Excellent work
vic spicer | 07/05/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"rawsthorne appears to be almost unknown here in north america, so i'm extremely grateful to naxos for (once again) making exploring 20th century composers so painless.this collection of chamber music for piano and strings is extremely enjoyable. rawsthorne seems to have excelled at small pieces- the longest on this CD is just over 8 minutes. he packs a lot of interesting ideas into those brief minutes. while not out-and-out discordant, at times the melodies explode into angry pianos. other times the works seem... well not wandering, but rather taking us in unexpected directions. it's interesting, complex music that is still accessible and deserves many listenings.the sound on the CD is intimate and clean, and as with the other two naxos rawsthorne offerings, the liner notes provide helpful insights."