"Played on Cavaillé-Coll instruments in Lyon and Toulouse, this is a fine introduction to Widor beyond the famous symphonies ..." ****

“Birtwistle unleashes all his powers… a thrilling dramatization of the Bible story  ... The London Sinfionetta, under David Atherton, lend it both soul and a zinging edge” 

“Birtwistle, a composer whose music is as vivid and compelling as that of any today. Excellent performances here from David Atherton and the London Sinfionetta ...  Birtwistle’s music today is just as lacking in complacency as it was in 1968 ... This CD is a pungent and persuasive statement about what properly serious music can achieve today” 

"There is nothing in these performances of advocacy, push, or any expression of the need to apologise for or “warp” the music in anything other than itself."

"Although the story remains an enigma, this terse, taut work is superbly dramatic”

"... [Angel Fighter] would evoke Bach cantatas if Birtwistle’s gestic pungency did not sweep all before ... In Broken Images  — an intriguing meditation on the eponymous Graves poem — might evoke Gabrieli but for the same proviso. The brief Virelai (Sus une fontayne) brilliantly transforms a late-medieval original ..."

"...Birtwistle unleashes all his powers ... a thrilling dramatisation of the Bible story"

"Angel Fighter is a spare and strikingly original piece of dramatic storytelling. It presents the Old Testament tale of Jacob wrestling an angel as a ritualised game between the tenor Jacob (Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts) and the counter-tenor Angel (Andrew Watts) and climaxes in one of the great dramatic moments in Birtwistle’s concert music "  **** 

"The simplicity of his music, and its tendency to brevity - there are eight works in this collection, the longest of them an 18-minute suite of ballet music - are all deceptive; what one gets within the smallest frame is something totally memorable, perfectly crafted and, in its way, unutterably strange... Each of these pieces, whether the four written for ensemble or those for chorus (settings of Shelley, Flecker, Drinkwater and the Song of Solomon), manages to do something exquisite and totally personal; how Skempton always does it with such economy is a wonder in itself."

"An enticing collection … Exaudi and BCMG are manifestly attuned to the idiom, and recorded with ideal clarity. Informative notes from James Weeks and the composer enhance a release that confirms Skempton's move to the centre of British new music as complete." 

"Skempton's music is deceptively simple, affording familiar musical materials a gentle, non-ironic regard. Satie may be a near comparison, but without his wackiness and weirdness. In recent years, Skempton's concentrated more on vocal and choral music, which gets haunting performances by Exaudi. A delightful disc."

"This set offers a rounded portrait of a restlessly questing composer … big architectonic pieces in performances of impressive might under Carewe."

“...  I would recommend this latest volume.”  ****

“...The featured works span practically the entire career of this great symphonic musician, and is full-blooded and affecting."

“...performances of great subtlety and feeling.”

"...vigorous but sensitive performances ... utterly persuasive."