CD, Davies, Peter Maxwell (composer)

Maxwell Davies’s intensity of expression is here distilled into chamber music, by turns simple and complex, furious and tender…The disc closes with the composer’s very last work, a brief movement... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…

A wildly eclectic programme, which makes for an exciting listen. While some of the ensemble playing could be tighter, the solos are ethereal and thoughtful. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2022, 3 out of 5 stars More…

They make a lovely sound together…I enjoyed the sweetness of Balsom’s muted tone in the central Sarabande of the Françaix and the way that even while articulating brilliantly through Goedicke’s... — Gramophone Magazine, July 2016 More…

The magic starts with Huw Watkins’s purpose-built Lament for horn and piano, a wonderful beginner’s guide to the expressive colour range possible when a horn is allowed to sing, rage, and sigh…Watkins’s... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Horsch harnesses no less than nine different instruments, bringing a kaleidoscopic range of colours to the repertoire...The transcriptions, including several by Horsch herself, are an enchanting... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2022, 5 out of 5 stars More…

It’s recorded in a way to convey to the maximum both the poetic detail and the expert pacing of Knussen’s finely-pointed reading, and to give full rein to Dame Harriet’s wonderfully free-spirited... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…

The Cello Concerto, premiered in 1989, works its way inwards to a deeply expressive central Lento, beautifully played here by Vittorio Ceccanti — BBC Music Magazine, November 2013, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Devised as authentic chamber music for instruments essentially outside that tradition, the Brass Quintet, especially in its immensely measured central adagio, has a searching introspective quality... — Sunday Times, 6th March 2016 More…