RONALD STEVENSON (composer):
It is the best piano-recording - the best pianism - we've heard for a long time. His pianism is the continuation of the unique Mancunian line of master-pianists: Egon Petri, Frank Merrick, Iso Elinson and John Ogdon. The programme of his CD is original, exploratory; both unified and contrasted in concept and in sonority. It contains some of the most beautiful CANTABILE I've heard and a range of sound that is rare and quasi-orchestral. And his pedalling is the most inventive I've heard for ages.

Yes, the programme-building is deeply considered, contrasted AND unified; and full of interest. His performance of Busoni's CARMEN FANTASY is a true realisation and continuance of Busoni's concept. I invoked Petri, but here I add a different comment. Signora Gerda Busoni told me, amusingly but factually, that Busoni specified CON AMORE for the "flower song" because he knew that Petri could not play CON AMORE - perhaps his Dutch background militated against it? -but Busoni encouraged him to try.

The inclusion of FOUR premiere recordings shows hospitality of mind and surely makes it a collector's CD; AND also a popular one in its content. To achieve both the rare and the popular appeals to me and should attract an audience both informed about tradition and open to the new. This commentary is becoming a panegyric, an encomium! But though elaborate, every word expresses my actual reactions. - Or possibly doesn't express ALL I feel.
Ronald Stevenson

MUSICAL OPINION:
Anthony Goldstone has excelled himself in these quite spectacular feats of brilliant pianism. Happily too, Divine Art’s recording of this essentially Gypsy music is exciting and full of real tension, in that there are several moments when I wondered how Goldstone would be able to carry his playing into even more thrilling music than had been achieved in the previous piece. For example, I had never before thought of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances as having an uninhibited quality.

For myself, I was captivated by Goldstone’s own arrangement of Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, which I have never considered possible without all the colours of a symphony orchestra. He has proved me wrong! Other delights are Falla’s Fantasia Baetica, a real find, and Busoni’s Chamber Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen.

This is a programme of stunning virtuosity enhanced by musicianship of the highest quality. Before the disc comes to an end you will be on the edge of your seat as he generates electrifying excitement with Enescu’s own piano transcription of his famous First Rhapsody.
Denby Richards

PIANIST MAGAZINE: (PIANIST’S CHOICE CD – March 2006):
Festivities, dancing and enthralling violin virtuosity have been the popular picture of Gypsy culture for centuries. Haydn, Brahms and Liszt all drew inspiration from this image, incorporating the lively Gypsy dance rhythms into their own works. In this disc’s informative booklet notes Anthony Goldstone gives us the real background of this fascinating culture and he is spot on in his selection of works by the above-mentioned composers.

Goldstone usually appears as part of a piano duo with his wife Caroline Clemmow, but he is a fine pianist in his own right. Here, the real joy is his skill as an arranger of idiomatic concert transcriptions of works by Haydn, Brahms and Kodály. Enescu himself arranged his justly famous Romanian Rhapsody for solo piano, but Goldstone proves to be just as inventive, not least in his pursuit of the often-tricky voicing stemming from having to reduce an orchestral piece to ten fingers. Many pieces on this CD will be new even to avid collectors, but others, such as Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 will be well-known from many well-played recordings, something that does not scare Goldstone.

CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE ONLINE FORUM:
On receiving this disc, one is greeted with an incredibly colourful painting called "Gypsy Dancer" by Nina Mikhailenko. What a beautiful invitation to some finger-wrenching playing inside the jewel case.

As you can see from the playlist, there are four recordings that are world premiere. I've been interested in the playing of Anthony Goldstone from his first recordings, and also those done with his equally gifted wife, Caroline Clemmow. Alone or together, these pianists take on a lot of pianistic repertoire that simply isn't generally known, thus expanding our heights of musical enjoyment that much more.

One doesn't necessarily place this disc in the player and start from the first track. I had to hear first, Enesco's own concert transcription of his Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 first, which is an orchestral showpiece in its own right. It also is the concluding piece of this generously-filled disc. It seems to be true that everyone saves the best for the last.

There is some virtuosic playing on this disc that even someone like the great Hungarian/French pianist György Cziffra has not traversed. Most of this music would be his kind of repertoire. If you know Cziffra's work, then you know what type of pianism to expect on this recording.

Anthony Goldstone is not only a first-rank pianist, but also a superb transcriber and arranger of music. Zoltan Kodály's Galanta Dances are also a well-loved set of pieces from the twentieth century repertoire. To convert them to one piano and to perform them makes technical requirements on the pianist that have to be heard to be believed. There's nothing easy about this music and Goldstone manages to make his piano into a full orchestra but never with any harshness. This would be, along with the Enesco piece, interesting to see performed via a DVD. Goldstone pulls it off superbly well, and it stays with you.

I've heard more virtuosic performances of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, Cziffra for one (and in several recordings he made, commercial and otherwise). This is a somewhat more labored performance that misses the true Hungarian spirit, but still indicates the full command Goldstone has at the keyboard. Falla's Fantasia baetica was a favourite of Alicia de Larrocha, whose performance is more convincing ... it's simply that Spanish blood. Again, Mr. Goldstone certainly is no slouch, to use a term I don't particularly like.

The Haydn/Goldstone "Gypsy Rondo," with Schubert's cadenza is a most interesting work because you'll find yourself listening for Schubert's cadenza. Only 3:30 timewise, but a nice addition to recording transcription literature and obviously enjoyed being played by Goldstone.

The Dohnányi Rhapsody in F# Minor is also an ear-catcher, along with Augusta Holmès (1847-1903) Reverie tzigane, the latter completely new to records. The Busoni and Brahms pieces, while not new to records, round out this truly striking piano recital.

The sound is natural without the usual cavernous cathedral/church acoustics, the unnamed piano decent and in-tune (unlike some other Divine Art CDs I have heard), and Goldstone's notes informative and thorough.

It was a distinct pleasure to hear this entire recording. Highly recommended.
Lance G. Hill

NEW CLASSICS:
Anthony Goldstone was born in Liverpool and studied with Derrick Wyndham at the Royal Manchester College of Music then in London with the great Maria Curcio, making him a sixth-generation pupil of Beethoven (Maria Curcio was a favourite pupil of Schnabel). His career has included many acclaimed broadcasts and recordings, and on this CD he shows both his virtuosity and musicianship in ten works with a distinctly Romany theme. Music is one of the ways in which gypsies have traditionally made a living, playing and singing in typically passionate and uninhibited style and inspiring many mainstream composers. There are four world première recordings here and three exciting arrangements by the performer, resulting a sparkling display of the highest quality. The works are by Kodály (Dances from Galánta), Haydn (Gypsy Rondo, with cadenza by Schubert), Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6), Busoni (Chamber Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen), Brahms (Hungarian Dance Nos. 11 & 2), Dohnányi (Rhapsody in F sharp minor), Falla (Fantasia Baetica), Holmés (Rêverie Tzigane) and Enescu (Romanian Rhapsody No. 1). This appealing, accessible music is played by a musician at the top of his form.
John Pitt

INTERNATIONAL PIANO:
The nature of tzigane (gypsy) music is passionate, wild and abandoned. Although this programme is centred around ‘gypsy-inspired music’, Augusta Holmès’s little trifle Reverie Tzigane with its stuttering cimbalom effect and Anthony Goldstone’s own arrangement of the Haydn ‘Gypsy Rondo’ – complete with a cadenza made up of Schubert fragments – push the connection to its limits, even though the latter is played at breakneck speed. Nevertheless there is nothing tenuous about Kodály’s Dances of Galánta but the arrangement for piano lacks the orchestral colouring of the original.

Goldstone’s playing is outstanding. He gives just the right amount of light and shade to Liszt’s sixth Hungarian Rhapsody, and his performance of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances is sheer joy. On this occasion his arrangement of no.11 from piano duet to solo piano in no way diminishes the music. If you like what Busoni does to other composers then you’ll love his take on Carmen. Unusually it has a rather dark ending; it’s not to my taste but it does have its moments. The remaining works are in the spirit of the gypsy theme. Dohnányi’s impassioned Rhapsody in F sharp minor, op. 11 no. 2, is given a towering performance by Goldstone, who is also totally at one with Falla in his Fantasia Baetica. Both composer and his interpreter capture the pulsating heart of Spain in which the singing of the Andalusian gypsies is brought to life. Interestingly, Goldstone points out in his programme notes that “the piece depends for its spontaneous effect on the player’s strict adherence to the composer’s precise instructions,” and it does work.

The disc comes to a rousing end with George Enescu’s fiendishly difficult concert transcription of his Romanian Rhapsody no. 1. The music captures the wild spirit of tzigane and Goldstone tosses it off with consummate ease. In spite of some reservations, this is exhilarating music.
Shirley Ratcliffe

MUSICWEB:
Looking at this disc one might be forgiven for thinking that most gypsy-inspired art music emerged from Hungary and the surrounding territories. Certainly a lot has, but it is good having some Spanish material and French too in Augusta Holmès. Featuring eleven composers’ (counting Bizet and Schubert) individual takes on gypsy idioms is either likely to appeal a great deal or not much at all. In his lucid eight page accompanying note Goldstone makes the case for acknowledging more openly the Gypsy influence on western art music and draws out the threads between the works. His playing makes the case with equal eloquence and his instrument is recorded within a tightly focused frame.

A strength of this disc is that it places cheek by jowl the familiar in unfamiliar form, a few works commonly known in their present form and some lesser known repertoire. Goldstone’s own arrangements show his affection for the works whilst affording him the opportunity to showcase his talent. Those of the other arrangers (Busoni and Enescu) set him similarly daunting fences to hurdle, but more on them later.

Goldstone opens with his own ‘translation’ of Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, a veritable rush of high-powered pianism that would challenge many a keyboard artist. The result though is a thoroughly enjoyable and faithful account of Kodály’s orchestral score made naturally at home on the piano. The Haydn finds Goldstone momentarily more relaxed and reflecting with ease upon the vague Hungarian influence that permeates the work – the purpose of which is a means to an end in colouring the piece.

To my ears the Liszt and Brahms works were perhaps a little too similar in vein, undoubted showpieces though they are and delivered with all the sweep and verve that one could require for such late romantic repertoire. The sheer audaciousness of Busoni’s Chamber Fantasy on Bizet’s "Carmen" provided exactly the kind of change in terms of mood and material that was needed. Like much else here, it’s unashamedly virtuosic and played with sensitivity, passion and technique equal to the task. Some may pall at the thought of Busoni or Liszt’s opera paraphrases – but they form a rich stream of piano literature that could bear more frequent airings.

Dohnányi returns us firmly to Hungarian soil in one of his most inventive rhapsodies – and here Goldstone captures a lilt and sway to the rhythms that I had not before picked up on, and in so doing effectively communicates the gypsy influence within the work. The fluid quality Dohnányi’s flowing writing calls for might not be as outwardly ambitious with regard to technique as the Busoni, but it is no less impressive for that.

The works by de Falla and Holmès may not count amongst the disc’s first recordings, but they do effectively serve to diversify the musical diet at this point in the disc. The former provides authentic Spanish inflections to neatly counter those arranged by Busoni. If Arthur Rubinstein, its commissioner, found the work "too long and complicated" there are elements that interest; and also extend knowledge of de Falla’s piano writing beyond the oft-heard Fire Dance and Nights in the Gardens of Spain.

Holmès would seem a composer, rather like Amy Beach, whose music has inner strength and worth but has never found an audience willing to regularly receive it seriously. Her idiom steers a course between Franck and devotion to Wagner yet captures a certain personal edge (indeed, one might understand why Saint-Saëns called her "untamed"!)

For the finale we come to Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody no. 1 – in his own concert arrangement. Goldstone describes it "well night unplayable". Over the past few years I have listened to all of Enescu’s output in great depth – one might expect a violinist to write strong string parts, but more and more for me it is his piano writing that impresses. Whilst Goldstone captures the quirky playfulness of the work, unlike many orchestral conductors he also pays careful attention to metronome markings with their fluctuating tempi that accompany unequal bar lengths. It ends in a thunderously resounding battery of chords.

GLASGOW HERALD:
That intrepid and tireless explorer of pianistic byeways, Anthony Goldstone, is at it again. For his latest adventure, Tzigane, subtitled A Treasury of Gypsy-inspired Music, he has assembled a collection of familiar and unknown pieces that have a connection (albeit sometimes tenuous) with gypsy music. It’s a pot-pourri with pieces ranging from Haydn to Brahms, and from Liszt (the great and neglected Sixth Hungarian Rhapsody, a spectacular barnstormer), to Busoni. The gems are Goldstone’s own arrangement of Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, which work spectacularly well on keyboard, and fascinating pieces by de Falla, Dohnanyi, and Enescu.

Some purists and anoraked authenticists will no doubt be predictably stuffy about this lot. For the rest of us, it’s a wee goldmine of dazzlingly-played music with a strong Hungarian flavour, a heavily paprika-ed aroma, and containing some spicy and previously undiscovered nuggets.
Michael Tumelty

CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE:
(January 2006 “Don’t Miss” CD)
Gypsy-inspired music is such a good idea for a piano disc you wonder why no one thought of it before. Apart from the gritty Fantasia Baetica (Falla) and stolid Dances of Galanta (Kodály), the music is, as you’d expect, tuneful, scintillating and easy on the ear, triumphantly rounded off by Enescu’s own transcription of his Romanian Rhapsody no. 1. Anthony Goldstone’s touch is a tad deliberate at times, but this is a most enjoyable disc.     [Awarded four stars ]
Jeremy Nicholas

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW:
This is an intriguing collection before listening to it, and one that remains interesting, in part, after having done so. Divine Art’s presentation suggests a “popular” compilation. [we do not think so! – Divine Art] The cover reproduces a vividly coloured painting of a gypsy girl, her long flowing dress reacting voluminously to her dancing, and some of the pieces included in Anthony Goldstone’s recital; are highlighted only by title. Carmen Fantasy suggests several composers (the one chosen is by Busoni), while Andalusian Fantasy is actually Falla’s Fantasia Baetica, indicating that the CD’s contents might be suitable as aural ‘wallpaper’ [*see below] . Not the case, of course, and such thoughts are banished by the booklet itself, which includes a nine-page English-only essay by the pianist.

Kodály’s Dances of Galánta is in a well-made transcription by Goldstone, dispatched with bravura. Kodály’s orchestral original being ‘reduced’ to solo piano shouldn’t be seen as detrimental to the work. After all, Liszt and Bartók were satisfied to enshrine Hungary’s musical folklore thus, and in the Liszt Rhapsody selected here Goldstone brings a certain élan, although less force and more smouldering would have been welcome. The Haydn ( the finale of his best-known keyboard concerto) is heavy-handed and lacks sparkle and wit, and although Goldstone is up to the technical demands of the Busoni, it is played too obviously at times.

Of Brahms’s two Hungarian Dances, the one that Goldstone has transcribed, no.11, has expression rich enough to be given an immediate encore, and the composer’s own version of no. 2 is flamboyantly played, without neglecting the all-important contrasts of reflection and combustion: soul, vibrancy and fire – the qualities that maybe we first think of in connection with gypsy music (and, indeed, beyond that rather colloquial description). Yet, as performed here, Dohnányi’s slow Rhapsody seems too much of a musical hothouse, rather wearing, even when the dynamic slopes downwards. This draws some criticism, here and elsewhere, that Goldstone could have invested more variety of touch to his playing, and more sublety. The charming trifle by Augusta Holmès (1847-1903) seems to need a lighter, more insouciant rendition that Goldstone gives it.

Alongside the Kodály, there are two other notable performances. Falla’s Fantasia bética, written for Rubinstein, is music that I find intractable. Having heard Fantasia bética too many times in competition rounds, where it is usually made to sound loud and percussive, it is a revelation to listen to Goldstone’s rhythmically emphatic, even clinical approach, against which the slower sections exude hypnotic fascination. Although one misses the orchestra in Enescu’s own transcription of his familiar Romanian Rhapsody no. 1, Goldstone’s buoyancy, energy and volatility make the piano version attractively viable.

The recording unstintingly relays Goldstone’s most forceful playing, which can sometimes seem hectoring, and which can detract from the whole. This is an issue to dip into, then, but at least the substantial works are especially winning.
Colin Anderson

*sometimes comments puzzle us! The cover painting is a fine canvas entitled “Gypsy Dancer” by American artist Nina Mikhailenko which seemed appropriate to the music. While not every track is fully identified by composer and full (often very long) title on the front cover, in order to preserve some sort of artistic quality, one only has to turn the case over to see the detailed information. As is the case with 99% of CDs!