Jane Manning

"Lyell Cresswell and Edward Harper are both long-standing 'incomers' on the Scottish musical scene, both experienced exponents of mainstream contemporary styles, and often employing substantial orchestral or choral forces. This disc of smaller-scale pieces is something of a curate's egg, but variety is one thing it can't be accused of lacking. Harper's Byrd transcriptions for brass form an appropriate, and well-played, backdrop to his own Byrd derived Fantasia III, an efficient piece of work despite being almost too respectful towards its source. Harper's Ricercari in memoriam Luigi Dallapiccola (an excellent remastering of the 1979 recording) is also essentially sober, reflective tribute, though here the livelier music, with its hints of the more stressful Maxwell Davies, helps to keep the structure active and engaging. I found Lyell Cresswell's two short unaccompanied vocal pieces far more enjoyable than his Brass Sextet. The florid Prayer for the Cure of a Sprained Back (the text is from an army surgeon's 1859 attempt at a history of New Zealand) recalls Berio's works for Cathy Berberian without slavish imitation, and this, together with the later, shorter Words for Music, is finely performed by Jane Manning in recordings which make admirable use of church resonance (Rosslyn Hill Chapel). ... On this evidence, and that of earlier Cresswell discs..., this composer is most effective when writing for voices." Gramophone

David Lumsdaine's Aria for Edward John Eyre is a work of major status... this recording is especially welcome... and Gemini [are] virtuosic and thrilling as ever under the direction of Elgar Howarth. - Gramophone 1993

The most important record I reviewed during 1993 may well turn out to be the Elisabeth Lutyens collection. By eloquent performance and shrewd choice of works, a figure who had begun to seem a brave but perhaps outdated pioneer was revealed as a creative artist of individual and expressive refinement. - Gramophone Critics' Choice 1993

Jane Manning is something of a legend in her own lifetime... certainly one of the most remarkable instigators of artistic achievements in others in our day. - Hi-Fi News & Record Review 1995

This disc is a timely remonder of Anthony Payne's strengths as a composer... Performances are uniformly first-class, and the recordings likewise. - Gramophone 1998

A welcome re-issue: The Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra, one of Osborne's best scores and, indeed, one of the best flute concertos, alternates between glassy explosiveness and glassy calm. - The Sunday Times 2003