Push-Pull - Between Noise & the Indians - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Thomas Weelkes - Resurgam (2), The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble*, Mark Duley - Gentleman Extraordinary (Anthems, Services, And Instrumental Music)

Intricate melody. Searing emotion. Intense reflection. Unbridled joy. It's instrumental music, but it's so much more. Hailing from the southeastern corridor of these United States, the Foxhole sextet has spent the past six years delving ever deeper into the well of human experience. Yet theirs is no navel-gazing, art-rock foray - rather, it is a shared calling of expression in it's purest form climbing heights where words fall short, exploring the rich depths of love, of loss, and of those things in between. Part of Burnt Toast Vinyl's instrumental band EP series.

'Although the three selected piano sonatas were all composed in the first half of the 20th century, they convey very different musical impressions. Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Kabalevsky - these are three composers, each with their own personalities and distinctive compositional styles. This diversity opens up three unique musical worlds for us. But through the common genre of the piano sonata, we also gain an insight into the musical and cultural development of Russia and the Soviet Union between 1908 and 1946. Dramaturgically, these works take us through the uncertain and turbulent period between revolutions and the First World War, through the tragedies of the Second World War to a hopeful outlook on a 'bright future' in more peaceful times. For me, all three works are among the hidden treasures of the pianistic repertoire.' Anastasia Yasko