Will Todd
's
Lights, Stories, Noise, Dreams, Love and Noodles
is, as the title might suggest, a work for children. It's a delightful, colorful work that would be ideal for family concerts, and the
Finchley Children's Music Group
gives a fine, expressive performance. What tells the listener more is that children might also enjoy the rest of the music on the album, and adults, in turn, will be pleased by the noodles. This does not happen often -- children's music is usually its own little chamber within the classical music house -- and it speaks to the appeal of
Todd
's appealing and entirely tonal programmatic music. Another intriguing feature is that
, who is also active as a jazz pianist, flavors most of the works here with jazz, including a percussion group, but the music is not jazz-classical fusion: the jazz is one stylistic feature among many. Jazz-hinted piano is beautifully deployed to express transcendence in the memorial work
Kites, Cards and Constellations
. One more strong point here is the presence of the venerable
Bach Choir
under
David Hill
, not an early music group but a holdover from the golden age of Britain's great oratorio festivals. The group blends beautifully with the children's choir and, in general, has a combination of agility and warmth that one might not expect considering its size. Enjoyable, vivid new music recommended to all except those who recoil at the slightest hint of popular influence. ~ James Manheim