“Mr Karpeyev has chosen a fine programme of works demonstrating great variety of style and tempo, some energetic from the start, others introspective, others showing brilliant scalar passages, some with folk-song character, others with a simple melody above a homophonic accompaniment. An unexpected delight on this disc is Roy Douglas’s piano-solo arrangement of the ‘Popular Song’ […]
“This double CD is the World Première recording of the last of Charles Villiers Stanford’s nine operas. It contains a narrative element strikingly similar to Puccini’s Turandot. … With the attractive tonal colours of Stanford’s music, in particular his orchestral and choral writing, it provides a fascinating and enjoyable experience. … Performances are excellent, especially […]
“The main event on this intelligently programmed disc is Bax’s Sonata in E-flat minor (1921). The white-hot intensity in the music may be a response to the loss of life in the Irish Easter Uprising of 1916, and Bebbington catches the music’s anger and grief superbly in playing of enourmous range and power. First-rate sound […]
A second “sparkling” review for Leon McCawley and his Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Volume Two; this time in International Piano Magazine: “There is an abundance of joy in McCawley’s sparkling acciaccaturas of the D major Sonata (No 59), maxilmally contrasted with the central Largo e sostenuto, a dignified post-Baroque sarabande. He is expert at finding underlying […]
Gramophone Magazine reviews Leon McCawley’s second volume of Haydn’s Piano Sonatas in the November 2019 issue: “Light of touch, stylistically assured and brimful of intelligence and wit, Leon McCawley’s second instalment of Haydn sonatas for SOMM fairly sparkles with delight. This follows his 2016 recording of four sonatas plus the F minor Variations (2/17) and, […]
Gramophone Magazine’s Richard Bratby reviews the world premiere recording of Stanford: The Travelling Companion in the November 2019 issue: “This is a landmark: the first full-length commercial recording of any of Stanford’s nine completed operas. It’s all the more remarkable in having been brought about by the semi-professional New Sussex Opera, who last year revived The […]
“a well-balanced selection of six sonatas… recorded with appropriate crispness and cantabile in Turner Sims hall. The sparkle of McCawley’s touch is instantly apparent… as is his evenness of fingering in the passagework… Most impressive throughout the disc is McCawley’s command of subtle nuance and rubato without ever sounding self-conscious or mannered. The impression, so […]
“This heartening recording features works for piano and orchestra by two long-neglected British composers… [Bright’s] piano writing is brilliant and subtle… the gem of the work is the haunting slow movement, its striking harmonies unfolding over a pedal-point fifth. … The pianist Samantha Ward sparkles and sings, bringing the work a helpful clarity and lightness […]
BBC Music Magazine‘s November 2019 issue features a five-star review for Alexander Karpeyev’s Composers at the Savile Club recording: “What do Elgar, Walton, Parry, Virgil Thomson, and Arnold have in common? Answer: they were all members of the Savile Club… Stylistically it ranges widely, from the sweepingly Brahmsian Prelude of Parry’s Hands Across the Centuries […]
Gramophone Magazine’s October 2019 issue profiles the Charles Villiers Stanford Musical Revival and features SOMM’s recent and upcoming recordings of his string quartets with the Dante Quartet and the upcoming release of Stanford’s opera “The Travelling Companion”. “The recording of The Travelling Companion gives us a unique opportunity to hear a side of Stanford’s musical […]