First published in the Guardian on 31 August, 2017

Francesco Tristano: Piano Circle Songs
Tristano/Gonzales (Sony)

“Maybe we have to come up with a new series of labels,” says Francesco Tristano, suggesting “acid classical” or “acoustic disco” before thinking better of it. “Let the music speak for itself.” The Luxembourg-born pianist/composer/producer has done good on either side of the indie classical line, with previous albums variously featuring the solo music of Luciano Berio and orchestrated versions of Detroit techno anthems. His latest project lands in some innocuous middle zone, with stripped-back piano writing borrowing the loops and layers of deep house and the spacious textures and wan harmonies of ambient tracks. Canadian polymath Chilly Gonzales adds jazz-ish inflections and some buoyant interlocking grooves but not much else that I can hear; the pace of the album roams just enough to keep things interesting, with the final track, Third Haiku, arriving unexpectedly at somewhere quite delicate and introspective.

First published in the Guardian on 31 August, 2017

Christopher Tye: Complete Consort Music
Phantasm (Linn)

Much is made by Laurence Dreyfus, director of the viol consort Phantasm, of Christopher Tye’s eccentric ways. “Craggy lines, indecorous clashes and sudden deviations work their special magic,” Dreyfus writes in the sleeve note. And indeed they do, with sudden mood swings, rogue metre changes and harmonic mayhem making the ground feel like it’s always shifting under your feet. But what strikes me about this recording is its suaveness, its evenness, its consistent beauty. Phantasm rides the impish contours of Tye’s imagination with unbending calm. Even in a stunning ‘free’ composition like the three-part Sit Fast — which breaks out of its lamentations into sudden squalls of dance, like someone who momentarily forgets they’re at a funeral and goes a bit disco — Phantasm’s control is absolute. The playing is remarkable, technically flawless, but in music so full of surprises I would love to hear some surprise.

First published in the Guardian on 31 August, 2017

Rameau: Pygmalion
Les Talens Lyriques/ Rousset (Aparte)

The sculptor Pygmalion renounces love then falls for one of his own creations (the image of a perfect woman, whatever that looks like). He persuades Venus to bring the statue to life, and in Rameau’s hands the myth becomes a seductive ‘acte de ballet’ — basically a one-act comic opera that’s heavy on instrumental numbers, almost more dance than song. It is glowing, gregarious music, one of Rameau’s most popular pieces during his lifetime and this new recording from Christophe Rousset and his French baroque specialists Les Talens Lyriques demonstrates why. The playing is sumptuous, broad, vibrant; Cyrille Dubois sounds rapt and vigorous as Pygmalion, a natural for Rameau style which is as much about acting as singing, while Celine Scheen is more piquant as the Statue. Also on the disc we get a graceful, earthy performance of Rameau’s orchestral suite Les Fetes de Polymnie.