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Stephen Goss Robert Levett, International Record Review, April 2008
"Stephen Goss seems hell bent on dragging the the classical guitar world up by its boot straps and giving it a metaphorical slap about the cheeks"
“I am impressed with the talent and imagination Steve Goss is showing in his compositions. He has matured over the years to become one of Britain's finest composers.” David Russell, Vigo, Spain, 28 October, 2007
"I have come to expect outstanding originality in the work of Stephen Goss... "One of the top scholar/performer/composers on the scene today."
"A wonderful orchestral showpiece in which the guitar takes centre stage... Goss's writing for winds is particularly sensitive and colouristic. This is a strong work that one hopes will become a permanent part of the repertoire'' read full review
"Performing before a capacity audience [at the Wigmore Hall] Natalie Clein and Xuefei Yang gave an accessible programme that included their own arrangements as well as a new commission from Stephen Goss. Based on Chinese poems, The Autumn Song is a beautifully evocative composition and was eloquently performed by both artists, with Clein's winning lyrical style proving ideally suited to it" "The effect of [Préludes and Interludes] is of a series of miniatures assembled into a composite whole. An intriguing, impressively realised idea"
"Stephen Goss's finely crafted El Llanto de los Sueños... is especially delicate and evocative" "Throughout the work the greatest impression is of allusiveness and intentional, almost teasing refusal to allow the obvious. This largely is what makes it a work of art, using harmonic materials that had their day a long time ago but which find renewal in this kind of approach, in which this composer specialises... The piece is very attractive, luxuriant at times and full of colour; the movements work together like a tone-poem." Stephen Kenyon, Classical GUitar Magazine, October 2009 "Stephen Goss's superb Chinese Garden is fragrantly evocative."
"Welsh composer Stephen Goss' exquisite Chinese Garden was written especially for Xuefei Yang. A showcase for Yang's subtle shading as well as her famous technical fluency, the first movement sets a tender melody against a backdrop of gently shimmering arpeggios. Carl Herring, MUSO Magazine, April/May 2008
"I have the impression that the composer has set out to use sonority to create an aural equivalent of frangrance... The exoticism is knowing and developed."
"Written especially for Xuefei Yang, The Chinese Garden imitates the timbres of the Chinese pipa to create a beautifully impressionistic atmosphere." Therese Wassily Saba, HMV Choice, May/June 2008
From Honey to Ashes (2007) for flute and guitar "An enticing opening to an excellent CD, Stephen Goss's From Honey to Ashes is a set of highly contrasting miniatures, ranging from original compositions to arrangements and from reflective solos to Brazilian and Jazz-Rock influenced duets. Both players shape every phrase with care and the clarity and colour of the tone is superb, even in the fastest passagework. The ensemble is impeccable. Brenda Dykes, PAN, the flute magazine, March 2008
"The programme at Wigmore Hall on 25 September by flautist Jennifer Stinton and guitarist Richard Hand drew an exceptionally large audience... It was only in the second half that distinctive creative personalities emerged in Stephen Goss' From Honey to Ashes and Edward Cowie's Spell Checks." Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, November/December 2007
"Stephen Goss's suite of short pieces From Honey to Ashes, is full of gems – jazzy and poetic. There are plenty of opportunities for the guitarist to display a variety of effects, from percussive slaps and damped strings, to the more conventional gestures one might normally expect. Even the simpler movements, such as Flutes and Fiddles have interesting rhythmic wrinkles, and this is a piece all such duos should make an effort to discover." Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International, November 2007
"This 15-minte work comprises 11 highly contrasting miniatures and shows to good effect just what an original and inventive writer Goss has become." Steve Marsh, Classical Guitar Magazine, April 2008
Sonata for solo guitar (2006) "Goss's Sonata for solo guitar (2006) finds him well and truly on home ground. Each of the three movements of the work takes as its starting-point a work from a different composer: Debussy for the Pastorale, Scarlatti for the Toccata and Beethoven for the Adagio sostenuto . Michael Partington, for whom the work was written, honours it with a supremely fluent performance, bringing out the harp-like qualities of the first, the rapid repeated notes and ringing, campanella effects in the second, and the poignancy of the double Robert Levett, International Record Review, April 2008
"Written for Michael Partington in 2006, this three-movement sonata pursues on of the composer's main preoccupations: the creation of new music that, in some ways literally, resonates with the old." "The composer helpfully explains what he has used and how: Debussy underpins the first movement, a slow Pastorale, Scarlatti is the main source for the rapid Toccata which follows and Beethoven is the fount of the concluding Adagio sostenuto . It is not mentioned but I am also struck how this gives a slow-fast-slow shape to the sonata akin to Tippett's original scheme for his guitar sonata The Blue Guitar. Goss also draws attention to the physical resonances of the instrument itself, the writing often using overlapping sonorities in the highly idiomatic manner available to a composer who is also a fine player." "Here is a major work for players of exceptional technical and musical depth, and for those of an enquiring disposition." Stephen Kenyon, Classical Guitar Magazine, March 2008
Park of Idols (2005) "There are references galore; Stephen Goss does not write in a vacuum, and the piece contains references to Frank Zappa, Cornelia Parker (who destroyed a garden shed in a controlled explosion), Shostakovich, Pat Metheney, John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth and Robert Fripp. Bewildering? Not at all: Stephen Goss synthesises the lot, making it a personal expression that is rare in the guitar world. And when I read that Fractured Loop is built from reorganised fragments of a Pat Metheney guitar solo superimposed over a cello pizzicato bass line, I was impatient to hear it. The result is one-and-a-half minutes of total pleasure, modern jazz and modern classical at the same time." Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine, October 2006
Frozen Music (2005) for guitar and strings "[Frozen Music] takes its title from a quotation by the nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich von Schelling: ‘Architecture is music in space, as if it were a frozen music'. Commissioned by the Yehudi Menuhin School to commemorate the 90 th anniversary of its founder's birth, Frozen Music (2005) is scored for guitar and string trio. Each of the seven movements was inspired by a building or architectural space. From the Menuhin Hall to London 's ‘Gherkin' and taking in the East Stand of the Arsenal Stadium and the Walt Disney Concert Hall along the way, this enjoyable and imaginative work is given a splendid performance. The extended quotation from Schubert's Litanei, as it emerges from a sometimes violent background, is especially effective." Robert Levett, International Record Review, April 2008
"I have come to expect outstanding originality in the work of Stephen Goss, and I was not disappointed. Frozen Music, for guitar and string trio, is his reponse to seven buildings that have meant something to him. The title is a reference to a definition of architecture by Goethe, and this was its London premiere, the first performance having taken place on the Menuhin School's Founder's Day. The School's new concert hall is one of Goss's magnificent seven, the others including Norman Foster's Gherkin (London's latest landmark), Frank Gehry's Guggenheim lookalike designed for Walt Disney in Californis, and - another London building - the East Stand of Arsenal Stadium. A corresponding variety of styles has been employed by the composer, adding significantly to the interest. Grand Central Station is a Viennese waltz, a reference to the scene in Terry Gilliam's film The Fisher King where New York commuters perform a waltz en masse.
"Charles Jencks's Garden of Cosmic Speculation is a new landscape garden that I've longed to visit. Now we have a disc of music by Stephen Goss which explores the landscape in sound. I loved it. Goss manages to make lovely, pleasurable auditory experiences, but adds in to this strength and rigour of construction. I simply loved the sound world, [but] I felt that there was something underneath, the steel beneath the velvet glove." Robert Hugill, Musicweb International, Musicweb Log, June 2007 " Using the word 'stunning' to describe Jencks's back yard, aka the Garden of Cosmic Speculation is rather like saying the Pacific Ocean is 'wet'. The design is quite simply breathtaking, and this film, directed by Nigel Wattis, allows the garden to take centre stage."
“This is very definitely a CD which can be sampled by those who shy away from contemporary music. But at the same time Goss never talks down; he never confuses melodic fecundity with real inspiration.” Robert Hugill, MusicWeb International April 2007 Raise the Red Lantern (2004) for solo guitar The Raw and the Cooked Le Cru et le Cuit (2004) for two guitars "The title is almost guaranteed to invoke attention and exploration of this music – so there's a good start. Couple this with the name Stephen Goss, a well-known and highly respected composer, arranger, player, teacher, and we're onto a winning combination. The Raw and the Cooked was written for the Hand/Dupre Duo's tour of South Africa in 2004 and they have since recorded it on their ‘Songs Without Words' CD." "The work is more or less one lengthy composition divided into twelve segments each of which blends into the following one. These sections have intriguing titles such as Hot, Caught Between, One Female Dancer, Tango Brawl, The Ajman , etc. and are a potpourri of styles and inspirations from the likes of Mahler, Django Reinhardt, Alan Holdsworth, David Byrne, Piazzolla and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Unusually in a work for guitar duo, there are, in the midst of all these divisions, two delightful guitar solos (one to be played by each player) the title of the whole work being taken from these solos." "This hugely entertaining and fascinating composition will realistically only be available to the very grade duos as there are some very tricky moments during its fifteen minute duration. Having witnessed a performance of this work at the 2005 Dillington Guitar Summer School by the dedicatees, I can vouch that this is a real audience-winner and was one of the recital's high points that evening. Highly recommended." Steve Marsh, Classical Guitar Magazine, November 2006
"The second half featured Debussy, Goss, Satie and Albeniz. The piece de resistance was The Raw and the Cooked. It embraced a wide variety of styles and sonorities and clearly delighted the audience... a totally engrossing experience... the gentle but intricate blends of sound from the two guitars made it a mesmerising experience and solace to the soul."
Stephen Goss's The Raw and the Cooked is a contribution of real substance to the 2-guitar repertoire: 14 minutes of idiomatic guitar writing that will probably stand up to any tag you care to throw at it, mpst of which will probably miss the mark anyway. Post-Modern? I haven't a clue; but do listen to it. It's funny and witty apart from anything else, human qualities that are usually neglected when 'serious' composers sit down to write 'classical' music. Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine, April 2007
Oxen of the Sun (2003) for ten-string and six-string guitar "This is Goss's piece for 10-string and 6-string guitars to be performed by one player. The 10-string is held as usual and the 6-string is on its back in front of the performer, raised to a convenient height. Clearly this is a work for very few to endeavour." "The piece was commissioned by Jonathan Leathwood. The textural possibilities suggested lyres, and so Orpheus and Apollo are starting points with the movements being titled Sirens, Pan Aeolus, Orpheus, Arethusa, Circe, and Narcissus. "Goss uses a complex but fundamentally accessible language throughout, the work as a whole tending to return to the tonality of the 10-string's lowest note, B. Resonances and textural ideas predominate. While being extremely difficult to imagine form the page, the effect in performance can be overwhelming, and it is certainly the case that although this piece will probably remain unique in its concept, and supremely challenging to master, any suitably adventurous owner of the necessary instruments should give this a go. Given the size of the market, I would urge serious students of the instrument and its repertoire, as well as followers of the composer and the performer, to obtain both this edition and the recording that features the piece, The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, available from Cadenza Music." Stephen Kenyon, Classical Guitar Magazine, August 2007
"The titles of the seven sections give some idea of Stephen Goss's many interwoven inspirations for this rich composition, which were derived from not only musical sources. Jonathan Leathwood played a 6-string and a 10-string guitar simultaneously. One guitar was held in the regular playing position on his knee and the second was lying flat in front of him on a cushioned chair." "Nothing can quite prepare one for the experience that is Stephen Goss' Oxen of the Sun. This was written for Leathwood to play on 10-string and 6-string guitars. The normal guitar rests on its back on two piano stools in front of the performer, who holds the 10-string in the normal way. The 6-string is played rather in the manner of a lap-guitar, with harmonics and tapping, and two different capos." "Over the course of seven Greek-inspired sections, the interactions between instruments range from subtle echoes, resonances and faint textures, to an all-out percussive barrage. This piece was entrancing, eerie and awe-inspiring, textural and gestural rather than discernibly motivic or melodic. It left a definite spell as the audience filed out for the interval." Stephen Kenyon, Classical Guitar Magazine, July 2006
invisible starfall (2003) for solo piano an ideal insomnia (2002) for solo piano “Having admired Stephen Goss's piano music when I heard some in concert, I found it illuminating to see his expressionistic ten-minute piano suite an ideal insomnia in print… This is atmospheric and powerfully crafted music.” Murray McLachlin, International Piano October 2007
"I really like this! Ten minutes, four pieces, properly contemporary in style, neither terribly difficult nor abstruse, this could and should become a standard concert work." "An ideal insomnia is a twelve-minute piece for piano, with references as diverse as Paul Klee, Mahler, Britten, Turnage, Alice in Wonderland and Satie... Goss can certainly mix a potent brew." First Milonga, Last Tango (2002) for flute and guitar
Carmen Fantasy (1998) a fantasy, for four guitars, on themes from Bizet's Carmen |
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