Joanna Kacperek (piano)
Rubicon · RCD1228 · 86 minutes
Joanna Kacperek has built a program around the idea that contemporary piano writing grows directly out of older traditions, and In Plain Sight makes that argument in the most pleasurable way possible — not through lecture, but through sheer musicianship. Her touch is fluent enough that even thorny passages feel like natural conversation rather than technical obstacle courses. At 86 minutes this is a generous sit, but the variety of character she draws across the repertoire keeps it feeling alive from first note to last.
“Kacperek’s fluid playing makes even the most challenging pieces sound effortless. She captures the varied characters of the earlier composers with sparkle…This is a must-listen for anyone…”
— BBC Music Magazine, July 2026,4 out of 5 stars
Jonathan Kuo (piano)
Rubicon · RCD1135 · 65 minutes
Godowsky spent years obsessed with Java after visiting the Dutch East Indies, and the 53 studies on Chopin’s études feel almost like a separate universe compared to what he dreamed up for this project — music soaked in gamelan textures and a kind of lush, humid atmosphere that sits in a genuinely strange corner of the piano repertoire. Kuo pairs that with his own transcription of Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and while Gramophone stops short of calling it a chart-topper, “pianistic solidity and proficiency” from a magazine that measures its words carefully is a real compliment. At 65 minutes this is a nicely weighted programme that puts two very different visions of exoticism in conversation, and that alone makes it an interesting listen.
“For pianistic solidity and proficiency, Kuo’s Petrushka holds its own in the catalogue, albeit without breaking into the top tier.”
— Gramophone Magazine, July 2026
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Gavin Carr, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, Bournemouth Symphony Youth Chorus
Rubicon · RCD1092 · 47 minutes
Gavin Carr’s choral writing has a way of building space inside a room — Awakening feels less like a concert piece and more like a slow emergence into light, the kind of music that asks you to adjust your ears before it reveals what it’s actually doing. Having the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, and Youth Chorus all in the same room gives the piece real generational depth, layers of voice that feel earned rather than decorative. At 47 minutes it’s a substantial single work, and that kind of commitment to one sustained idea is a genuinely rare thing right now.
Thomas Kelly (piano)
Rubicon · RCD1132 · 72 minutes
Liszt’s organ works occupy this strange, cathedral-sized emotional territory that most pianists quietly sidestep — they’re massive, harmonically adventurous, and demand a player willing to conjure pipe ranks and reverberant stone from 88 keys. Thomas Kelly leans into that challenge with real conviction, shaping the Ad nos, ad salutarem undam fantasy with the kind of architectural patience the piece genuinely needs. The result feels less like a transcription exercise and more like hearing the music discover what it always wanted to be.
Elizabeth Sombart, (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Mihaela Cesa-Goje, Nicolas Comi
Rubicon · RCD1093 · 59 minutes
There’s something quietly fascinating about pairing these two concertos — the warmly conversational K. 365, written for Mozart and his sister to perform together, alongside the brooding, almost operatic K. 491 in C minor, one of the darkest things he ever put on paper. Elizabeth Sombart brings a real sensitivity to that contrast, letting the playfulness of the double concerto breathe naturally while leaning into the restless tension that makes K. 491 feel like it’s always on the verge of saying something it can’t quite say out loud. With Mihaela Cesa-Goje and Nicolas Comi shaping things from the podium, the Royal Philharmonic sounds genuinely invested rather than just along for the ride.
Kuss Quartet, Muriel Razavi (viola)
Rubicon · RCD1203 · 66 minutes
Mozart’s string quintets have this sneaky emotional depth that his string quartets sometimes hold at arm’s length — adding that second viola thickens the texture in ways that can suddenly make a passage feel almost Romantic, unmoored from its Classical surroundings. The Kuss Quartet brings in Muriel Razavi on viola, and the result on String Quintets Nos. 1 & 4 is a genuinely conversational five-way dialogue where no single voice dominates. The K. 516 Quintet in particular rewards close listening here — its famous slow movement has a gentle ache to it that this ensemble lets breathe without overselling the sentiment.
