Somm

Here the outstanding performance [of the Second Quartet] is flanked by accounts of the First and Third marked by equal intensity and responsiveness to mood, and similarly well recorded. — BBC Music Magazine, August 2012, 4 out of 5 stars More…

These perceptive performances by both singers and their pianist recover even the sense and sensibility of those songs which seem distant from our time…Hearing this brings us closer to understanding... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2019, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

The First Concerto was written when Mathias was only 20 and reveals a fascinatingly wiry, acerbic mindset which the composer largely jettisoned in his later style. With a greater sense of direction,... — Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 More…

the performances on this recording are all unfailingly musical and enjoyable. — BBC Music Magazine, June 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Mark Bebbington's… approach to the brooding and combative Piano Sonata is to give the harmony time enough to breathe, in order to go more intensely into its emotional life. The depressive aspects... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2008, 5 out of 5 stars More…

'I strongly believe that contrast is one of the most important aspects of art,’ writes the composer (and in this piece, conductor) in the accompanying note. Stark evidence of that conviction... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2023, 3 out of 5 stars More…

None of the music is indispensable, yet this well-performed disc will please devotees of British music. — BBC Music Magazine, August 2022, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Bruce O’Neil (who serves as Head of Music at the Royal Shakespeare Company) masterminds a commendably communicative display and secures spirited results from his seven-piece ensemble drawn from... — Gramophone Magazine, April 2022 More…