Naji Hakim

"I chose the repertoire for the opening recital of the Glenalmond college having in mind the stylistic flexibility and great elegance of the Harrison & Harrison organs.As 2007 was the centenary year of my master and friend Jean Langlais, I decided to open the programme with one of his most famous pieces, Te Deum on the Tutti of the organ, with the works of Grigny, Boellmann and Franck, articulating the programme to put in relief the colours of the instrument, such as mutations, flutes, voix céleste, foundations and reeds.The Sakskøbing Præludier, based on Danish hymns, are the prolongation of my credo, and, along with the Glenalmond Suite, are recorded here for the very first time." Naji Hakim

“A label whose organ recordings are consistently amongst the finest emerging today” International Record Review January 2008

“a dazzling virtuoso recital superbly played” (Gramophone)

"Few current violinists can claim as wide a repertoire and as active a policy of commissioning as Sheppard Skærved, and the present disc offers an excellent and often surprising overview of his solo repertoire. Who would have expect Naji Hakim - Messiaen's successor at La trinité and an improviser par excellence - to come up with a sonata technically in the tradition of Ysaÿe? The Andante, moving from brusque recitative to heightened lyrical discourse, typifies the eclectic but integrated stylistic range of the work. David Matthews is represented by two contrasting works. The recent Fuga is a sustained four-part study, its Bachian essence filtered through a thoughtful, almost Busonian sensibility. The studies are more conventionally virtuosic, though inventive in the way the opening Andante spins its melodic line so effortlessly, while the final Lento accumulates intensity through abrupt but resourceful changes in texture and dynamics. Dmitri Smirnov's Fugues ingeniously exploit timbrel variety as a structural component in fugal writing, though with a depth of expression that makes the music much more than a technical exercise. The remaining works are all by Henze, demonstrating the range, but also the less earnest side of his sensibilities. Étude Philharmonique draws on pastiche to construct a humorous yet distanced dialogue with its particular past. Serenade finds the composer at his most indulgent, down to its expressive double-stopping and lyrical flights of fancy. The Sonata is a triptych of character-types: the witty but ever so slightly tetchy 'Tirsi', the genial but increasingly quixotic 'Mopso' and the resolute, decisive 'Aristeo' playing out a discursive scenario; underpinned by a formal cohesion not always apparent in Henze's work. A varied and stimulating collection then, recorded with due appreciation of Sheppard Skærved's incisive clarity - a trait equally apparent in his informative booklet note. Whether or not the violin is as limited an instrument as he reckons, future players will have reason to acknowledge his contribution towards widening its technical and expressive scope." International Record Review, April 2000