The latest news and press from Canary Classics
'The Sibelius is out of this World.' Rave review of Anthony/Edwards release in American Record Guide
05 January 2012
'Anthony has terrific tone and style-mellifluous yet strong... The Sibelius (an excellent companion to the Edwards) is out of this world... It's a full five minutes longer than the Heifetz (Chicago/Hendl RCA). Anthony isn't quite as fiery, but I like her approach better - and there's still plenty of warmth and great atmosphere ... Buy this release for both pieces: I'm tickled pink to have it on my shelf."
I have been completely bowled over by Edward's compositional technique (and tact). I've rarely had 25 minutes go by so enjoyably and never once drag. I'm sure some will think the concerto is shallow, but there is an undeniable confidence here, a great deal integrity, an...
Sibelius/Edwards November Limelight Magazine Review
25 November 2011
'It’s hard to believe such an accomplished, distinctive Australian work only had its European premiere last year with Olding, the SSO and Ashkenazy at the Edinburgh Festival – the present disc makes a strong case for its reappraisal abroad. Ross Edwards’ 1986 concerto remains his finest work, composed when his “maninyas” style of dance rhythms, inspired by insect life in the Australian bush, was still fresh and immediately gripping.
The Adelaide Symphony imbues the hushed opening strains with subtle warmth while violinist Adele Anthony introduces delicate pizzicato, as gentle and exploratory as a cicada opening its wings for the first time. The orchestra’s crisp syncopations grow l...
Vail Valley festival violinist Gil Shaham "stuck on" 1930s music
10 August 2011
Marked by Kristallnacht, the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II , the 1930s were an unquestionably important historical decade.
But because of that turmoil or perhaps despite it, those 10 years also happen to be among the most artistically rich of the 20th century, producing in 1939, for example, what many critics believe to be the best year ever for cinema.
Less well known is a compositional confluence in classical music that resulted in an extraordinary group of at least 14 violin concertos by noted composers, ranging from Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok to Samuel Barber and Karl Amadeus Hartmann.
"It's almost unavoidable for violinists not to noti...
Gil Shaham: Instrumentalist of the Year 2012
- 06 February 2012
Gil Shaham accepts Musical America's 2012 Instrumentalist of the Year Award.
'She's superb' further praise for Anthony/Edwards Violin Concertos release
- 03 December 2011
Another pair of violin concertos make unusual but effective companions on this disc from Adele Anthony, known to some as the wife of violinist Gil Shaham. She’s superb. Her sound is a bit less steely than Sokolov’s, and she makes a glowing case for Australian composer Ross Edwards’s Maninyas – its title referring to a made-up word characterising what Edwards saw as "dance-chant". GRAHAM RICKSON
Edwards/Sibelius release receives 4* Scotsman review
- 31 October 2011
TWO violin concertos: one well known, the other less so. The common factor is violinist Adele Anthony, whose remarkable presence and virtuosity gives equal lustre to the concertos of Sibelius and Ross Edwards, performed here with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Arvo Volmer. Edwards is Australian – one of a current Antipodean crop that have rejected modernism for a sweet-scented but meaty eclecticism. There are the pastoral strains of Vaughan Williams, the citrus-like harmonies of Walton and the edginess of Bartók, sewn together with a quasi-minimalist thread. The concerto (premiered last year at the Edinburgh International Festival) is titled Maninyas, Edwards’s own term for his so-called “dance-chant” style. Anthony delivers its innocent charm convincingly. The transition into the Sibelius is remarkably smooth and pertinent, and the playing is no less entrancing. KENNETH WALTON
