Reviews

A CD that’s impossible to dislike… its purity does wonders for an over-busy brain. Seivewright plays with simplicity and grace. The music has got real charm.

The program shows the great variety of styles produced in settings of poets from Thomas Hardy to Tennyson, Brontë and many others. This is a delightful album for all lovers of English Song and poetry, performed with warmth, dexterity and tenderness.

Magnificent, truly moving … Artyomov’s goal was nothing short of a large scale work which would act as a vehicle for national expiation. The chromaticism and violence of this music manages to out-Schnittke Schnittke himself. At times he is as directly communicative as Benjamin Britten in his more renowned (War) Requiem. This is not just another ‘Russian Requiem’ – it grips, moves, and surprises at every turn. A riveting performance of a moving and important work.

There is much variety among the styles and instrumentation of these wonderfully played works such that the listener will be held rapt through the duration of this program. Lovers of well-written chamber music in varying contemporary styles will definitely not want to miss this set.

Simon Leach is clearly a master of his instrument. His playing is nothing short of brilliant as he combines technical precision with varied articulation, all the while allowing the music to breathe. It is always a delight to hear new works in such definitive performances, and I would think that Naji Hakim must be very pleased with this presentation of his music. Highly recommended.

A fragrant mix of the well-known and the more obscure. The performance standard here is remarkable, the recording perfectly judged. Beautifully performed, this is a most sophisticated program.

A majestic, beautiful organ and one could hardly ask for a better recording. Cooman’s readings of the scores are impeccable in every way.

I have written positively about this composer’s music recently. I find this re¬lease even more consistently interesting than the two that I reviewed {previously}. A Symphony of Elegies is intense and gripping, and it is played with understanding by these musicians. Soprano Lydia Davydova comes off as a Russian Cathy Berberian, and I mean that as high praise indeed.

The music on this set is not without lyricism but it’s far more likely to be jagged; it’s not without intimacy, but it’s far more likely to be vehement; it’s not without moments of consonant beauty, but it’s far more likely to be densely dissonant. For the most part, this is deadly serious music. It also demands tremendous concentration from the performer—and Murray McLachlan plays with virtuosity and commitment. McLachlan’s young daughter (16 at the time of this recording) acquits herself nimbly in the Hebridean Dances, and McLeod is a wonderfully deadpan narrator in Haflidi s Pictures. An adventurous project.

Superb project… testament to McCabe’s wonderful pianistic artistry. In short, a marvellous, utterly compelling rediscovery.

Galuppi’s sonatas are a model of simplicity, lyricality and buoyancy. Peter Seivewright plays it all with the charm and enthusiasm it demands. It is disarming music that makes a point not to be profound and that is refreshing.

A very able and keenly interpretive pianist…it is in a way a composer’s pianist we hear, for he approaches the music, every phrase, as if it were his own. And the works are each gems. A superior engagement with some very attractive modern piano music.

A wonderful collection of works, performed with McCabe’s usual dazzling virtuosity and deep musicality… all are fine additions to McCabe’s recorded legacy.

The year is only a couple of weeks old and already we’ve got what must surely be one of our albums of the year, a beautiful collection of piano pieces. Terashi’s playing is sensitive, imposing her own interpretation of the music without ever losing the original sound.

This is music with a welcoming yet far from facile surface. A Sonata of Meditations is thirty, largely quiet, minutes of polished silvery tintinnabulation and percussive hyperactivity. A Garland of Recitations is an orchestral work in a single movement … against poised, introspectively prayerful strings, which seem to speak of the night-sky, individual solo instruments sing out. As for Totem this is a more kinetic, virtuosic, dramatic and humorous piece. The music is recorded with stark fidelity… one can imagine that a full-score could be prepared from what we hear; such is the candour of the sound.

This is a disc with a great deal to commend it. The music is unfamiliar, but interesting, full of surprises and variety, and the fine piano playing is insightful and committed.

[A] fascinating CD…. The remastering is perfect. John McCabe’s wonderful performances of these works needs no advocate. He brings his usual technical skill, musicianship and immense understanding to all these diverse and ultimately approachable works.

Simple settings for soprano and piano for those who prefer a more restrained Christmas.

Evocative and tuneful – top drawer reading.

This CD of Turner’s compositions is a pleasing, seasonal listen. Turner’s style is pleasantly melodic, though angular in places. Singers have to have their chromatic wits about them; the well-blended Intimate Voices directed by Christopher Stokes give effortless, fluent performances throughout. The CD is well recorded too.