Bowen: Viola Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 18

“both works provide a refreshing and varied sequence to the Brahms viola sonatas with which they are in many ways unjustly compared. Bowen's effulgent and often suave harmonic language is at once more opulent and extrovert...Matthew Jones and Michael Hampton's enthusiastic and sympathetic performances bring out this aspect of Bowen's style in spades” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“The Bridge Duo prove to be absolutely first rate advocates both technically and stylistically. Jones has a slightly leaner and more agile tone than some violists which suits the febrile mood of the music well and he is well partnered by pianist Michael Hampton.” MusicWeb International, March 2012

“these recordings of his large-scale solo string works with piano can only help to reinforce our awareness of his consummate mastery of extended musical forms in the demanding idiom of absolute music...the clear sound quality of both these CDs has a striking immediacy which only serves to enhance these fine performances.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011

“All the pieces show Bowen's love of the instrument's capacity to unfold long-limbed, rhapsodic melodies, though his harmonic world rarely strays beyond that of Brahms; Lawrence Power's richly expressive moulding of them is a rare treat in itself.” The Guardian, 27th June 2008 ***

“It is easy to dismiss Bowen’s music as conservative, but the two viola sonatas of 1905 and 1906 are clearly inspired by the romantic style of Brahms’s late sonatas for clarinet or viola. They are worthy successors, at least when played with the sumptuous tone, passionate conviction and supreme technical address that Powers lavishes on them here. Crawford-Phillips relishes the bravura of York’s writing for the piano (the composer’s first instrument) in this superbly executed set, unlikely to be equalled very soon.” Sunday Times, 6th July 2008 ****

“Following his successful recording of Bowen' Concerto, Lawrence Power turns to this repertoire with similar technical ease, and persuasively idiomatic tempo inflections and portamenti (slides).” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 *****

“…the performances could hardly more glowing. Bowen's writing for both instruments is more than demanding yet nothing detracts from Lawrence Power's and Simon Crawford-Phillips's enviable fluency and achievement.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“Power, the first British winner of the William Primrose International Viola Competition, now returns to this cherishable area of the repertoire with equally stunning results. Accompanied by Crawford-Phillips, Lawrence’s fabulous combination of tonal seductiveness and technical wizardry works wonders in the bold expressive outlines of the two sonatas. Yet it is the heart-warming, stand-alone pieces (many recorded here for the first time) … that make this release truly indispensable. Another Hyperion winner” Classic FM Magazine

“Inspired by the incomparable Lionel Tertis, his friend and colleague at the Royal Academy of Music, Bowen wrote music for the viola of such richness and fantasy that its long neglect is one of music's saddest mysteries. True, Bowen's delight in resurrecting the glamour of the past and archaisms too long uncherished, sat uneasily with the engulfing modernism of his age.
Bowen, like Medtner, had little wish to move with the times, and yet if his music is endearingly old-fashioned it is also full of surprises and of a harmonic language and idiom peculiarly his own. Only a puritan could fail to respond to Bowen's warmth and exquisite craftsmanship in, for example the Fantasia, two Romances and the two Melodies where his sense of elegy takes on a double meaning: the aftermath of the war and the loss of what he saw as the departure of civilised creativity.
Both discs are beautifully planned, opening with sizeable sonatas and continuing with shorter works before ending with more largescale offerings, and the performances could hardly be more glowing. Bowen's writing for both instruments is more than demanding yet nothing detracts from Lawrence Power's and Simon Crawford-Phillips's enviable fluency and achievement. Once again Hyperion has hit the jackpot in a much-needed revival and the sound and balance are exemplary.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A valuable survey of three early Bowen offerings fashioned for that great British violist, Lionel Tertis (1876-1975). Not surprisingly, given Tertis's phenomenal technique and tone-production, each piece here makes exceptional demands. Happily, James Boyd is fully equal to the task. What's more, he forges a marvellously eloquent alliance with Bengt Forsberg, their playing brimful of affectionate understanding while retaining a sense of freshness in discovery.
Both sonatas date from 1905 and were premiered at London's Aeolian Hall by Tertis, with the 21-year-old composer at the piano, in May 1905 and February 1906 respectively.
Described by its dedicatee as 'a vivacious and light-hearted work', the First Sonata comprises an expansive and confident Allegro moderato, a songful slow movement in ternary form (whose principal melody hints at Lowell Mason's 1856 hymntune for Nearer, my God, to Thee) and an unusually meaty finale, where sheer high spirits win out in the end. Its F major successor follows pretty much the same pattern, though the slow movement now quarries a darker vein of expression, while the concluding Allegro giocoso yields plenty of opportunity for cheeky display. Boasting admirable sound and balance, this is a gem of a disc.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010