Review Corner

Category: Classical

  • Liz Johnson: Intricate Web

    This album is an odd mix of the accessible and the avant garde. One minute you’re struggling with some very modern sounds, the next it’s easy on the ear and almost hummable. For the performers (Fitzwilliam String Quartet) it’s probably a lot of fun to play, the intense moments broken up by the playful. CD1…

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    Chiaroscuro Quartet: Joseph Haydn String Quartets Op 20 Nos 4-6 (Vol 2)

    This lovely CD can be taken two ways. You can just listen to it; it’s gentle, refined and atmospheric. The so-called Sun quartets of Joseph Haydn’s Op 20 are said to be the benchmark that subsequent composers aim for. It’s the music you hear in a National Trust shop when they want you to imagine…

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    Carson Cooman: Hymnus

    We seem to be falling over CDs from the prolific American composer Carson Cooman, who puts out an album every other day (he’s even on a jazz-based work we have lined up for review). His works are approachable, while being proper classical music as well, suitable for both novice and stuffed-shirt expert. The Press notes…

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    Niels Rønsholdt: Songs of Doubt

    This is a remarkable CD. It’s not for anyone who thinks Ed Sheeran produces complex songs but it’s a powerful and affecting work that should appeal to classical and electronic pop fans alike. The sound is somewhere between Martin Grech’s Open Heart Zoo, still a classic album (came out in 2002, the music was more…

  • Anthony Goldstone: The Piano at the Ballet

    You get one piano transcription of orchestral scores and another two turn up. Like buses, piano transcriptions. A couple of weeks ago we had Enigmas, the work of Elgar; last week it was an excellent disc of performances of Mussorgsky, now this. On one hand it’s a charming piece of entertainment, in which complex music…

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    Randall Thompson: Symphony No.2

    Thompson is known as one of the most-performed American composers of choral music, notable for writing that is approachable to both audiences and choirs. The Second Symphony is “an excellent example” of what the composer was capable of when not composing for voices, say the sleeve notes. We say it’s ideal if you want to…

  • Elspeth Wyllie: Enigmas

    This delightful album is out to coincide with Elgar’s 160th birthday on 2nd June, and it’s a recording of solo piano and chamber works, featuring Worcester’s most famous son’s own solo piano transcription of Enigma Variations. The Review Corner are big fans of Elgar, having lived in Malvern, not too far from his grave at…

  • Bechara El-Khoury: Orages

    We normally distrust modern music that opens with a discordant, explosive crash of instruments, as it’s usually the start of something “challenging”, that only the most arty can understand. In this case it’s OK, because “Orages” is foreign for “storms”, and El-Khoury is describing the storms of his native Lebanon. They must be big buggers.…

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    Aylish Kerrigan and Dearhbla Collins: Schoenberg Vocal Works

    All those hours spent listening to experimental, modern classical music have paid off: we dipped our toes into the waters of Arnold Schoenberg and came up smiling, to mix metaphors. A couple of reviews said it was not for the faint-hearted; it’s true that it’s not for someone expecting the Cliff Adams Singers singing something…

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    Enzo Bellomo: Legacy and R-Evolution

    “Modern” classical music can be vexing at times, interesting ideas and experimentation not always making for the easiest of listens. This debut album by Italian composer Enzo Bellomo aims to be (as it says on the tin) a modern classical record but drawing on the legacy of past greats. It’s less r-evolution than comfort food,…