REVIEWSPostimees
“...the soloist, Richard Craig, gave the impression of somehow being distant, but behind this there was an abundance of nuances uncovering a rich and sensual world…”
07/04/2008 Mirje Mändla, Postimees, Estonia
“...the s-o-u-n-d Festival presented yet another avant-garde wind player of astounding ability, this time the youthful flautist, Richard Craig. With him came composer John Croft to handle the electronic element in his piece ne l’aura che trema which brought the performance to a startlingly evocative conclusion. It should be noted that every one of the pieces in the programme was receiving either its UK or its Scottish premiere; just what s-o-u-n-d is all about.
Much of the music was of startling delicacy as Richard Craig brought the dynamic of the flute to the very edge of audibility. The opening piece, Unanswered Questions for solo flute by Tristan Murail was a case in point.
(Murail) radiated a cool, fragile stillness; a sound of such brittle clarity as I have never heard before. The more avant-garde elements in this piece included effects such as the use of microtones. These were beautifully incorporated into the fabric of the piece…”
“..this is a repertoire which knows no bounds and we must thank Richard Craig and SOUND for this brief insight into some of its secrets.”
21-24/11/07, Alan Cooper, SOUND festival
“It was Richard Craig’s artistry and commitment that made his performances so compelling. I have never heard such complete mastery of the flute. His delicate pianissimo playing, particularly in the altissimo range, was as astonishing as it was exquisite. There was a calmness yet a freedom in his sounds, which were aided by some supremely elegant finger-work.”
28/11/07, Gordon Lees, Larry Krantz flute list
ASPECTS OF COMPLEXITY, ECAT, Queens Hall ¤¤¤¤¤
The Herald
“Debussy’s Syrinx, Varese’s Density 21.5 and Berio’s Sequenza 1 form the fountainhead of modern solo flute music. In his recital for Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust, however, Richard Craig plunged without preamble into more recent things, entitling his programme Aspects of Complexity, yet making light of Brian Ferneyhough, a composer whose complexity is dark and notorious.
How he did so is easily explained. The Glasgow flautist, a recent product of the RSAMD, is a virtuoso of the first order, albeit a quiet one. To Ferneyhough and James Dillon, another ogre of today’s music, he can bring a playfulness not only aural but visual. With 10 music stands – arranged in a straight line – as his props, he ensured that some 90 minutes of vanguard flute tone neither palled nor daunted. The puckish side of the instrument, and of the performer, made the recital a scintillating display of music theatre. His progression from stand to stand, not always beginning at the beginning and not always ending at the end, was part of his entrancingly diffident act.
Sometimes, as in Ferneyhough’s Unity Capsule, he ran the full gamut of music stands, closing with a soft but deliberate cough of achievement into the mouthpiece of the instrument. But this was a recital in which even Dillon’s tiny Diffraction for the tiniest of flutes – a piccolo – sounded puckish rather than rebarbative. So did the fluttering of Michael Finnissy’s Sikangnuga in conjunction with the calm bass flute tone of the same composer’s Ulpirra, though the jumpy, piercing intensity of an extract from Ferneyhough’s Carceri d’Invenzione swept almost everything else aside.”
22/03/2007 Conrad Wilson
LONDON DEBUT REVIEWS:
The Guardian
“Craig, who represents virtuosity at its most beguiling, gave exquisite performances of Kaija Saariaho’s Laconisme de l’Aile and Michael Finnissy’s beautiful Ulpirra, while James Dillon’s Sgothan, pushing the instrument to its technical and expressive limits, was a tour de force.”
14/01/2005 Tim Ashley
Musical Pointers
“Just a few notes of Dillon’s Sgothan, suffused with ground-breaking multiple techniques, instilled confidence that this was a musician who would give an exemplary account of the standard flute repertoire too…. Craig is a worthy heir to UK’s Nancy Ruffer of the older generation and Mario Caroli of the younger flute virtuosi on the continent.”
27/01/2005 Peter Grahame Woolf
Neue Musikzeitung
“der Flötist Richard Craig….deren Namen es zu registrieren gilt. Eine inspirierende Tour de force” (...and the flautist Richard Craig, among others, we should take note of his name. An inspirational tour de force.)
15/01/2005 Hans-Theodor Wohlfahrt
Classical Source
“Flautist Richard Craig confirmed his credentials with an elegantly phrased account of James Dillon’s Sgothan, and identified with the inward intensity of Fujikura’s Poison Mushroom – its evoking of atomic desolation sensitively worked into a sonic tapestry whose tape part was skilfully diffused by overhead speaker placement. Michael Finnissy’s Ulpirra was a hushed, caressing study in bass flute sonority, while Kaija Saariaho’s Laconisme de l’Aile interweaved flute and voice into delicate birdsong arabesques. Franco Donatoni’s Nidi, hectic yet playful in its piccolo pyrotechnics, set the seal on a distinguished recital”
14/01/2005 Richard Whitehouse
The Times
“Richard Craig is a brilliant flautist.”
14/01/2005 John Allison
OTHER REVIEWS:
NutidaMusik, Sweden
“ ...Kvällens höjdpunkt var framförandet av Salvatore Sciarrinos la perfezione di uno spirito sottile för flöjt och mezzosopran.
Richard Craig framförde verket med den ären och med en kontroll av moderna flöjtteckniker som man sällan hör.”
(..The evening’s highpoint was Salvatore Sciarrino’s la perfezione di uno spirito sottile. Richard Craig conveyed the work with preciousness and control that is seldom heard in modern flute technique..)
Tebogo Monnakgotla 3/2007
The Herald
”...The pieces ranged in scale from utilising all the musicians to solos, and, indeed, it was two of the latter works that made the greatest impression: flautist Richard Craig playing the ephemeral, daringly experimental Ici for solo flute by Pascal Dusapin..”
Rowena Smith, 15/05/06
Classical Music Source
‘Nicolls was then joined by Scottish flautist Richard Craig for Gymel, in which an often-frenzied flute part grows out of richly resonating chords. The performers seized upon the wide range of expression afforded by this work with gusto, raising the temperature to such a degree that the windows had to be opened for a while!...’
‘.....Romanzetta, a spiky, Sequenza-like three movement work for solo flute (which Craig performed with startling dexterity seasoned by a little humour)...’
23/06/05 William Yeoman classicalmusicsource
Dernieres Nouvelles D’alsace
‘Ont fait preuve d’autant d’engagement que maîtrise technique dans un panorama placé sous le signe de l’orient. Confrontés à l’êxtreme diversité des écritures, il y mantraient tous une aisance parfois stupéfiante. Ainsi, dont la flûte de Richard Craig sûre et ductile dialogue d’égal à égal avec l’harpe évidement magistrale de Pierre Michel-Vigneau dans les tissages serrés de la Yun
‘....They showed as much technical engagement as control despite being confronted with an extreme diversity of writing and there seemed to be an astonishing ease to the whole performance. ’
‘....The confident playing of Richard Craig created a sinuous dialogue of equals due to masterly playing of Pierre-Michel Vigneau in the tight weavings of the Novellete by Isan Yun…..’ Dernieres Nouvelles D’alsace 21/05/05
COMPOSERS:
Hoban Wiel
“Your Sgothan is so nuanced, it really brings out all the subtleties-Congratulations!”
James Dillon
“thank you most of all for the music making, it is an incredibly impressive achievement. From the muscular quality of the recording to the sensitive penetration of the music.”
Hans-Joachim Hespos
“fascinating sound-brilliant technique-impressionable performance!”
Pierluigi Billone
“I heard the first CD two months ago, and the second one yesterday:I am really deeply impressed by your recordings- especially Brian Ferneyhough’s Unity Capsule and Cassandra’s Dream Song”
MENTORS:
Mario Caroli 03/2005
“Richard Craig is, without doubt, one of the most interesting musicians of his generation. His musical flexibility, sensitivity, capability of analysis, his precision in approaching music and finally, his remarkable technical qualities, allow him to play mainstream and more demanding modern repertoire with absolute mastery.”
