Classical Editor: Rob Barnett Music Webmaster Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb-international.com

		Kaleidoscope consists of 12 pictures from childhood: they are imaginative and light-textured. Antony Gray (who also wrote the notes for this rather glorious issue) gives a performance which seems to reflect considerable thought in recreating these twelve little worlds. No routine approach here. The music is impressionistic - shades of Scarbo and Le Gibet and Petrushka but with a dash of Warlock and Moeran. The Four Conceits are from a similar sketchbook. Goossens was obsessed with trains and boats and planes. The three sketches Ships reflect this as well as a broader more romantic line than the first two collecitons. The Debussy Homage (1937) has a wandering soft focus. The delicious folk tune is richly spun; contrasting with the spiky Scherzo. Bonzo and Pikki (family diary pages) are lovingly rendered, for me recalling Elgar's Mina. The flighty Capriccio recalls Bax's O Dame Get Up and Bake Your Cakes. The 1914 Concert Study is a thorny and slightly heartless fantasy of Graingerian brusqueness. The Nature Poems (1919) are dedicated to Goossens' friend Moiseiwitsch. These are easily the most impressive sequence on the disc: recalling Frank Bridge's piano sonata and Gargoyles, floating veils of sound, a concentrated central Pastoral and a finale (Bacchanal) which communicates as a joyous exploration of a fine and highly emotional theme of Baxian shapeliness. Recommendable and recommended. Reviewer Rob Barnett Orders can be placed in Australian currency with Steven Godbee ABC Classics ph + 61 2 9950 3969 fax + 61 2 9950 3886 godbee.steven@a2.abc.net.au Order through the ABC Shop's Online service at: shop.abc.net.au	Reviewer Rob Barnett Reviews carry sales links but you can also purchase from: REVIEWS Index Chandos October September August July June May April March February January 1998
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