Crossley, Lauren

Why this superb recording has not garnered more attention is amazing: it is one of the very finest selections and performances of lesser-known but brilliant works by Stravinsky. Recorded in the terrific acoustic of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall (the home of the Aldeburgh Festival) in 1988, these delights are performed by Stravinsky specialist pianist Paul Crossley with the firm support of Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the London Sinfonietta.

Curtis Nolen and Raymond Crossley may not have been the biggest names to record for Motown in the 80s, but the duo serves up some mighty nice work in this overlooked set – a package of self-produced original material that comes across with a great 80s groove on both the uptempo numbers and mellow steppers! The mellower moments are maybe even some of our favorites – as they have this cool, compressed vibe that's maybe more in the Capitol Records soul mode of the time – post-disco, post-70s soul – with a mature mode that's mighty nice, and a great blueprint for their songs. The groovers are good, too – never too obvious in any sort of 80s pop soul mode – and a few almost seem to hint towards more of a Mizell level of modern soul complexity. Titles include "Salsa Boogie", "Face On The Photograph", "Chance", "Satisfied", "Into The Groove", "Ready Or Not" and "Nice To Have You Back".

The four chamber works by Austrian Thomas Larcher recorded here show that's he's a composer to watch out for. His compositional voice is strikingly unencumbered by adherence to any orthodoxy, and his work is direct in its emotional and intellectual communication. My Illness Is the Medicine I Need, for soprano, violin, cello, and piano, is particularly effective; its aphoristic texts come from a Benetton "Colors" magazine that included photographs of psychiatric hospitals and quotations from their patients. Larcher's understated text setting allows the voices of the patients to be heard with unaffected bleakness and it is strongly moving. Even though it uses a contemporary harmonic language, the string quartet Ixxu (1998-2004) is old-fashioned in its emotional clarity. Its last movement, "ruhig," is genuinely peaceful and brings to mind the serenity of Arvo Pärt's Fratres. His 1990 quartet Cold Farmer is similarly direct and generous in inviting the listener in, and here again the slow movement is especially deeply felt and engaging.