Beautifully performed throughout and featuring Barry’s own extraordinarily enjoyable sleeve notes, this is a terrific album which offers welcome insight into a composer of daring and integrity.

They are mostly premiere recordings, precisely performed, ranging from solo piano to piano quartet. And what a delightfully odd collection it is.

pianist Mary Dullea capably brings out the humour and seriousness on this very engaging release.

Like much of Barry’s music, the works here are partly fascinating, partly infuriating, but it’s his ability to captivate the listener only to send them down the garden path that makes his output so compelling. And in their faithful, quite hard-edged accounts, the Fidelio players match that tricksy skill perfectly.

The Fidelio Trio and friends do an excellent job of presenting Barry’s music, presenting everything straight-up, without any direct acknowledgment of the humor and sarcasm, which are more than capable of making themselves felt.