CROSSING (Romero/Newmarket) 9.5/10 Out of the constant deluge of new music bursts an expected vision of beauty to rival Joseph Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne. Part bucolic dream and part sonic rainbow (arching from the 13th century to now), this has guitarist Julian Curwin and soprano Jane Sheldon composing settings for assorted French, Spanish and English poetry […]

ZEPHYRIX (Extra Celestial Arts) 9/10 With each album Barney McAll’s artistry currently seems to scale new heights. Certainly Zephyrix (Zephyr amalgamated with Phoenix) is his most ambitious composition to date: a suite for 15 players evoking the five birds of alchemy. The music is both programmatic and philosophical in intent, celebrating transformation, while providing a […]

WHAT SHE SEES (Rufus) 7.5/10 Sometimes the sounds merge into one, is if controlled by the same lips, the same breath. At other times they strobe against one another, the phasing effect unsettling and even disorienting. Sometimes the music is like a toyshop come to life when the humans have all gone home, as on […]