messiaen’s use of gesture is complete. This is a commanding performance… one of the most perfectly programmed twofers I have ever heard.

Antony Gray’s achievement is not merely technical. He is able to sustain the attention throughout via what feels like deep saturation in Blake’s score. Structurally the set seems perfectly considered. This is one heck of a ride into a host of Africanisms, something truly different, truly engaging. It is probably heresy to say that I prefer Blake’s Afrikosmos to Bartók’s Mikrokosmos; but there we are, it is true.

Many things recommend this collection of American choral works… American Choral Classics earns its recommendation and then some, not only for solid performances by the choir but for working [Copland’s] In the Beginning into its varied programme.

She does bring much to these songs. At times there is a great depth of beauty, and an overall sense of understanding of her repertoire. I expect that many listeners will be impressed by Aylish Kerrigan’s sympathetic performances.

If I encountered any one of these sonatas on a recital program, I would be pleased. Allen’s music is free-form tonal, in the ambiguous way favored by Delius, seasoned by passing dissonance. He mixes traditional harmonies and unstable ones in a way that gives the music some degree of unpredictability.

Andrew Brownell’s program is, in some ways, conservative. That will make a lot of people happy, and Brownell plays these works very well.

Highly imaginative and captivating. There are moments of extraordinary delicacy along with moments of enormous power. The qualities that make Chadwick’s performance compelling include its beauty in quiet passages, Chadwick’s accuracy and clarity in the most rapid passagework and repeated notes, and the majesty of the mystical sections. Chadwick’s performance is a model of delicacy and phrase-shaping. The recorded sound is utterly natural. This is an extremely successful recording.

Andrew Brownell’s program is, in some ways, conservative. That will make a lot of people happy, and Brownell plays these works very well.

The music is steeped in the British choral and vocal tradition as it was before Benjamin Britten… beautifully sung by the nine-voice Knighton Consort.

This release is the kind of thing collectors live for: a large body of sophisticated work by a composer with a strong, personal voice, played with understanding and finesse. McLachlan is in total accord with Allen’s muse throughout, sound quality is first rate, and the music itself amounts to a major discovery.

These are pieces that one simply sits back and luxuriates in. I’ve been singing [Fritze’s] praises as a gifted composer mentally to myself and out loud to a handful of other people individually. I’m very happy to now be able to do so in print to a much wider audience. Peter Sheppard Skærved and pianist Roderick Chadwick make an exceptional team in bringing these works to light. Between the superb music and the equally superb music-making, this CD is catapulted to the “must own” category of recordings.

There is a sense of laser-like concentration everywhere. This disc of “music for mixed ensemble” by Robin Stevens is cherishable; the performances and recording are beyond criticism.

Recorded on the fine organ at the Pauluskirche, in Ulm, this disc presents a carefully chosen selection of contemporary organ music. Cooman’s command, both in terms of technique and musicality, is beyond criticism throughout. Recommended.