Poulenc: Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon

“This is an excellent, spirited two-CD set...A facotr that comes across clearly here is that Poulenc had a more or less infallible ear for tapping into the timbre and personality of different instruments...The London Conchord Ensemble mainfestly relish what Poulenc has to offer, playing with panache, wit and discreet sensitivity in performance that are a constant joy.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012

“This is an extremely enjoyable set of Poulenc's chamber music. It's certailny one of the best around...[recordings] are unobtrusively excellent, a lovely natural sound that gives this set an advantage over the two rival versions...In short, if you're looking for a fine set of Poulenc's chamber works in really engaging performances in very fine sound, this Champs Hill set is as good as any.” International Record Review, June 2012

“No longueurs on these excellent discs: Poulenc’s invention is always sprightly, and the performers are vivified by it; though an outstanding item is the Elégie for Horn and Piano, in memory of Dennis Brain” Sunday Times, 26th February 2012

“His work is no mere froth; there's a smoky, autumnal sadness to his harmonic writing, a lingering regret beneath the joie de vivre, particularly in the intimacy of his chamber music. The London Conchord Ensemble understand this completely, working their magic in the bittersweet sonatas...and romping through ensemble works large and small” The Observer, 19th February 2012

'Entrancing. It's hard to select the choicest treasures from this jewel box of Poulenc's most witty and vivacious, hauntingly melodic and touchingly heartfelt music, especially when it is played with such effervescence and devotion as here. The two masterpieces are the Sextet for Piano and Winds (1932) and the delectable "Mozartian" Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon, played with dashing elan and soulful lyricism by the pianist Ian Brown and the Nash's brilliant wind principals. Richard Watkins's long-breathed account of the moving Elégie in memoriam Dennis Brain (1957) and Paul Watkins's noble-toned playing of the Cello Sonata (1940/48) are exceptional. But there is rapture, elation, zany high spirits in all of this music, dazzlingly played by the Nash Ensemble. Buy, buy, buy!' (The Sunday Times)

“Invidious as it may seem to pick out just one of these excellent artists, special mention must be made of Ian Brown, who plays in nine of the 13 works included and confirms his standing as one of the most admired and musicianly chamber pianists of our day. He knows, for example, how to control Poulenc's boisterous piano writing in the Sextet without sacrificing the sparkle, and as a result the work coheres better than ever before. Like the Trio (whose opening reveals Stravinskian influence), it's a mixture of the composer's madcap gamin mood and his predominantly melancholy bittersweet lyricism.
The latter characteristic is most in evidence in his most enduring chamber works: the solo wind sonatas with piano, all three of which were in the nature of tombeaux , the Flute Sonata for the American patron Mrs Sprague Coolidge, that for clarinet for Honegger, and that for oboe for Prokofiev. All are given idiomatic, sensitive and satisfying performances by the Nash artists.
The Elégie for Dennis Brain was a not altogether convincing experiment in dodecaphony: Poulenc had earlier dabbled in atonality and polytonality in the little sonatas (really sonatinas) for, respectively, two clarinets and for clarinet and bassoon. There's a touching reading of the little Sarabande for guitar. A hint of the guitar's tuning at the start of the second move- ment is almost the only Spanish reference in the Violin Sonata, which was composed in memoriam the poet Lorca, whose loss is bitterly suggested in the angry finale. In this work Poulenc allotted to the piano (his own instrument) rather more than equal status in the duo – a situation rather paralleled in the lighthearted Cello Sonata, over which the composer dallied longer than any other of his works – but balance in both is finely judged by the performers and the recording team.
The whole issue wins enthusiastic recommendation: it bids fair to become the undisputed yardstick for the future.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Christopher O'Neal's playing of both oboe and cor anglais is bright, incisive and elegantly turned… His colleagues match his artistry and expertise, not least with unusually well characterised string playing in the Mozart Quartet.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ****

“…Christopher O'Neal's… playing on this most diverting anthology offers unbridled pleasure in its impeccable expertise, agile grace, tasteful expression and appealing variety of colour and tone. Boasting realistic sound and balance, this disc makes for delightful late-evening listening and earns an easy recommendation.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2009

“There's the courtly charm of Mozart's Oboe Quartet in F Major, K 370; Crusell's more flamboyant Divertimento; Poulenc's Trio, with lively passages sandwiching a sweetly poignant central section; a couple of genteel duets with harp, by Alwyn and Elgar; and the stand-out piece, Francaix's Quator à vents, a woodwind quartet of sharply contrasting moods culminating in a wonderful pastoral Allegro vivo.” The Independent, 10th April 2009