Composer Philip Grange wrote the music on this CD for the combination of flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and cello, the line-up of Peter Maxwell Davies’ group The Fires of London, which commissioned Cimmerian Nocturne in 1978 and Variations several years later. Grange uses literary works as sources of inspiration including novels by Joseph Conrad and William Golding (whose Darkness Visible gives the title to this disc.
“Grange knows exactly how Gemini ‘sound’ and they are completely on top of the music. They play these challenging works with confidence, with belief in the music and, under the composer’s supervision, authority. One is immediately plunged into an enigmatic world but one so clearly realized and in which every detail is heard. Metier is doing a terrific job… and here delivery a nicely balanced recording. This is sometimes tough music but the disc comes with a highly recommended stamp from me.”
Gary Higginson
“[These three works] have a power and drama quite their own.”
Paul Driver
Gramophone Critics Choice 2006 “This is music whose creative instincts are undeniably personal. Finely prepared performances, heard in a commendably natural ambience and with Grange contributing the informative booklet note.”
Richard Whitehouse
