The Hannibal/Harmonia Mundi record is also nothing if not varied, but this is of course in the nature of a well-chosen collection of short pieces. Here no holds are barred: there is Bach (a straightforward performance of the 'doubtful' G minor violin and keyboard sonata), and there is John Coltrane (parent influence on Jeremy Wall's Elegy for 'Trane). Also from antiquity (in the context!) is the classical writing of Leonardo Vinci (the missing 'da) is of the essence: they were different people!). Deep purple (a slightly unfamiliar shape to the tune) is another for the older reader: who, listening at the time, could forget Rudy Wiedoft, king of the C melody sax? Syrinx, originally for unaccompanied flute, comes up marvelously (in Harle's hands!) for unaccompanied alto. The cinema is represented by two excerpts from Bennett's Tender is the night And justice is done to John Lenehan by allotting him two piano solos: the Gershwin Preludes, and Poulenc's Hommage a Edith Piaf, a touching homage in its gentle simplicity.
Gentle simplicity (though Dave Heath also touches on it in his final Out of the cool) is perhaps in rather short supply on the Hannibal disc as a whole. And, conversely, there seems on the Hyperion a great deal of referring back to other earlier music. But there is a massive degree of skill in performance and recording shown here. These are two marvellous records.
GRAMOPHONE (reviewed alongside "John Harle's Saxophone")