Alexei Grynyuk – I adore this pianist! He started with five Scarlatti sonatas (out of some 550 compositions!). I do not know how Alexei selected these ones, but they were indeed excellently selected and I felt they enabled Alexei to demonstrate his artistry to the maximum with contrasting characteristics in texture, voice, and sonority. K87 was such a dreamy piece, with each layer of notes smoothly and thoughtfully connected. Delightful and light, K135 had a dance-like feel. K141 displayed successive sharp staccatos with light-weight left-hand chords. K466 was utterly and breathtakingly gorgeous, a wealth of true melodious beauty; its transparent clarity was out of this world. We all admired Alexei's finger work in the fast-tempo K20 which concluded this section. All the way through the Scarlatti, Alexei emphasized the melodic lines of each sonata, but, what was amazing to me was his left hand - his keyboard touch was ...

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Her programme seemed as if it was designed specially for Breinton. Pianist Clare Hammond gave the Breinton audience a perfect musical evening featuring the works of composers ranging over four centuries.

The programme began with Brahms's transcription of Chaconne, undoubtedly Bach's most masterful and powerful unaccompanied violin composition. Transcribed in this version for the left hand only, it was meant to be a study rather than a concert piece. However as David Mather wrote in the programme note, "while it may properly belong in the practice room, it makes an interesting curio for the concert hall". Exactly right; I think the whole audience was curious and looking forward to hearing this challenging piece of work. The seemingly impossible spread of chords and enlarged harmonies were managed excellently, together with effective 

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It was a splendid summer's evening with virtuoso violinist Alina Ibragimova. I always get excited and carried away talking about music but, really, her performance of six Ysaÿe Sonatas was completely out of this league. I feel it is wrong and unnecessary to analyse and comment on her pieces, because the whole programme was so convincing in every respect. Her technical command was beyond description, her tone shone throughout the evening; despite the demanding double stops and fast passages of all kinds of scales, her intonation was acutely spot-on. But more than anything, Alina had the projection to draw us into her music and her world. We understand that Ysaÿe's solo sonatas are not everybody's cup of tea, and all six of them in one evening could be quite challenging to appreciate. However there was no challenge – we were transformed and transfixed.

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I cannot begin to describe how pleasurable this evening's recital was. Cellist Guy Johnston and pianist Alasdair Beatson delighted the audience with a programme packed with musical gems which encompassed a wide range of periods from baroque, classic, romantic to contemporary.  

The duo's partnership was undoubtedly strong; they showed impeccable timing, harboured expressive and emotional surges as if they were on the same wavelength, and maintained an excellent and effective balance between the instruments -  sometimes one instrument surfacing over the other, but always supporting and complementing each other. Guy is not  a 'showy' performer; rather, he is cool, analytical, and, in every respect, very persuasive. As for Alasdair, he is a born chamber musician (as well as an excellent soloist), who takes a sympathetic and collaborative approach to cater for every need. No wonder many instrumentalists want to play 

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