Contents

Poul Ruders may remind you at times of the minimalists, of the new spiritualists or of the polystylists of our age. Well, it is true that his range of stylistic reference is wide, but his music has a more active outlook than that of any of those specialinterest groups. Its 360-degree view of the...

There is no shortage of recordings of these three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances, but Hickox's are among the very best available, ideally combining chamber-orchestra delicacy of detail (and very beautiful playing) with full-orchestra richness where required. Not an opaque, stodgy richness,...

Gilher and Stiher Pekinel, highly talented twins of mixed Turkish-Spanish parentage, playing together on a single piano, set off vivaciously into the Introduction of Saint-Saas's Carnaval des animaux, tripping along with irresistible charm and gaiety. Throughout there is such an engaging...

Byrnan Wood is the first full-scale orchestral composition by the young British composer David Sawer (b.1961), whose piano work The melancholy of departure is already available on an NMC disc. Byrnan Wood was commissioned by the BBC for the 1992 Proms, and Sawer has said that the title uses one...

Israel Yinon built his first Schulhoff collection around a highly successful account of the knockabout First Symphony (Koch Schwann, 8/95). This new compilation is arguably more valuable in showing us how the (by now familiar) provocateur of the 1920s sought to transform himself into a purveyor...

R. Strauss Burleske in D minor, AV85. Helene Grimaud (pf); Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Berlin / David Zinman.