Reviews

Intriguingly complex and moving, García’s music defies categorization or, worse, labeling. The Amernet Quartet plays this music with complete discipline and sensitivity. The engineering is exemplary. I hope that Metier will continue to record the fascinating music of this pioneering artist.

An intriguing new sub-genre…strangely captivating… themes of transformation, adaptation and limitless metamorphosis. Poukens fully inhabits this complex score, trampolining fragmented melodies and lyrical quasi-arias. White’s intelligent use of the saxophone’s wide-ranging palette means that the scoring never feels under-nourished.

This year’s releases get better and better. Divine Art has recorded for our delight this attractive disc of melodic Russian/Slav music. It features the gorgeous playing of Ian Scott. A man blessed with many talents, Robin White is the conductor, composer of the album’s core work, arranger of all 13 tracks, and a major contributor to the booklet notes. Pleasure-giving music.

Lupu must be congratulated for resuscitating these pieces and bringing them to life in a manner that almost sounds like the composer himself playing them. A truly stupendous achievement, recommended to all lovers of Ysaÿe’s sonatas.

Maestri Lupu, Bonamy and Mann deliver stylish, elegant, and often virtuosic performances of Ysaÿe’s music.

The playing by Peter Sheppard Skærved is excellent; the violin used for most of the recording, which dates to 1664 but whose maker is unknown, has a warm and full-bodied sound that is instantly attractive; a second violin is an absolutely wonderful, even-toned Girolamo Amati instrument. What is noteworthy is the uniformly high quality of the material: every single composer was clearly skilled at writing for solo violin, exploring the instrument’s capabilities within a constricted length, and there is little to distinguish the preludes by the virtually unknown composers from those of the more-famous ones.

An extremely fine recording, strongly recommended. There is a great variety of mood and structure, and inventive transformations and variations of the themes. Charlston is a very fine clavichordist, sensitive to the nuances of the music and the character of the clavichord. The 20-page booklet is full of useful information and insights.

A glorious sound and enjoyable music recorded in a resonant acoustic, giving a truly luscious sound. Rowland plays with energy and a good forward drive.

Highly listenable, enjoyable and imaginative.

Schliessmann’s commanding performance is beautifully variegated… [his] technique is rock solid. Considered, polished reading… magnificently powerful, warmth and academic integrity.

This is a very fine release/re-release indeed. Burkard Schliessmann proves a first-rate interpreter of a variety of Romantic piano music– and in so doing, affirms or reaffirms the quality of the works he plays. His finely balanced and carefully considered handling are first-rate. Top-notch interpretations of multifaceted works.

Burkard Schliessmann is one of the compelling pianists and artists of the modern era… a unique interpreter, never afraid to find a new expression and always searching for the heart of the music and the composer’s inspiration.

Hayden has foregone some of the proven avant-garde ways of ensuring a certain visceral accessibility of musical tone. With its obsessive faithfulness to its own particular manners and mechanisms, Becomings seems impelled by a particular paradox, achieving a very intense kind of detachment, which it sustains throughout. So much remains to be learned about what Becomings itself has to say. Fortunately, these remarkable discs make it possible for us to do just that.

Has the power to leave the listener both stunned and stimulated, at least when played with such needle-sharp articulation and maximal clarity of textural layers as on these Métier discs.

Organist Carson Cooman plays all of this music with sublime musicianship and a clear affinity to Marian Sawa’s highly communicative idiom. The recording is excellent … entirely convincing and natural sounding. There are few enough contemporary organ composers who have such a distinctive personal voice. Marian Sawa is most certainly among their number, and one with plenty to say and plenty of musical substance.

[Ferneyhough’s music] is intricate, ultramodern, and nigh impenetrable. It is dominated by atonality, processes, and dense, concentrated ideas that evolve seemingly of their own accord. Most of all, it is highly virtuosic. [The performances] are arresting: they undulate, hum, blaze, and explode with life. This is an important album.

The pieces on this album demonstrate vividly the range, variety and often enormous power of [Sawa’s] compositions. Spectacular… majestic. The music is wonderfully played by Carson Cooman.

Froberger’s music – in this splendid rendition by Gilbert Rowland – reveals huge variety and baroque beauty. Clever, ingenious and melodious engaging and attractive works.

A composer with a natural knack and ear for the organ…. the composer would have admired the dedication Cooman has placed into producing such a strong rendition of his multiple works. For anyone wanting something unique, there are many musical surprises to be found at Sawa’s door.

A seriously playful disc, conveyed in considered, committed performances, and captured in close, generous sound. There’s a lot of humour here, and deeply considered musical utterances too. There’s a certain raw directness about some of his playing that gives his accounts a rewarding authenticity, and a sense of vivid, unhurried storytelling.