Reviews

The music here is suffused with a sense of loss and grief, impeccably performed by the Latvian choir. Beautifully done.

Exceptional release…: it would be difficult to imagine finer or more insightful interpretative performances than these. The individuality and approach of the French master is consistently revealed in these engrossing accounts.

There is no doubt that Tom Hicks is a serious musician, possessor of a formidable technique and has the intellectual capacity to master a relatively wide range of repertoire. Playing of consistent excellence supported by very fine recording quality.

Unique selection of music for clarinet and piano… almost all of it melodic and lyrical. Good playing from both artists. The recording quality is excellent.

I found Craven’s music admirably varied in mood and color, and thoroughly engaging throughout. Dullea continues her persuasive advocacy, playing with tonal beauty, textural clarity, and characterful phrasing. The recording provides a lovely, realistic, and intimate acoustic. A wealth of intriguing, stimulating, and inspired music making, both by Craven and Dullea. Recommended.

Soldano’s arrangements are very good. They don’t go over the top with virtuosic flair, but retain the musical integration of voice and piano. The creative aspect here is how well Soldano builds the complex sounds and voices of a full orchestra using just two hands. This great-sounding recording is well worth hearing.

For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and developing his “non-prescriptive” composing method, a style that allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. We like it — it’s interesting. He’s now released two volumes of easier pieces that are more accessible for both listener and performer. This second collection of pieces is quite lovely, a nice programme of gentle piano.

Peter Sheppard Skærved and Daniel-Ben Pienaar are ideally matched in presenting these works. Neither tries to outdo the other… these are intimate works pervaded by a sense of cordiality between the players – a sense of which Skærved and Pienaar are fully aware, and of which they take full advantage in these warm, congenial performances.

Kreisleriana, always highly expressive, gets a passionate and involving reading here: Chai is very impressive in the way she contrasts the hard-driving passages with the delicate, quietly lyrical ones. Chai makes The Alcotts a simple, genuine, rather straightforward movement expressing warmth, affection and a certain level of delicacy – a very strong contrast indeed to the Schumann heard afterwards.

Works by composers whose music is rarely heard on the same program. Beville contrasts [the moods] especially effectively.

Everything is well-played and attractive… intensity and expressiveness that Hicks brings out with considerable skill. The fine renditions of the major works by Liszt and Ireland are very much the primary attractions here.

A superb introduction to Lynch’s pianistic output. This is a remarkable, and satisfying, disc of Graham Lynch’s engrossing piano music… compositionally fascinating… sometimes ravishing harmonies. Throughout, it is evident that Sanchez enjoys complete resonance with Lynch’s output; there is the most blissful sense of comprehension, of melding even, in these performances.

Gray has opened up a treasure trove of fascinating rarities and little known arrangements that add quite considerably to the relatively modest amount of original piano works from this prolific composer and with his performances of conviction and presence this is well worth the outlay to explore.

The sounds and music evoked will play strongly on the imagination… The performance by Sara Minelli (flute) and Roderick Chadwick (piano) is stunning, beautiful, revelatory, often moving and thoroughly committed, both in creativity and technique.

This is an excellent and well-balanced recital that fully deploys Tom Hick’s multitudinous talents. An exceptionally commanding performance, which balances the dramatic with the intimate. The sound recording is perfect.

Enterprising and marvellously played set. [Gray] is a dramatic pianist… full bloodied and committed approach, aiming for drama, character and energy. Lots to enjoy here and roll on volume 2.

The album opens with a storming performance of West Side Story’s lively America. Entertaining. Strong and powerful playing from Castro, a fun album for the listener.

The disc is a delightful discovery… ideal restorative late night listening. There is quality playing all the way.

I learned a lot from this fascinating CD. The musical language of the whole works hangs together well. Sara Minelli is a virtuoso player with real mastery of avant-garde technique.

A captivating program. It’s easy to hear just why Divine Art is so excited. She’s clearly a talent to watch.