Rock fans seem to divide sharply over the musical worth of '70s and '80s rock band Genesis, their polar positions staked out by wild claims for the band's genius or total dismissals of its arty pretensions. Classical pianists Yngve Guddal and Roger Matte tap in to the distinct colour and often melancholic nature of seven essential Genesis numbers, translating them all to the two-piano medium with complete success. Strong shades of the impressionistic Debussy are cast over their reinterpretation of Mad Mad Moon from Trick of the Tail, highlighting the complexities of one of the band's best numbers. Unlike ex-Genesis star Steve Hackett, I hear little in these arrangements that compares with Stravinsky's writing for two pianos. But there's a rhythmic flair and tonal beauty about the playing that should carry pleasure beyond the usual Genesis audience. Sceptics would do well to give Down and Out, complete with the Phil Collinsesque riffs, a test listen before bypassing what turns out to be a very enjoyable disc. 

Review by Andrew Stewart

January 2003

 British Flute Music
York Bowen: Sonata Op.120; Lennox Berkeley: Sonatina; Malcolm Arnold: Sonata Op121; Nicholas Maw: Sonatina; Iain Hamilton: Spring Days; David Matthews: Duet Variations Op.30
Jeffrey Khaner - Flute
Charles Abramovic - Piano

 Avie Records AV 0016

This lyrical, engaging music is certainly ripe for discovery. The earlier pieces, from the 1940s, are exactly the sort of music that the pundits disapproved of for decades because it happened to be tonal. The Sonata (from 1946) by Edwin York Bowen, who has been abysmally neglected, is a delightful synthesis of chromaticism, tunefulness and meaty, characterful harmonies. Next comes Lennox Berkeley's Sonatina if 1940 and Malcolm Arnold's Sonata of 1977, with its jazzily sarcastiv finale. And if you tend to shy away from contemporary music, the charm of Nicholas Maw's imagainative early Sonatina and Iain Hamilton's Spring Days (1996), and the dreamlike poetry of David Matthews's Duet Variations (1982) bubbling away into the stratosphere, must surely change your mind. Khaner and Abramovic, ironically perhaps, hail not from the UK but America, where Khaner is principal flute with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Their performances are as fresh and intelligent as the music itself.

Review by Jessica Duchen