INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW:
As a showcase for modern British music for flute and piano, this recital could hardly be bettered. The considerable stylistic diversity of the pieces recorded here by Susan Milan and Andrew Ball probably make it unlikely that they'll appeal to all listeners in equal measure, but one can hardly imagine any being better performed.

The first two works, Richard Rodney Bennett's Winter Music ( a three-movement suite written in 1960) and Robert Saxton's Krystallen (1973) are examples of the modernism current in those days – neither strikes me as particularly memorable, although their sheer elegance and clarity still stimulate admiration. The three movements of Cecilia McDowell's The Moon Dances (2003) offer quite a contrast: a catchy dance, a rather more Expressionist atmospheric night-piece and a second, spikier dance. Arthur Butterworth's Aubade (1973) is a lyrical outpouring of melody with a more tightly argued central section. Richard Rodney Bennett's Summer Music (also a three-movement suite) is a good deal warmer than his Winter Music and not only because of the title; in the intervening 23 years the composer has more than reconciled himself to tonality – the first movement is a gently jazzy pastorale, the second a bluesy love-song and the third a jolly dance.

Dave Heath's Out of the Cool (1986), which you'll also find on EMI as a saxophone concerto played by John Harle, is another jazz-inspired piece, unraveling in six generally relaxed and good-tempered minutes. I was looking forward to hearing the Flute Sonata by Brian Lock, born in 1967 and thus the youngest composer on the disc, since as far as I recall I hadn't come across his music before; at not quite 17 minutes it's also the most substantial piece in this recital. It turns out to be busy and effective but a shade anonymous. The first movement has a Poulenc-like brightness, offset with a knockabout rhythmic brusqueness; the inflected notes in the melismatic flute part of the second movement point to the Middle and Far East, with the abstracted flute ignoring occasionally mutinous rumblings in the piano; and the Furioso finale rattles forward in abrupt and brittle phrases.

The Saxton, Butterworth and Lock works receive the first recording s here; the first and third of them are dedicated to Milan, who with her duo partner dispatches them in sparkling performances. Excellent recorded sound, and there are informative notes from our very own Richard Whitehouse and the composers themselves.
Martin Anderson

PAN (THE FLUTE MAGAZINE):
Recent years have seen an increasing number of recorded recitals devoted to British music. Susan Milan's programme rather cleverly contrasts two works by Richard Rodney Bennett, representing the extremes of modernity to be found on the disc: Winter Music , an atonal piece from 1960 written for William Bennett and Susan Bradshaw (and recorded by them soon afterwards); and Summer Music , of 1983, written in a tonal idiom. The composer has said that the title of Winter Music has no significance beyond the time of its composition; Summer Music certainly has a sunny quality, and it has proved a popular choice for Associated Board exams. What the pieces have in common is their lyrical qualities, and that is true of most of the programme as a whole.

Robert Saxton's Krystallen (1973) combines the two instruments to produce some exquisite sonorities in an advanced but approachable idiom. Some of Cecilia MacDowall's works have become well known through ABRSM exams; The Moon Dances (2003), a set of three pieces, is in a more serious idiom than those, covering a wider emotional and expressive range, and is correspondingly more rewarding. The Aubade (1973) by Arthur Butterworth is a lovely song-like piece, expressive of the spring morning referred to by the composer.

Dave Heath's Out of the Cool of 1986 has entered the repertoire as a piece with a jazz flavour that has been welcomed by players and audiences alike. The Sonata (2004) by Brian Lock has a tougher feel. The first movement is energetic, and the last almost frantic; even the central Cantando is restless and nervous.

Miss Milan has the full measure of the expressive and technical demands of these works, and is to be thanked for giving us a stimulating recital which will, it is to be hoped, encourage other players to seek out and champion British music of this quality.
Christopher Steward

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE:
For a variety of reasons, fin-de-siecle and mid-20th Century French literature tends to predominate in flutists' worlds. Thus it is refreshing to encounter something like this, chock with contemporary British music for flute and piano. The selections have been chosen so that larger, multi-movement works alternate with shorter, single-movement ones.

Richard Rodney Bennett's Winter Music has much to offer fans of 20th-Century modernism, with serial procedures, jagged intervals including frequent tritones and sevenths, and piano chords with a characteristic sound. Yet somehow the atmosphere triumphs over the work's compositional methods, and I like it. The much later Summer Music is fluent and approachable in a way that its predecessor is not. Robert Saxton's Krystallen offers frequent flutter-tonguing against, as the notes tell us, “a fastidiously detailed though never intrusive piano part”. The effect is a little more complex than crystalline.

Cecilia McDowall offers a very engaging three-movement set of lunar and Lorca inspired musical choreography. The middle movement in particular uses some extended techniques expressively, and III is a kind of contemporary scherzo that just evaporates. Pianists who hear this work will probably take to it immediately. Arthur Butterworth's Aubade sounds remotely French without any overt Francophilia. The flute primarily soars over a piano part with dense chords and tremolos. Readers who don't know Dave Heath should look up his somewhat notorious concerto for Nigel Kennedy, Alone at the Frontier , which at the very least can be described as “creative” (I liked it). This sectional work is “feelingful” music that tastefully employs recent conventions from jazz; there's nothing classical about it. Milan gives an uninhibited performance, as the music deserves.

Brian Lock's Flute Sonata reminds me in its energy of the Jindrich Feld Sonata, rewritten in a more contemporary vein. Agility is what Lock demands and Milan delivers.

Susan Milan and Andrew Ball are accomplished British musicians and professors at the Royal College of Music. Milan's sound can be fat and dense or transparent as the occasion demands, and Ball rises to every pianistic occasion offered here. Edward Gorey-ish art work adds a curious touch to this entirely black-and white release. Notes by Richard Whitehouse and the composers.
Gorman

MUSICAL POINTERS:
Both musicians associated with the Royal College of Music, this is a useful collection of music that flutists should consider for their recitals. I found the two I've listed at the top [Heath and Saxton] the most interesting. Brian Lock 's sonata is demanding to play and challenging for the listener, largely eschewing the comfortable lyrical 'natural home' of the flute.

Cecilia MacDowall inclines towards the easy, 'listener friendly' idiom, but hers here is a strong piece inspired by Lorca's intense imagery. A rewarding piece for flute recitalists.

Bennet's Winter Music (1960) is "serial with a deft touch", but by the time he wrote its sequel Summer Music (1983) he had adopted 'a more relaxed attitude' [Richard Whitehouse].

A useful compendium of little known flute music, despatched confidently by this established duo.
Peter Grahame Woolf

MUSICWEB (1):
Susan Milan is an influential exponent of the modern flute; a long-standing professor at the Royal College of Music, a former chairman of the British Flute Society and a soloist with an international reputation. Her playing has a unique voice within the flute world. This disc features twentieth century British music for the flute, much of which was composed especially for Milan. It receives premiere recordings here. Milan's playing is expertly accompanied by pianist Andrew Ball, himself one of the country's leading contemporary music pianists, who has given numerous premieres and is known for his innovative programming and excellent communication of new repertoire to worldwide audiences.

Richard Rodney Bennett's concert music possesses evidence of his jazz style and of his diversity as a composer; his output has included cabaret songs, operas and TV music, as well as several excellent works for the flute. Winter Music is in three movements, with a particularly expressive final slow movement. Summer Music is perhaps the better known of Bennett's flute output, with lyrical melodic lines which develop through the work and combine in the final energetic movement.

Robert Saxton's Krystallen is a single movement piece written in 1973 and premiered by Susan Milan with the late Clifford Benson. Saxton's music explores textural uses of the instruments, with the flute often in its low register but never dominated by the piano. Flutter-tonguing also features heavily in this work, which is atmospheric, with melodic lines gently unfolding throughout.

The Moon Dances by Cecilia McDowell is more tonal in style, with strong dance-style rhythms and a dialogue between the instruments. The first movement is energetic and boisterous, while the evocative slow movement uses extended techniques such as pitch bends and tongue-rams to create a sense of magical stillness. The final movement is the most dissonant, with rapid gestures and sparkling coruscations between the instruments.

Arthur Butterworth's Aubade is a charming recital work which owes its musical identity to a combination of English and French flute styles. Butterworth's melodic lines are simple and elegant, heard against an intense and somewhat brooding piano part.

The title track of the disc, Out of Cool ¸ was composed by flute player and composer Dave Heath, and is a popular work in the flute's repertoire. Influenced by Coltrane, the work is a single movement which increases gradually in tempo towards the frenetic central section. The performer is given freedom in terms of interpretation, with the intention of creating a quasi-improvisational feel. Milan and Ball give a convincing performance which creates a sense of drama and building intensity.

The final work of the disc, Brian Lock's Flute Sonata was composed most recently, in 2004, and premiered by Susan Milan. A challenging piece, the music shows the influence of Lock's teachers, Lutoslawski and Alexander Goehr, more than one would perhaps expect from a composer who is better known for his media works. Biting harmonic language is fused with considerable demands to create a fascinating instrumental show-piece. It's performed here with considerable panache.

This is an excellent collection of new British repertoire, which gives the works well-deserved exposure. Milan plays with a strong tone and a sense of conviction, as well as impressive technical control. Andrew Ball's piano playing is excellent throughout, providing an equal duo rather than a background accompaniment, together giving a stylish account of the repertoire.
Carla Rees 

FLUTEWISE MAGAZINE:
If you are looking for a good recording of contemporary music for flute and piano you need look no further than here. Flawlessly played by Susan Milan and Andrew Ball, I am sure that this will prove useful for many young flute players. As the title suggests, one piece is Dave Heath's ‘Out of the Cool'. You'll also find Richard Rodney Bennett's ‘Summer Music' and ‘Winter Music' alongside Cecilia McDowall's ‘The Moon Dances'. There are three première recordings – Brian Lock's Sonata for flute and piano, ‘Krystallen' by Robert Saxton and ‘Aubade' by Arthur Butterworth.
Unnamed reviewer

MUSICWEB (2):
‘Out of the Cool', verbally at least, summons up the days of Gil, and Miles, and Where Flamingos Fly ; CBS and tight slim ties, and all that kind of clobber. It's David Heath who invokes it in his 1986 piece that gives its name to the title of the disc - but I suppose there's a cool air to quite a few works here, however simplistic that may sound.

For example Richard Rodney Bennett's Winter Music has assimilated serial procedure sure enough but progresses in a kind of languorously pensive kind of way. An unsettled dialogue between flute and piano occupies the central movement. Then a mazily, meandering, uneasy passage opens the finale, before Bennett relaxes his terse grip and takes the pianist way up high, the flute lines resolving delightfully. His Summer Music was written many years later in 1983. Here we find insouciant lyricism in the first movement, an afternoon stroll of an Allegro tranquillo. There's a languid song with bluesy piano undertow in the second movement - it's a second cousin, once removed, of My Funny Valentine - before the jaunty flute and slightly pawky piano play a wry game to the finishing line.

Saxton's Krystallen was premiered by Susan Milan, to whom it's dedicated. Saxton ensures there are spaces in his landscape. Phrasing is flexible, and the writing is extremely effective with regard to phraseology and colour. The Moon Dances is not a relation of John Adams's Chairman. I will say though that this versatile and enjoyable piece opens with bright energy, and takes in a carnivalesque element. The slow movement establishes a darkening mien. It's crepuscular and insinuating and the flute's ‘lost in the forest' tone, plaintive and regretful, is eventually displaced by the firefly glitter of the finale.

Arthur Butterworth crafted Aubade in the same year that Saxton wrote his flute piece, 1973. It's a warm affair and offers splendid opportunities for legato phrasing and breath control. Whereas David Heath's piece has a really confident lyricism and hints of a Herbie Mann or Hubert Laws paternity in some of the writing. Whatever, it exudes vitality and generosity. Brian Lock's Sonata was dedicated to Susan Milan and first performed by her. Lock is not bashful. There's driving melodrama from the go, and throughout Lock has secreted moments of Prokofiev-like drive and rhythmic emphases. His central panel is quite spare, whilst the finale is a kind of perpetuum mobile and has the expected energy level.

Susan Milan, who has had a close association with a number of these works, proves a first class, characterful and unimpeachable guide. Andrew Ball offers staunch and imaginative support.
Jonathan Woolf 

SUNDAY TIMES:
This is a modest disc, perhaps, the items neither earth-shattering nor heaven-inflaming, but Milan's flute-playing is a joy, her musicianship scintillating, matched by Ball's sensitivity, and the sequence is engaging. There are first recordings of Robert Saxton's Krystallen, Arthur Butterworth's Aubade and Brian Lock's Flute Sonata, with pieces by Cecilia McDowall and David Heath.

Richard Rodney Bennett's 1960 Winter Music is juxtaposed with his 1983 Summer Music, the seasons symbolised by the respective idioms. The first of the three-movement structures epitomises his succinct, elegant serial style, the second his return to a Poulenc-ish tonality. Summer Music, with its haunting, bluesy Siesta, is deftly made.
Paul Driver