Reviews

What holds the listener’s attention for the full set is the variety of mood and character, these are quite lovely piano pieces. The sound here is natural and very clean. Mead, for whom the music was composed, plays with complete identification and brilliant technique. This CD is warmly recommended.

Rhona Clarke’s mastery of choral writing manifests itself in several ways. While Clarke is not shy about challenging her singers, her compositions always respect the beauty of the human voice. This is a superb release in every respect.

Clarke’s wide-ranging writing (gleaming dissonance, vocal glissando, glowing harmonies) seems to invoke eternity. This is a lovely disc. Rhona Clarke’s music is certainly worthy of attention, and it is wonderful to hear it in performances of this calibre.

Mesmerizingly beautiful material. There is a nice variety of dramatic landscapes here. this inspirational and highly imaginative music deserves a wider audience.

With an abundance of lesser-known pieces and the absence of the best-known Joplin rags, this is a perfect complement to whatever you might already have. Nonken’s scholarship matches her stylistically perfect playing. You will hear adventurous harmonies and turns of melody. You will also be tapping your foot to this program.

This release is warmly recommended to adventurous listeners interested in exploring music that is quite unlike anyone else’s. I found the music engaging, and repeated hearings helped to give it shape. [Hicks] clarifies complex contrapuntal details and fully explores the diverse sound world that Reeves has created.

Clarke’s skill in writing for massed voices comes through consistently, whether setting religious or secular texts. She is helped by the lovely performances. Māris Sirmais and State Choir LATVIJA sing with beauty of tone, precise intonation, and clear diction. This was a very pleasing discovery for me, a recording I shall return to often.

Hughes has been an enriching presence on the UK new music scene since the BBC marked him out as a name to watch over three decades ago. Hughes’s music has an understated virtuosity such as adds greatly to the attraction of those pieces featured here. The performances are audibly attuned to this music. Warmly recommended.

John Turner brings his wonted elegance. Interesting curios… all useful additions to the repertoire.

Her realization of the [Medtner] dazzles, though the same could as easily be said about her handling of the other pieces too. Fialko play[s] with an emotional maturity befitting someone looking back upon an entire lifetime of memories as opposed to a person whose adult years have just begun. After listening to Fialko’s accomplished execution of the album material, it’s easy to visualize the release as the first of many in a potentially distinguished career. A future of immense promise lies ahead of her.

Commendable for sterling performances but even more imaginative programming. Chai shows herself to be a solid interpreter of works from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries… controlled, thoughtfully paced, and delicate treatment.

This impressive CD by talented Irish composer Rhona Clarke demonstrates her diverse choral style and how she compellingly combines early style music with contemporary tonality. The Requiem shows Clarke at her finest… [a] magnificent piece. The Latvia State Choir is outstanding. The quality of their performance is first rate, not only in establishing an inspirational interpretation of Clarke’s music but also in ensuring clarity of words.

Right from the outset the Aria and Variation 1 reveal Schliessmann’s textural clarity. His finger-strength is remarkable, each line perfectly articulated. This reading [is] absolutely compelling – as is Schliessmann’s highly-informed booklet note. Superb.

Camden Reeves combines the blues and energy of jazz with spectralism and modernism in these pieces. Tom Hicks handles these astonishingly difficult pieces with ease and a tone that’s firm but never harsh; the piano sound is impeccable.

We might have imagined that Johan Sebastian Bach wrote his great Goldberg Variations with the foreknowledge that it would be performed several centuries later on by an artist with the temperament and patience of skilled interpretive artist Burkard Schliessmann. Certainly, our German contemporary comes well equipped for the task, being a dedicated musical scholar as well as possessing the mature keyboard technique needed for the Goldbergs.

The debut disc suggests a very promising future for the young Ciccolini prize winner. The way she plays Liadov’s pieces shows a real love for these tiny gems, and so does her rendition of Medtner’s Sonata. The latter is as fine a performance as I have heard. She is a considerable talent, and I hope to hear more from her soon.

A brilliant young musician who gives us her unique interpretation of Bach’s challenging cello suites. She has a magnificent technique. One forgets about the technical difficulty of this music and is allowed just to sit back and listen to the splendour of her playing. This is an outstanding release.

A poetic and superbly played Goldberg Variations. Schliessmann does a superb job of realizing Bach’s all-embracing musical and emotional journey. And Schliessmann’s combination of precision and elegance in fleet passagework is most gratifying throughout this recording. Recommended.

This is fine piano playing. The cleverness is in making what is complex music sound simple; it’s both accessible and detailed, and it creates atmosphere.

This new album is lovely, the title perhaps giving a clue as to the gentle nature of the music. You’re always on safe ground with Helen Habershon, who writes music for people to enjoy.