University of York Music Press

Sadie Harrison's disc 'An Unexpected Light' (NMC D125) contains chamber music influenced by the traditional musical cultures of Lithuania, Georgia, Khojent and Armenia. It is performed by the St Christopher Chamber Orchestra, Vilnius, conducted by Donatas Katkus, and features Rusne Mataitye as violin soloist. It was described by Musical Pointers as "music which combines a personal musical language with international influences, ...which merits consideration as a whole, not just as a sequence of items... A wonderful sequence which held us enthralled, playing the programme through with only one brief pause; a marvellous 'concert' which builds on the legacy of Bartok's and Kodaly's pioneering collecting long ago, and gives 'cross-over' a new and enriched meaning; a disc to which we will return."

Luís Tinoco has had a recent CD, 'Chamber Works', released on Lorelt Records LNT 121. A collection of his recent chamber works, it is performed by Lontano conducted by Odaline de la Martinez. Tinoco is described by Musical Opinion Magazine as "clearly a composer of highly imaginative gifts and technical skill": his pieces "equally assured in their coloration and control of timbre and time, and I have been much taken with the composer's naturally expressed mastery of his material in these works. [...], very well written, never pushing the instruments beyond their capabilities and full of a delight in composition that betokens a genuine artist. [...] I should really like to hear more of Luis Tinoco's music."

'Winter Music' (LORELT Records LNT 118) is another recording by Lontano under Odaline Martinez, this time featuring the music of Jeremy Dale Roberts. Musical Opinion Magazine says the disc: "reminds us of the voice of one of the more philosophical British composers of his generation and hopefully will enable a wider public to come into contact with music that has been unjustly neglected. [...] Jeremy Dale Roberts is a remarkable figure in that whilst acknowledging a broad range of influences he has remained utterly true to himself. There are within his music rare feelings of a fragile but not weak beauty, of a delight in sound per se, not sounds of hefty orchestral tuttis, but those of a solo line, or instrumental coloration, the importance of which often passes superficial listeners by."