Sunday Times Style 5 March 2023

No figure in 20th century American classical music had as prominent or controversial a career – or did more to sell classical music to the general public as something genuinely exciting, and worth getting into a sweat over – than Leonard Bernstein. For more than 30 years, from his assumption of the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958 until the final concerts that he conducted in obviously failing health near the end of his life in 1990, he was the most prominent and widely recognized American-born conductor in the world, and the dominant personality in American classical music as both a conductor and, to a lesser degree, a composer. A flamboyant public figure, he burst three different times on the musical world – twice in classical with a rush of success on Broadway in between – in a blaze of glory, in the space of 15 years; and over a career lasting from the early '40s until the beginning of the '90s, he never lost an opportunity to advance his reputation as well as the cause of music.

Although the lushly-arranged, harmony-based late 60s Sunshine Pop sound is most readily associated with America in general and the sun-kissed California region in particular, the reality is that it was always an international phenomenon.
The three-CD set, ‘What A Groovy Day’ is a thrilling four-hour celebration of Britain’s contribution to the genre, ranging from household names (The New Seekers, Cliff Richard, Petula Clark, The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits) to terminally obscure acts like Infinity and The Mellow Yellow, who failed to release anything at the time.

Fiona Joy Hawkins and Rebecca Daniel performed live in the studio for this exceptional recording. The piano and violin brings music that is contemporary classical with a twist of new age ambience and perfect for relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. These award winning artists are known for touring the world from their home base of Australia. "To The Wind" is a followup to their critically acclaimed album "Heavenly Voices" released in 2021. The album was recorded by Cookie Marenco direct to DSD256.

Fiona Joy Hawkins and Rebecca Daniel performed live in the studio for this exceptional recording. The piano and violin brings music that is contemporary classical with a twist of new age ambience and perfect for relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. These award winning artists are known for touring the world from their home base of Australia. "To The Wind" is a followup to their critically acclaimed album "Heavenly Voices" released in 2021. The album was recorded by Cookie Marenco direct to DSD256.

Three CD set. Although the lushly-arranged, harmony-based late 60s Sunshine Pop sound is most readily associated with America in general and the sun-kissed California region in particular, the reality is that it was always an international phenomenon. What A Groovy Day is a thrilling four-hour celebration of Britain's contribution to the genre, ranging from household names (The New Seekers, Cliff Richard, Petula Clark, The Hollies, Herman's Hermits) to terminally obscure acts like Infinity and The Mellow Yellow, who failed to release anything at the time. Naturally our compilation includes contributions from the two uncrowned kings of the 60s British harmony pop sound, vocalist Tony Rivers (who provides us with our title song) and studio all-rounder John Carter, represented as both performer and songwriter. Other highlights come from posthumously-acclaimed Sunshine Pop maestros Design, a trio of music library recordings by the largely overlooked but hugely talented backroom auteur Barbara Moore and, perhaps most intriguingly of all, the first-ever release of The Sweet's first demo recording, cut when they were still known as Sweetshop.