Review in Gramophone of 'Anatomy' CD here

 

Full review in Gramophone (2/2021) of "Con-ri-sonanza: Thomas Simaku chamber works" CD here

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**** review in BBC Music Magazine of "Con-ri-sonanza: Thomas Simaku chamber works" CD (18/2/2021)

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***** review in Diapason magazine of "Con-ri-sonanza: Thomas Simaku chamber works" CD (2/2021)

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***** review in Das Klassik & Jazz Magazin of "Con-ri-sonanza: Thomas Simaku chamber works" (15/12/2020), full review here

 

"atemberaubend virtuos und durchscheinend" - Die Zeit (24/10/19), full review here

 

"...Joseph Houston am Flügel technisch eindrucksvoll demonstrierte..." - Frankfurter Allgemeine (24/10/19), full review here

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"Der wirkliche Handwerksmeister allerdings ist der junge Joseph Houston, der die vertrackten Piecen aus dem Ärmel schüttelt, als sei die Avantgarde auch schon wieder überholt." - Stuttgarter Zeitung (21/10/19), full review (in german) here

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"...equally comfortable with extended vocal techniques and pretending to swim around the room as with Ives' powerfully virtuosic Three-Page Sonata... It was simply beautiful." - The York Press (22/02/18)

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"Houston acheived it with profound precision, his hands, elbows, arms and fingers flowing in a mesmerising choreography" - The Arts Desk (11/01/18), full review here

 

**** - "Houston [is] emerging as [an] expert interpreter of experimental music" The Observer (5/2016), full review here

 

**** - The Arts Desk (19/2/2016), full review here

 

"Working with Joseph Houston has been nothing but a pleasure.  I've rarely come across a musician with such an instinctive understanding of what a composer wants.  His playing of my Eleven Studies in Velocity as part of the Park Lane Group Young Artists Series 2013 was quite simply one of the best performances I've ever had." - Colin Matthews OBE, composer

 

**** - The Arts Desk (9/1/2016), full review here

 

"...delicately shaded..." - The Independent (10/1/2016), full review here

 

"The solo pianist, Joseph Houston, and the soprano-pianist partnership of Louise Alder and Gary Matthewman acquitted themselves with such distinction that I ended up wishing they had been credited good enough to occupy an evening of their own... Two similarly brief piano pieces by Charlotte Bray... seemed an unfair way to profile this promising composer.  The fact that Houston made musical sense of them - and handled with aplomb the contrasting demands of more substantial pieces by [Colin] Matthews and Michael Zev Gordon - spoke well of his versatility and flair" - Andrew Clarke, The Financial Times (8/1/13)

 

"Joseph Houston gave two of McCabe's Studies, from 2000 and 2001, each varied and both played superbly" - Robert Matthew-Walker, Classical Source (13/6/15)

 

"Houston was splendidly nonchalant here, interspersing Bartok, Debussy and Chopin (a strong ‘Revolutionary’ Etude) among others, and persuasive in Gordon’s striking new Homecoming, contrasting a wistful opening with sforzando clusters. Stimulating stuff." - Martin Dreyer, The York Post (21/7/14)

 

"Immaculately well-controlled" - Michael White, The Daily Telegraph (9/1/13)

 

"Monday’s concert... focused on the very traditional media of voice-and-piano duo and piano solo. But for that very reason, the bar of expectation was set higher. Pianist Joseph Houston certainly leapt over it in terms of agile technique, and the moments of liquid, tranced beauty in Scriabin’s Sixth Sonata were vividly projected." - Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph (10/1/13)

 

"Colin Matthews's music also opened the main recital, pianist Joseph Houston playing Eleven Studies in Velocity (1987) in an order of his choosing, as the composer allows, beginning with the fiery No.5 and demonstrating stealth, combat and poise throughout the cycle. Houston went on to impress with three selections (II, III & IX) from Michael Zev Gordon's On Memory (2004). Whether highly decorated, furious (if here too close to the just-heard Matthews) and regretful, there was much to absorb; the latter piece, IX, mixes Ravel and Henry Mancini to touching effect." - Colin Anderson, Classical Source (8/1/13)

 

"...A pianist of outstanding potential" - review, Yorkshire Post 2012

 

"Joseph Houston impressed in Christian Mason's solo piano piece, remarkable for its beauty and exploitation of subtle sounds emanating from inside the piano, 'resonant bell-like sonorities which form around the note E' upon which the piece focuses. His slow Heaven's Chimes with flute was well presented and brought an unusual evening to a satisfying close." - review, Musical Pointers 2011

 

"Stravinsky’s Movements For Piano And Orchestra is another wonderful marriage of economy and invention. Pianist Joseph Houston gave an entirely engaging and thoughtful performance: a musical constant with the instrumentation ever changing. The delicate balance was judged beautifully by John Stringer and the UYCO." - Steve Crowther, The York Press (9/5/13)

 

"Joseph Houston brought supreme authority to the often relentless piano role, sustaining a sparkling staccato" - review, York Press 2011

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The Darlington and Stockton Times (1/8/2014) Full review here."Joseph Houston is a very fine young pianist"