His performance of the Britten lets the light in on what can seem a rather obscure, labyrinthine work: Barley's clear, calm approach lays out the score before us...The rest of the disc is like entering the chill-out room: Barley's well crafted, multi-tracked cello arrangements of Britten's folk songs and 'Concord' from Gloriana will appeal to many.

This will surely go down as one of the more offbeat centenary tributes to Britten. Barley, an unclassifiable cellist, builds his anthology around a thoughtful performance of Britten’s Third Suit for cello and the “quietly radiating peace” he finds in it.

As always, Barley's playing is fearless. The disc is a voyage around the cello as well as around Britten, and one that never becomes relentless. In his Improvisation, there is skilfully woven reference to the profusion of styles in which he plays...The high point, though, is Barley's arrangement of 'Since she whom I loved'. Even without the words, Barley has managed to capture - and further amplify - its great sadness and isolation.

a formidable achievement

If a disc based on a funeral chant sounds rather elegiac, well - I suppose it is, rather, but it’s suffused with a rapt, meditative quality that makes for wonderful late-night listening and there’s a splendidly boisterous arrangement of ‘Oliver Cromwell’ to round things off!