Reviews

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.

We are appreciative of all the composers associated with A Garland for John McCabe, an anthology of tributes from 19 composers to the memory of McCabe. This album is a fitting remembrance for one of England’s finest musicians.

One of the most individual and distinctive composers not just in the music of his native Russia but in Western Classical music as a whole. He is his own man, a truly original voice. [The Symphony’s] three movements are captivating, mesmerising, utterly compelling. The performances sound terrific, the recordings clear and bright, brilliantly re-engineered. Superb.

[The works] are very effective and original. Leach is a fine player—more than capable of managing the virtuosic demands of this music.

The carols combine gentle contemporary harmonies with stylistic touches redolent of the medieval and Renaissance periods. These warm, youthful voices are perfect for the music. If you’re in the market for some intimacy and charm this holiday season, look no further.

Ian Mitchell continues to sharpen Gemini’s reputation as a group of eclectic and open-minded musicians with a fondness for new compositions. The overall presentation is solid…traditional and idiomatic selections are well done—the Bowen is beautifully played, and the White and the Smith are clean and rhythmic.

Both players have a lush sound that is captured beautifully. This program is easy listening in the least pejorative sense.

Artyomov’s religious style is intense, yet on a broad, slowly shifting scale—not unlike Bruckner. His music reminds me of Messaien, with his considerable attention to texture and color. {The first part of the Symphony} is one of the most stunning sections of music I have heard in recent memory. I highly recommend this album.

Travelling Light is probably my favourite of the [three discs reviewed this month]. Turner is on excellent form; technically secure and musically convincing. He is supported and accompanied by a cast of exceptional musicians. Fantastically satisfying music, brilliantly played; musicianship of the highest calibre.

A CD of John Turner is always a pleasure. Wind Blown features the Sonatas for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Recorder. Idiomatically written, they demand the highest levels of technical facility and expressive maturity. . I enjoyed the unusual scoring, and was impressed by how well each voice’s part was written.

The Greek kalanda, or carols, an old format, are given new life by this modern Cyprus-born composer. If you are sated with Jingle Bells and all the faux-bonhomie pumped out by the likes of Magic FM, this soprano(s)-plus-piano recital will do especially well.

Greek texts represent a slightly different view of the traditional Christmas, echoing the Greek Orthodox celebrations. [The composer’s] attractively melodic music has its own distinctive traditional elements to it too.

Terashi’s account proves there is real emotional weight here … the A major [Sonata by de Seixas] is meltingly lovely. Much to enjoy. (Four stars)

This latest in the series of CDs by Cooman and/or Erik Simmons (who plays) is the one we like best. Organ music can be a little formal or even ponderous, and there’s that whole echoey in a church thing going on, too. Not this time. This new CD sees the organ at the more meditative end of the repertoire… gentle and more accessible than most.