Patrick Ozzard-Low
In Opposition
KAIROS 0015067KAI
Piano Sonata No 2 Andrew Zolinsky
Sonata: In Opposition Elisabeth Smalt (solo viola)
“…two tremendous pieces, conceived to be impervious to the passage of time.” Ettore Garzia (Percorsi Musicali)
“beautiful pieces […] magnificently performed […] a completely individual signature.” Ben Taffijn (Nieuwe Noten)
“passages that suggest the Bach sonatas for solo violin brought into the 21st century.” Daniel Barbiero (AMN Reviews)
“A mysterious, melancholy and concentrated album [...] two sonatas, truly remarkable compositions. [...] over more than forty years Ozzard-Low has created his own style related to serialism with incredible attention to the harmony of sounds”. FYH (Poland)
“[The] piano sonata begins as the music of one deeply drawn to Barraqué … Yet your voice is your own… markedly in how the music’s decisive travel takes it to a long finale becalmed over a repeating arpeggio in a radiant expanded D major. This ought to come across as a thorough breakdown of style, aesthetic, the works. But it does not." Paul Griffiths (www.disgwylfa.com)
“This is the kind of piece that you won’t assimilate in one go, but even its gnarliest difficulties start to take on a poetic nature the second time around. This is a work that has its own rather special atmosphere, and as a result its own rewards." Dominy Clements
(Music Web International)
0015067KAI
0015067KAI
0015067KAI
Prior responses to these pieces
‘total integrity, focus and communicative power’ (Paul Griffiths)
'arresting for the almost Brahmsian felicity of its none the less barn-storming avant-garde idiom...' (Paul Driver, The Times, London)
'perhaps closest to Barraqué's Piano Sonata—which has the quality of Beethoven on 12-tone steroids—in spirit if not in sound, structure or style…' (Mark Swed, LA Times)
'What a stupendous piece. Amazing, brilliantly conceived and written with a fiery passion and intensity that leaps off the page. A major achievement.' (Michael Finnissy)
