… this new disc… introduces compositions for smaller ensembles in which the individual identities of the performers are highlighted. The atmosphere is less that of ‘collective aspiration’, more a matter of sometimes precariously balanced similarities and differences between highly articulate individuals, and all the performances here are strongly characterised and well-shaped.
… Watkins does not offer a ‘Great Fugue’ or a study in Webernian fragmentation… the musical material makes a virtue of accessibility and civility… Watkins is also following tradition in offering his audiences the chance to engage with dramas and discourses that are inherently abstract, purely musical…
… Following on from the Concertino for violin and string orchestra, Watkins’s Little Symphony is the keenest of aural responses to the balancing of mass against individualism that the absence of woodwind, brass and percussion encourages. Pithy and succinct, these pieces serve to deepen the less assertive focus on individual enterprise that characterises the two piano trios and the Piano Quartet…
