Reviews

Antony Gray tackles Saint-Saëns’ very considerable solo-piano with relish, seeming to delight even in the trifles while giving the more-considerable works the level of seriousness and dedication they deserve. These volumes excel in showcasing a side of Saint-Saëns with which most listeners will be unfamiliar – an element placing Saint-Saëns firmly within the upper echelon of composer/performer virtuosos of his time. An excellent and genuinely important recording.

The 24 Preludes are dedicated to the present soloist, Philip Mead, who gives a stunning performance. They are a splendid addition to the cycles of Preludes of Bach, Chopin, Debussy and Messiaen. I have come to expect superlative liner notes with Edward Cowie’s recordings. This disc is no exception. There is the composer’s considerable essay, and some important “Personal Thoughts on the Cowie Preludes” by the soloist, Philip Mead. Of interest are the biographical notes on the composer and the pianist. The added value of the booklet is the artwork. The cover features a remarkable painting by Heather Cowie. All this material contributes to a satisfying and rewarding experience.

These Preludes take us on a Bach inspired musical journey, but also to so many colourful places round the world and the many things Cowie witnessed there. His imaginative gift is unparalleled, while with his stunningly wide ranging variety of dynamics, tempi, intensity, pedal sustain or staccato, Philip Mead achieves technical brilliance.

An outstanding recording. [Cowie] regards himself as a pictorial ‘composer of evocations’, a description fully justified by these wonderful Preludes.

Nonken leans towards the classical, though it’s pretty jaunty throughout and she sounds like she had fun. This is a very easy album to listen to, somewhere between jazz and classical, and a lot of fun. Warmly recommended.

We always like [Östlund’s] albums. He combines a feeling of nature with some degree of mystery. All his albums bring pleasure and are easy to listen to — he’s trying to create a mood, so it’s often textured and impressionistic. It’s probably a lot of fun to play, as well.

This is a stylish, adventurous recital, well balanced and technically impressive. The stately [Bach] fugue assumes a poised nobility of line, again conveying a poignant, reverential affect akin to the spirit of the B-Minor Mass. [In the Beethoven] Beville makes splendid, often jabbing, colors in his realization, imposing a strong sense of formal outline for the sonata form. Simultaneously enchanting and unnerving, these pieces (Prokofiev) reveal the mental and musical vigor of their creator.

A rather magical disc in which classical guitarist and composer Sam Cave presents music by five contemporary composers that takes the guitar to some evocative and aethereal places. There is a wonderful ear for timbre here as well as the magical harmonies and harmonics, but perhaps Cave’s greatest achievement is to make this complex and technically challenging music seem remarkably free and natural.

This CD explores both sounds and colors in a wide variety of ways [with] well-executed effects, all of which Hicks brings out very clearly indeed. Listeners intrigued by contemporary keyboard works performed with genuine flair will find much here to enjoy.

Cowie has a strong Impressionist streak in this music but the coloristic elements of the music are everywhere present. Mead certainly plays everything quite adeptly, bringing out contrasts among the works to good effect; and the music is well-made, well-thought-out, and colorful – in a variety of tones, both visual and auditory – from start to finish.

Sheppard Skærved offers a full range of expressive and dynamic effects. Pienaar, meanwhile – as befits one who has recorded a ‘thoughtful, profound’ set of the complete piano sonatas (an Editor’s Choice) –approaches [these works], appropriately enough as keyboard works primarily, with all that implies in terms of rhetorical reactivity to the score. Sheppard Skærved and Pienaar respond in an appreciably volatile way to the burgeoning range of affects demanded by this music, and if you seek a compact presentation such as this of these six works, it could well fit the bill.

Birds… You may well be thinking “but Messiaen has already done it”. But Cowie’s approach is gentler, almost more loving. And what better way to capture such sounds than with a flute. The performances are astounding. This music is technically and musically challenging, not least in its need for a perfect ensemble.

From the first note to the last, listeners to this new release are drawn into the unique and distinctive sound world of the piano music of Graham Lynch. Music of the highest integrity, rich in imagination and harmonic, melodic and rhythmic innovation. A very welcome addition to the catalogue of one of the most original voices in 21st century British music.

Nonken joins the group of classicists who understand the character of ragtime and have the skill and temperament to enhance it in performance. Her playing is always ultra clean, precise, and well considered. I expect that Joplin would have been thrilled to hear Nonken play his music; I know that I am.

The proto-jazz form of ragtime is fascinatingly explored by pianist Marilyn Nonken. Other composers working on similar music sometimes collaborated with Joplin or sometimes had their works arranged by him, and Nonken’s disc provides an unusual opportunity to hear some of those collaborations and arrangements. What Nonken does so well in her performances is to differentiate the individual pieces, giving each its own character and distinctiveness.

Pure Cowie, and extraordinary Cowie at that. This is first-rate music, engaging the listener and always surprising him or her with the progression of his musical mind. I really enjoyed this album. The music is both complex and intimate, which sucks you in and forces you to pay attention to everything Cowie is doing.

From the opening crescendo of the first piece on the disc, Clarke proves herself adept at writing for massed voices. In all cases, Clarke’s settings fit the words well and allow the texts to come through clearly; and the fine pacing and clarity of the choir under Māris Sirmais show the music in its best and most-effective light.

Listeners unfamiliar with Östlund may be pleasantly surprised at the accessibility of his works and the consistent quality with which he produces them. And all the performances, by a very large number of soloists and ensembles, are engaging and effective. Inviting and pleasant to listen to, staying firmly in a tonal universe.

This disc will whet the appetite of listeners who are favorably inclined toward contemporary opera composition. There is not enough material on this disc to judge the worth of the two operas themselves, but there is enough to show that Cook knows how to handle various vocal ranges and typical-for-the-stage operatic concerns.

“Clarke here stakes a claim as a significant composer of choral music…. one of Ireland’s most cherished composers. {An} inviting recording pairs the composer’s choral music with the superb State Choir Latvija’s richly resonant sound.” – Liam Cagney (Gramophone)
Gramophone Editor’s Choice May 2022