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Christopher Grier in The Scotsman
These [songs] were startling, for they cultivated the idiom, manner and even
clichés of pre-Hugo Wolff lieder, tuneful, consonant, and furnished with thick,
throbbing accompaniments. The best of them were three untitled treatments of
Christina Rossetti's romantic song-scapes...
Susan Nickalls in The Scotsman
...the simple but effective melodies captured the essence of Rossetti's verses...
Gordon Rumson on Music & Vision
Daily internet music magazine
This work [Stay, stay Sweet Time], which might have been composed
by a student of Parry or Stanford 100 years ago is still beautiful. It inhabits
a world of music in which Schoenberg, Webern, Boulez, Stockhausen and Cage never
existed. I don't think that is a bad thing, though some might be put off by
the retroactivity of the music. I found that listening to the choral music while
reading the text enhanced my appreciation for its beauties.
Patric Standford on Music and
Vision Daily internet music magazine
[Arditti is] a latter-day contemporary of the rich crop of English composers
flourishing in the 1880s, Sullivan, Smyth, Somervell... Quartet No 1... suggests
Dvorâk in three short and rather sombre movements before a bright finale. The
best of Quartet No 2 (Op 31) is a set of variations on 'an invented folk-song'
not too far distant from Thomas Moore's famous Last Rose, and of the
six variations, the fourth is an appealing and clever bit of rhythmic invention.
Christopher Thomas on Musicweb
...there is a genuine
sense of personal sincerity and honesty in the way the composer communicates...
The moderato second movement [String Quartet no 2] in particular shows
moments of touching charm. The basic elements however are the same, four classically
styled movements, this time culminating in a set of "Variations on an Invented
Folk-song"; very much in the style of the air-varié and possibly with faint
reminiscences of Scottish folk song. The result is effective and demonstrates
considerable imagination in the treatment of the theme. Making
acquaintance with these quartets is a somewhat surreal listening experience
and depending on your stance I suspect that the music will either be loved or
hated with little room for indifference in the middle. Arditti is clearly resolute
and unashamed in his compositional path however and has to be applauded for
writing what I believe comes very much from the heart. The melodies are warm
and in some cases undeniably attractive...
Carson P. Cooman, US composer
There was a standing ovation after the last chord of My Nanie O [Burns
Songs, Op. 1] had stopped ringing. 'Why can't there be more music like that?'
was the question that many people asked.
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