Maria McGarry (piano) Seven Cedars Music GLMCD 1003 MM***

Maria McGarry's new CD offers works from the first two decades of the 20th century (Berg's Sonata, Op 1, Schoenberg's Six Little Pieces, Op 19, and Granados' La maja y el ruiseñor) and the 1940s and 1950s (selections from Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésusand Catalogue d'Oiseaux). The expressive, or rather, expressionist thrust and orientation of the playing are always clear. McGarry always gives the impression that she has a message to convey. How much you enjoy that message may depend on the way in which you respond to some of the mannerisms of her style. She has a tendency, for instance, to pause before the climax of a phrase, and also to allow the feeling of slowing down to have too much hold. The decorated contemplation at the start of Messiaen's Première communion de la Viergeshows her at her atmospheric best. url.ie/e5as