Reviews

The Russian composer writes in a range of styles, from the straightforward and neo­classical to atmospheric and aggressively modern. This stylistic cosmopolitanism is a strength that keeps the music afloat, even through a couple of hours. I must admit that I’d never heard of Artyomov before getting these records, but I certainly find myself wanting to hear more! – George Adams

This is a fantastic CD. It is full of imaginative, interesting and well-wrought music that has the distinct advantage of being totally approachable and enjoyable. Jim Parker has a unique voice in music that manages to seamlessly cross the divide between popular, classical and light.

This very enjoyable album collects a number of Parker’s recent compositions which have a pictorial quality and display his remarkable talent for memorable melodies and colouration. Light music albums of this quality are rare these days and this is a joyful gem. Highly recommended.

The soloist Natalie Schwaabe, piccolist and flutist in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, plays quite captivatingly, brilliantly virtuoso and with perceptible playfulness. She is accompanied by Jan Philip Schulze. This program with modern music for piccolo, or piccolo and piano, is easy listening, providing mostly even really good entertainment.

A fascinating array of poetic moods… the album is noteworthy for the way in which music and text are married to haunting effect. Kerrigan’s mezzo is most convincing in its lower register, but she also has the ability to float some ethereal lines, and she is a master of dramatic delivery of text. Collins provides evocative sup¬port on the piano with the crystalline clarity of her tone and the fluidity of her line. The sound on the CD is crisp, clear, and nuanced nicely. The packaging of the CD is commend-able, with complete texts, informative liner notes about each work and composer plus both performers. For fans of contemporary art song, this collection will be a welcome addition to their libraries.

This CD explores six imaginative works. Each one is approachable, despite the composer making no concessions to the current craze for insipid minimalism so often in evidence in contemporary music. She has managed to create an exciting and often challenging personal voice that is always interesting and often quite beautiful. The trio’s playing on this new CD of music by Rhona Clarke is outstanding. Not only are they a hugely proficient ensemble, but are willing to perform solo pieces with equal proficiency.

This is a beautifully shot program of percussion music. In short, this is a magnificent undertaking, uniting on one disc six significant percussion pieces, rendered in visually stunning film and wonderful sound, of what feels at times like superhuman performances.

“I found that watching and reviewing the DVD in hand to be one of the more entertaining assignments I’ve received. Mathias Reumert is an amazing performer, a veritable wizard of percussion. His masterful music-making will astound you; this, coupled with the fascinating videography, creates a program that transcends whatever the normal market for this DVD would be. I recommend this recital wholeheartedly.”

The sonatas on this recording are colorful, entertaining, and an eminently pleasant way to spend an hour. Although all the performances on this disc are more than competent, it is Peter Hope’s music that is the main attraction, tuneful, inventive, and accessible; the works on this recording are wel­come contributions to the wind repertoire… they were wholly successful at brightening my day, a reminder of why we need this kind of music.

[Hope’s] music is tuneful, harmonically lush or pungent as appropriate but always comfortingly tonal, unpretentious, and likable. A good portion of this music is quite fetch­ing; much of it is clever; and all of it is shapely, idiomatic, and ingratiating. The piano writing and exchanges between accompaniment and solo instrument are models of clarity and effectiveness. Performances are sensitive and polished and sonics clear, clean, and realistic. Wind players and listeners drawn to their repertoire will find much of interest in these unpretentious and enjoyable sonatas.

Erik Simmons’ latest release demonstrates how new technology and contemporary music can be a winning formula for an older genre. Producers of organ recordings have always wrestled with microphone placement in the quest for the right balance of acoustic space and the instrument’s presence. Enter digital technology. That’s exactly how this 1787 organ in Weissenau, Germany, appears in this recording. Every actual sound from the initial speaking attack of a pipe to its final decay and slight pitch drop is captured faithfully with every note. The variety of his writing is impressive and he’s capable of evoking greatly contrasting moods. This is especially effective as Erik Simmons uses the Weissenau organ to maximum colouristic effect, whether drawing a single flute rank or the full organ registration. It’s a terrific recording for three reasons: superb playing, fine composition and technological astonishment.

This Russian pianist has given considerable thought to her program and liner notes, and lays out a wonderful rationale for the enjoyment of a series of preludes and fugues that includes some form of shared material. Altogether a very worthwhile artistic and intellectual exercise.

This large-scale work—with its huge dynamic range, its bouts of gnarled Bergian harmonies, its vehement percussion outbursts, its anguished strivings, its Messiaenic bird-chattering in the woodwinds, its Schoenbergian flutter-tonguing—is far closer to neo-Expressionism than it is to anything by the so-called New Spiritualists. Tristia II… is shorter, gentler, and more hyp¬notic, a piece that’s apt to whisper as often as Gentle Emanations is to scream. Both works get what sound like committed performances—and the sound is no obstacle.

This charming album is already one of our favourites. Kakabadse is British but has roots in Greece, Austria, Russia and Georgia, and it’s the mixture of cultures that gives this its charm. The music comes from Sound Collective, a group of musicians that works with composers, writers and educators to build new ways of appreciating and promoting chamber music. They’ve certainly succeeded with this.

Instantly accessible, genteel and well-crafted works. [An] air of sombre reflection, expressed in a melodic, neo-romantic vocabulary, pervades most of the works on the disc. The string quartet lineup, while used conventionally, is afforded additional depth of timbre by the substitution of contrabass for second violin.

I loved the exquisite timbres of the young voices and the singers’ ex¬uberant renditions of these beloved songs. If you have any relationship at all to Scotland, you will want this disc.

Cello Spice is a group of virtuosos who prove their mastery with this delightful recording. Divine Art’s sound is clear and crisp despite the recording having been made in a church. I really en¬joyed this festival of cello music and think that cellists, cello students, and those that just love the sound of the instrument will want to own this disc.

Natalia Andreeva, the Russian pianist who gave us a beautiful volume of Ustvolskaya’s complete piano works comes through with an album of Preludes & Fugues where the emphasis is on a kind of meditative, poetic cast, grandly unfolding without hurry, studied but extraordinarily direct. It is an album to hear repeatedly, each time you uncover more detail and subtlety. It is a marvel of poetic interpretation. And a very coherent selection of gems as well. Hurrah for Natalia Andreeva! Highly recommended.

There is a wealth of choral settings here which work well with the concepts of both struggle and celebration. This CD is a handy collection with an eclectic range of musical styles.

This is a collection of four spiritual and liturgical hymn- and mass-settings inspired from the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. It is beautifully produced, with obvious love and devotion.