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Review title: Very pleasing
Product review: The liner notes say he studied with Ireland and was influenced by Sibelius. Really? I hear the sweetness of the former, but not the Scandinavian's complexity. Instead, I hear a man who delighted in being a sponge and integrater (ok, not a word, but it should be). There is Debussy, Faure and even Smetana here, but always with a kind of British crispness overlaid. When he goes folk, he looks west across the Atlantic, not over his shoulder at the Slavs. That keeps the piece dreamy, but reformist. The G Major is a special kind of synthesis of compositional strengths and will stay with you for some time (the Adagio presages a significant theme in Shosti's 8th St Qt). The playing is critical here, since the pieces, often gently romantic, might easily go mushy without the interpreter's respect. Maggini does it right. And those liner notes mention a Cello Concerto written for the composer's wife. Back to the shopping cart we go; in for a nickel . . .
