Reviews

Live Performance

Passionate and dignified in equal measure

“Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Invocation for cello and piano was originally the second movement of Melancholia, her first piano trio, written in 1999. It’s a beautifully elegiac piece in which the cellist unfolds a long-limbed, directly expressive theme over gentle piano chords. Passionate and dignified in equal measure, Joseph Spooner and Sophia Rahman’s superbly balanced reading did full justice to a score of great economy and precision, as well as emotional integrity.” (Paul Conway)

particularly expressive

superbly balanced reading did full justice to a score of great economy and precision

“Faithful to the spirit of [Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio], the performers responded with sensitivity and imagination to the sheer individuality of music built to last. … Madeleine Mitchell was joined by violist David Aspin and cellist Joseph Spooner in a crisply articulated rendering of Judith Weir’s The Bagpiper’s String Trio (1985). In the opening ‘Salute’, the performers caught the forthright, dauntless aspect of the opening with its bold cello pizzicatos.  After an edgy, shadowy ‘Nocturne’, the closing ‘Lament, over the sea’ was warmly lyrical as the cellist floated a wide-ranging melody over waves of violin and viola sonorities. This was an eloquent realisation of one of the composer’s most instantly appealing scores. Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Invocation for cello and piano was originally the second movement of Melancholia, her first piano trio, written in 1999.  It’s a beautifully elegiac piece in which the cellist unfolds a long-limbed, directly expressive theme over gentle piano chords. Passionate and dignified in equal measure, Joseph Spooner and Sophia Rahman’s superbly balanced reading did full justice to a score of great economy and precision, as well as emotional integrity.” (Musical Opinion, Summer 2021)

Spooner’s fulsome cello

“Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Invocation for cello and piano … [a] chance to appreciate the probing line given to Joseph Spooner’s fulsome cello. As the composer’s response to Edvard Munch’s painting Melanchola reached its apex there were clangorous chords from Rahman, capping a compact but powerful utterance.” (Arcana.fm, March 2021)

first rank

“a powerful duo … This is first rank cello and piano playing and we’re incredibly lucky these artists live amongst us.’”(http://fringereview.co.uk/, July 2018)

It was good to hear this work bask in what felt like its full glory

“The Delius Sonata is a personal favourite and both artists have distinguished credentials when it comes to this work. The artists gave a convincingly confident account of this roundedly rhapsodic work … The Nocturne by W. S. Lloyd Webber … was put across for all its suave romantic radiance. The refreshingly surprising Cyril Scott work … is fascinating. A Prelude seems to trail tentative tendrils including some show-stopping pizzicato … A blow-hard Reel emulated the wild fiddling of the far Scottish Highlands. It is a real toe-tapper of mounting complexity. Its challenge was surmounted by both Omordia and Spooner … Alwyn’s Two Folk Tunes move from a delicate carillon to passages of the most breathtaking pizzicato, all superbly handled by the two musicians. The Ireland Sonata … is a work of tenderness and violence—tender in its statements and violently colliding in its mood transitions. The piano statements are deeply characteristic in what is a big and commanding work … the performance put not a foot wrong … It was good to hear this work bask in what felt like its full glory.” (Seen and Heard International, October 2017)

a joy to listen to

“a joy to listen to” (The Times, April 2000)

grippingly expounded

“The Cello Sonata, op. 50, while revisiting the baroque manner’s polyphony and relentless textural continuity, distinctly intimated the systems music of a future year. It was grippingly expounded by Joseph Spooner and Continuum’s other director, the pianist Douglas Finch.” (The Sunday Times, at King’s Place, June 2014)

skilfully navigated

“Toch’s vitality and crackerjack juggling of multiple styles lit up Saturday’s instrumental programme, especially during the 1929 Cello Sonata, skilfully navigated by Joseph Spooner and the pianist Douglas Finch.”  (The Times, at King’s Place, June 2014)

You could easily imagine Bush foot-tapping in the great beyond

“The Copland … grabbed the attention right from the opening’s eerie quarter-tones. Spooner and Summerhayes were in fine fettle, with forceful interplay between violin and cello, and strong projection of its various moods – lyric cries, black comedy, outright anger … The show-stopper, however, was the ‘Three Concert Studies’. You could easily imagine Bush – Copland too – foot-tapping in the great beyond.” (The Times, at the Purcell Room, April 2000)

Solo Recordings

Spooner is mesmeric

“[…] now we have this fascinating disc, Opalescence, from Prima Facie Records […] The Cello Sonata dates from 1978 and is, astonishingly, one of the world premiere recordings here. Written in Gipps’ mid-fifties, she was at the height of her powers. The piece is concentrated – it lasts around 15 minutes in toto – but that’s not to say there isn’t time for the spirit of the dance to shine through in the first movement. […] The songful central Andantino is an English Pastoralist dream that capitalises on the cello’s lyrical side unashamedly. The finale is joyous, spiralling piano figures counterpointing vigorous cello action. Spooner and Honeybourne are a fabulous combination of musical characters, both of whom clearly fully understand this music […] The Scherzo and Adagio for Unaccompanied Cello, op. 68 (1987) contrasts play with introspection – Spooner is mesmeric … Superlative performances of beautiful, and often powerful, music.” (Classical Explorer, January 2022)

extraordinary talent and enthusiasm

“The Sonata for cello and piano was completed in 1978 … This is the most stylish essay on this CD: it highlights Ruth Gipps’s maturity and confidence … The difficult instrumental technique demanded of the soloist [in Gipps’ Scherzo and Adagio for Unaccompanied Cello] requires every trick in the book. It is rewarding and sounds more impressive than its five-minute duration may suggest … [the] performers bring extraordinary talent and enthusiasm to this repertoire.” (Musicweb International, January 2022)

mesmerising precision and emotional depth

“The Sonata for Cello and Piano, completed in 1978 when Gipps was at the height of her powers, is surprisingly romantic, given the date of its composition. Intense and dramatic, with three contrasting movements, the first movement combines modernist tendencies with impressionistic harmonies and textures, edgy rhythms and dancing melodic lines. The pastoral Andantino middle movement gives full rein to the cello’s natural lyricism, eloquently expressed by Joseph Spooner and complemented by Honeybourne’s sensitive pianism. The finale is skittish and playful which much enjoyable interplay between cello and piano. […] Another surprising and rewarding revelation is the Adagio and Scherzo for solo cello, performed with mesmerising precision and emotional depth by Joseph Spooner. The music is as tightly constructed and emotionally arresting – and indeed technically challenging – as any of the Bach solo Cello Suites. […] This is a rewarding and intriguing collection of Gipps’ music performed with panache and brilliance […]” (ArtMuseLondon)

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sensitively and expressively played

“A solo cello (sensitively and expressively played here by Joseph Spooner) sings a long, lyrical threnody that runs right through the work – a constant thread of hope that gradually draws the unaccompanied choir out of the muted doubt of the opening … into the quiet affirmation and unexpected radiance of the work’s final cadence.” (EDITOR’S CHOICE, Gramophone, September 2020)

Joseph Spooner plays … magnificently

“At First Light (2018) — essentially a Requiem combining biblical, liturgical and secular poetic texts — is an extraordinarily powerful, unflinching addressing of grief’s complexities, Francis Pott’s texturally and harmonically rich and varied music seducing ear, mind and heart. Joseph Spooner plays the moving solo cello part magnificently, and Berry’s choir Commotio is excellent …” (The Sunday Times, online, August 2020)

penetrates to the heart of the music

“The seven movements of At First Light describe a kind of arch comprising reflective movements leading up to and away from an extrovert central movement. The solo cello acts as a kind of commentator and reflector on the words sung by the choir. The cellist opens the work, playing a very intense lament … Pott’s music for the final section is slow, subdued and prayerful. The cello continues to have keening music but now I find its lament somehow consoling; that’s as much as anything a tribute to the artistry of Joseph Spooner … At First Light is a wonderful composition. It presents a most satisfying and discerning synthesis of words and music. Francis Pott has produced a work of great eloquence and no little beauty. I find it hard to imagine it could have received a more auspicious debut on disc. I understand that the cello part was written with Joseph Spooner in mind. He plays the music with complete engagement and commitment. His highly expressive tone, it seems to me, penetrates to the heart of the music.” (Musicweb, August 2020)

an elaborate and rapt commentary on love, loss and remembrance … peerless musicianship

“At First Light (2018) for choir and cello comprises a series of six meditations framed by words from the Latin Mass for the Dead with Laudibus in Sanctis (a paraphrase of Psalm 150) … Weaving its way through much of this highly evocative work is Joseph Spooner’s expressive cello – an elaborate and rapt commentary on love, loss and remembrance drawn from thought-provoking texts by Wendell Berry, Thomas Blackburn, Alun Lewis and Kahlil Gibran … Luminosity characterises much of the piece … Throughout, Pott’s forty-minute-plus At First Light is served by singing of formidable accuracy and a cellist of peerless musicianship.” (David Truslove, www.colinscolumn.com)

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splendidly played

“[Sherwood’s] Concerto for Violin and Cello is certainly a substantial piece, both in length and weight, with very much to enjoy, both in terms of melody and technical complexity, especially in its romantic second movement, lush in an almost Brahmsian way – one senses the influence of Brahms’ Double Concerto, and there are parallels in scoring (identical), tempo, structure and sometimes gesture. The significant difference is that the two solo instruments – splendidly played here – rarely appear individually […] it is very enjoyable […]” (Musicweb International,  2018)

magnificent introduction to this composer … sharp, full-bodied rendition

“A more magnificent introduction to this composer it would be difficult to find, with Sherwood’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra (1907-08) resounding in a sharp, full-bodied, rendition…” ( Endnotes, November 2018)

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rapt attention … drama … delight … excellent and imaginative

“Eric Fogg’s Poem is a poignant and often moving work that does not deserve to remain in obscurity. It is an impressive discovery … The slow movement [of John Ireland’s Cello Sonata] is played with rapt attention, allowing the heart-breaking pastoral mood of the music to ‘stand revealed’. … The entire Sonata is played with drama, care and constant recognition of the ‘unity in diversity’ of this great work. I loved Cyril Scott’s short, but utterly beautiful arrangement of the Irish folk-song ‘The Gentle Maiden’ … Scott captures the magic and the sheer innocence of the original song, and this is reflected in the performance … I found [the Frederic Austin Sonata] a delight to listen to. It is typically rhapsodic in mood, but never meandering. There are occasional hints of Delius, impressionism, and folksong in these pages. In several passages Austin seems to move the argument of the work towards the more ‘advanced’ sound-world of Continental Europe. The heart of the sonata is the thoughtful ‘moderato’ which creates a magical mood … [Greville Cooke’s] Sea Croon, the eponymous track of this CD, is four minutes of delight. … It is a lyrical piece that tugs at the heart strings … [The first miniature of William Alwyn’s Two Folk Tunes is a] hauntingly beautiful piece … The second miniature is an animated little number based on a genuine Irish tune, but don’t miss the wistful middle-section. … [Benjamin Burrows’s Sonatina] was completed in November 1930 and published the following year … Despite the brevity of its four movements, there is a profundity, intensity and technical accomplishment. … The programme is excellent and imaginative and deserves to be heard at a sitting – with maybe just a tea-break (interval) after the Frederic Austin. … I have noted above the excellence of the readings by the soloists. …[This CD] reveals to listeners the depth of interest in music that has lain undiscovered for many years. Yet, there is so much more hidden in archives and music libraries of similar quality that need to be excavated. All concerned have done, and are doing, a sterling job.” (Musicweb International, February 2018)

fine and very committed … splendid

“… this performance of [Eric Fogg’s] Poem is very good and very welcome … The [John Ireland Sonata] is fine and very committed … There is plenty of dynamic contrast and the ’cellist has a most agreeable tone … In the slow movement the playing is particularly rapt … [Cyril Scott’s Gentle Maiden] is sensitively played … [The Frederic Austin Sonata is given] a splendid performance … [William Alwyn’s Two Folk Tunes] are beautifully played here … [Benjamin Burrows’s Sonatina] is a lovely work that does not deserve neglect, and the performance it receives here does it full justice … a very well-played and recorded programme of great interest…” (MusicWeb International, April 2018)

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well-focussed interpretation

“Performances are first-rate throughout … well-focussed interpretation from Spooner and David Owen Norris … a fascinating and invaluable disc.” (Musical Opinion, 2018)

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wonderfully persuasive… of remarkable passion and conviction

“Hesketh’s ‘imagined shamanic ritual’ IMMH asks a lot of its solo cello perfomer, demanding not only intense focus in its slowly unfolding melodic line, but also percussion on the cello body and chant-like singing. Joseph Spooner gives a wonderfully persuasive account, however, full of remarkable passion and conviction.”  (The Strad, December 2016)

on scintillating form

“The most compelling of Hesketh’s works here—and on the disc as a whole—is the solo cello piece IMMH (2012), described by Philip Headlam in his notes as ‘a short, imagined shamanic ritual, marking the passage from life to death.’ It’s an enormously gripping 7 minutes: the player, here Joseph Spooner on scintillating form, drums (on the body of the instrument), sings, exclaims, plays harmonics, sul ponticello and tasto and bows conventionally, the material all deriving from a single repeated note and the tritone. It is immensely impressive.” (Guy Rickards, Musical Opinion)

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arresting in his commitment

“…a generous 80-minute production, one of quality as well as quantity. I need only detain you with praise for the presentation, the music and the performances. The booklet includes an exhaustive article on Sherwood by Joseph Spooner, which runs to nearly 18 pages. The music itself is lovingly lyrical, very affecting and full of character, and if Brahms and Schumann are easily called to mind, then Sherwood has his own personality and skill … The performances are superb. Spooner is arresting in his commitment, his technical facility and in the rich tone he produces from his cello … grandly traditional music that could not be better performed or presented.”  (International Record Review, March 2013)

no lack of passion

“Sherwood’s more effusive Romanticism [displays] considerable invention and a wider array of expression, avidly exploited by Joseph Spooner (who has also written the thoroughly researched booklet notes) … Spooner reveals the pieces without exception to have been wrongly overlooked … no lack of passion (or, indeed, sheer speed).” (The Strad, February 2013)

dark red velvet

“Spooner is an excellent cellist and his opulent tones can tug at the listener’s heartstrings. He uses a huge gradation of dynamics and can produce a sound that speaks directly to the emotions … Much of it sounds like dark red velvet … tremendous musicianship and technical prowess.” (Fanfare, February 2013)

distinctive cello sound and personality

“[Music] so full of fire and character and with an individuality all of its own … Music needs such a cellist of character to bring it to life and here we are particularly fortunate that Joseph Spooner responds to this music with total dedication and passionate commitment, combined with a distinctive cello sound and personality that brings out all the inherent qualities … A particular bonus is the fulsome booklet note from Joseph, which amounts to a mini-biography in itself … an excellent bargain and a brilliant introduction to Percy Sherwood’s rediscovery.” (BMS News, January 2013)

in assured and exultant form

“Those who enjoy the Rachmaninov and John Foulds cello sonatas will have no difficulty and much pleasure in encountering [the Sherwood sonatas] … the tranced end of the second movement (Adagio) of the First Sonata with its moonlit glimmer is unforgettable … There is nothing here for those of the critical community who belabour companies for inadequate or absent documentation … The booklet … amounts to an extended encyclopaedia entry for Sherwood … It’s rich in footnotes and the style is fluent and uncongealed. The playing is all you might hope for with both Spooner and Owen Norris in assured and exultant form.”  (MusicWeb)

fabulous playing

“…boldly impassioned playing … Sherwood couldn’t have had better advocates than Spooner and Norris … fabulous playing in the difficult writing … terrific playing … This new release deserves a firm recommendation to all interested in British music and, indeed, those who love fine music making.”  (Classical Reviewer)

exceptionally musical

“A long time champion of lesser known cello repertoire, Joseph Spooner deserves great credit for taking the time and effort to give us loving performances of the selections here … a sterling disc of discovery … The cello tone is glowing, and the piano well rounded, making for an exceptionally musical sounding disc.”  (Classical Lost and Found)

glowing tone

“A long time champion of lesser known cello repertoire, Joseph Spooner deserves great credit for taking the time and effort to give us loving performances of the selections here. Along with pianist David Owen Norris’ sympathetic accompaniment, he makes this a sterling disc of discovery. Made at the University of Southampton’s Turner Sims Concert Hall in England, the recordings present a compact soundstage with the two instruments ideally balanced. The cello tone is glowing, and the piano well rounded, making for an exceptionally musical sounding disc.” (Classical Lost and Found, November 2012)

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Other cellists, please copy!

“This is a fine and enterprising cello and piano recital that is worthy of wider notice from more than just the cello fraternity. The dedicated research and willingness to devote valuable time to mastering obscure repertoire, both of which underpin it, deserve a rich reward … Macfarren’s … E minor Cello Sonata … is a captivating piece, rendered with vigour and conviction by Joseph Spooner and Kathryn Mosley … Suffice it to say that Spooner and Michael Jones … do [the Bainton Sonata] ample justice. Other cellists, please copy! … another Dutton triumph.”  (International Record Review, June 2009)

rich and varied tone

“The recordings on this CD … not only add fresh insight into the nature of the cello repertoire written by a generation of early … one is also reminded just how influential the presence of Alfredo Piatti, the great Italian cellist, was on English cello playing in the nineteenth century. Both Macfarren’s Sonata in E minor, first given in 1861, and Balfe’s late Sonata in A flat (begun in 1856) were premiered in London by Piatti, who must have approved of their bright melodic style. Spooner and Mosley bring a vivacity to the more felicitous Mendelssohnian world of Macfarren’s work and the ‘singing’ trait so promoted by Piatti is abundantly exercised in Balfe’s more overtly vocal work. Spooner’s tone is rich and varied. The Edwardian salon lyricism of the two miniatures by Rosalind Ellicott and Quilter is sensitively understated, but there is a good deal more ‘in the tank’ for Coleridge-Taylor’s unjustly neglected and much more exotic Variations in B minor and Bainton’s substantial Sonata…”  (Gramophone, September 2009)

great expressive effect

“Dutton’s explorations of neglected repertoire represent some of the most laudable endeavors of recent times. The pieces are imaginatively chosen without fail, and this disc provides no exception … Spooner gives [the Macfarren Sonata] the greatest advocacy, playing with a beautiful tone throughout that he uses to great expressive effect … [Ellicott’s Reverie] remains as a testament to her music’s grace and charm. Spooner is an eloquent interpreter … [his] whispers the solo line [of the Quilter], lending heightened intimacy to his reading. In many ways this disc is revelatory in terms of repertoire. It is also a delight to listen to and is unhesitatingly recommended.”  (Fanfare, September/October 2009)

played with beauty

“These sonatas are effective and lyrical, particularly Balfe’s, which recalls the songful character of his light operas. The substantial Variations by Coleridge-Taylor is a strong work, unknown until after the composer’s death. Roger Quilter’s contribution is a transcription of a song, while Rosalind Ellicott’s is a lovely miniature. Bainton’s is perhaps the most impressive piece here, thought all the music is a pleasure to hear and is played with beauty by all.” (American Record Guide, July/August 2009)

deserves repeated hearings

“Judging by the performances here, we have many pieces which should be rightly considered as welcome additions to the mainstream cello/piano repertoire. Joseph Spooner plays with a clear passion for each work, and is accompanied with great sensitivity and skill by both Kathryn Mosley (Macfarren) and Michael Jones … This is a great retrospective of British music outside the ‘usual’ musical timelines, and deserves repeated hearings.” (MyReviewer, June 2009)

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all the expressive power needed

“[Bush’s] extraordinary Concert-Piece … all the expressive power needed.” (Gramophone, September 2002)

ravishingly played

“[Bush’s] very English evocation of a Summer Valley, ravishingly played here.” (Gramophone, November 2002)

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superbly played

“…superbly played and recorded … anyone interested in music of this period should add this CD to their bulging shelves.” (The Delian, April 2004)

beguilingly played

“Better still is the almost-forgotten early Cello Sonata (1903–4), which muses beautifully and ends with a striding finale. It is a classic fin-de-siècle piece, beguilingly played by Joseph Spooner and well worth taking up by other cellists.” (The Strad, June 2004)

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consistently from the heart

“…consistently from the heart.” (The Independent, July 2003)

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Chamber Recordings

first rate

“This is an extremely well planned disc. Whoever put these four works together certainly knew what they were doing … We have to thank the Summerhayes Piano Trio for unearthing these works and for presenting them with such evident belief in their worth – a belief which is not misplaced … As the recorded repertoire expands ever wider, one often hears music that has unjustly been neglected. Occasionally such neglect seems to be merited, but in each case on this disc, the music manifestly does not deserve to have been abandoned for so long … the performances and recordings here are first rate, so if your taste is for English music of this era, this issue should become an urgent acquisition.” (International Record Review, July 2005)

engaging and beautifully assured

“This is an immensely rewarding disc on all counts. The Meridian recording is first class, capturing all three instruments with marked warmth. The repertory is fresh and appealing, and the Summerhayes Piano Trio’s performances are engaging and beautifully assured … superb musical finds.” (The Strad, October 2005)

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excellent performances

“excellent performances from the Continuum players” (International Record Review, 2004)

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This is a very important release

“This is a very important release, in terms both of the intrinsic musical value of the recording and of its pointing to an entire repertoire that has yet to be adequately explored on CD … All the instrumentalists given committed performances – they plainly care … I recommend this fascinating CD very strongly indeed.” (International Record Review, December 2003)

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lyrical strength and musical pleasure

“The three artists on Meridian’s instrumental programme have obviously lived with this music and play very sympathetically indeed and with fine ensemble … the central ‘Nocturne’ of the Op. 31 ‘Concert Studies’ for piano trio is haunting in its gentle atmospheric feeling, and the closing ‘Alla Bulgara’ great fun … excitement and real stimulation, lyrical strength and musical pleasure, in varying measures … I cannot recommend [it] too highly.” (Gramophone, November 2002)