"Delphian has done it again. In this extraordinary collection by the enterprising Edinburgh label of new music for solo trumpet, Mark O’Keeffe – principal trumpet with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – displays incredible virtuosity. Whoever would have expected such diversity and sheer entertainment from one single brass instrument?"

"Another feather in the cap for Delphian with the blinding brilliance of its new CD of music for solo trumpet featuring BBC SSO principal Mark O'Keeffe, a tireless champion of new music."

"I found this a rewarding recital. It’s partly O’Keeffe’s sound: that bright, bold and fiercely focused rapier of a tone. The works themselves, many of them written for him, exploit many sides of his skills...O'Keeffe’s finely honed comic timing is an important part of the mixture as well. Most of the music’s by living Scots composers and it’s a solo trumpet disc I’d not hesitate to recommend to non-trumpeters."

"Freed from the terrifying complexities of contemporary harmony, wild and breathless melody breaks free here. No other instrument has the expressive solo range of the trumpet as played by the golden-tongued Irish virtuoso O’Keefe, who seizes the ear with brilliant tone and a warm exuberant jig in McGuire’s Prelude, foghorn greeting and rhythmic zip in Maxwell Davies’s Litany."

"the playing throughout is exemplary and I would suggest that most trumpeters check this out, if not have it permanently in their racks."

SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF NEW MUSIC