Reviews

Stäbler considers the piano an instrument for which there is still much to be said. I did play the Stäbler CDs straight through and enjoyed doing so. Metier must be congratulated on their plans to continue to profile German contemporary composers, and I can recommend this one to open minded musical explorers.

Eight works by a composer whose craftsmanship is as fastidious as his imagination is spirited.

This useful survey of pieces by John Casken, all but one of them appearing on disc for the first time, covers more than 20 years of his development as a composer.

Here is another useful compendium of music [by John Casken] , whose idiom is accessible-modernist. The recordings (1992 & 1993 in Manchester) are good and the production is of Metier’s usual high standard.

This approachable music is well played

Clarinet and String Quartet is a beautiful example of Feldman’s late style… incredibly well played by Roger Heaton. Fox is one of England’s most important composers. He evokes whole worlds with little material. As in the repetitive, subtle ‘Clarinet Quintet’, a fragile landscape of microtones.

Patterns, reflections, repetitions, colour and subtlety are in attendance in both cases, whether it’s the more extensive hypnosis of Feldman or the more active localised dramas of Fox.

This inspiringly abstract disc juxtaposes two items for clarinet and string quartet, both of which are essentially reflections on the medium, the sonority itself. Heaton plays beautifully, as does the quartet.

This CD is a refreshing listening experience. The music of Wilfred Josephs is probably not well known among clarinettists. The pieces presented here are appealing and require and advanced level of music-making ability and ensemble skills. The Kreutzer Quartet and pianist Benjamin Frith prove able collaborators. Josephs’ music, like that of other British composers in the 20th century, should be presented more often if only for the accessible tonal idioms and idiomatic clarinet writing.

Inner tells you everything you need to know about the uncharted possibilities of acoustic composition. In Anton Lukoszevieze, [Fox] has found a consummate narrative performer who makes much of the tension between the often delicate purity of the music and its structural rigour.

played with radiant commitment by a votary of avant-gardism. [In inner] the simplest of little phrases is revisited 33 times to form an epic succession that suggests a dadaist version of a Bach chaconne, but has the genuine spiritual pull of one of Morton Feldman’s rapt excursions.

the highlight is String Quartet No. 3, in a live recording by the Lindsay Quartet… it miraculously convinces. The air of magic and mystery is sustained by a totally original use of form and sonority – menacing rustlings, pizzicato whisperings and col legno clicks. An extraordinary disc.

This is an impressive showcase for a British composer (b1949) whose interests range from African drumming to old English folk dance.

athletically performed by Jinny Shaw.

Poole’s music in spite of its demands of all sorts is also much concerned with communication which it often achieves through its sheer vitality, no matter how technically complex it may be. All the performances are consistently fine as is the recording quality. This release is most welcome.

[Nicholson’s] music, as heard here, is always beautifully crafted, technically demanding, certainly not easy to play but eminently accessible for the composer always sees to it that it communicates directly by way of its invention, its imagination and its vitality.

Ruffer’s playing is fastidious, impassioned and silver-tongued throughout.

An ambitious survey of late twentieth century pieces for solo flute. This disc will no doubt be essential listening for flautists engaged with the contemporary music scene. The performances are as authoritative as it gets!

Exquisite performances…all quite fascinating. I can only advise that you hunt the CD out. Some of the sounds on it will haunt you hours after you have returned it to its case.

I welcome a new CD on the Metier label of music by Elizabeth Maconchy and her daughter Nicola Lefanu, for mother and daughter are equally significant figures in British music and yet inhabit very different artistic milieux. These very varied works are performed by the eight musicians who make up Okeanos, a recently formed new music group. Mother and daughter are very well served by them, and the recordings are excellent.