Given the range of influences [and] the colourful mix of allusions and quotations, [the composer] somehow manages to integrate these elements – ‘Goss-isms’, if you will – without [the music] ever sounding anything other than true to itself, its composer and the medium for which it is written.

This is a hugely rewarding issue by one of the most innovative and appealing composers of our time, and is highly recommended.

This is a treasure trove on a huge scale: three discs, packed with works for orchestra, chamber ensembles and soloists. For fans of Goss’s music, like myself, this is obviously a cup-runneth-over scenario – but it’s also an exemplary release: treating the album as a single project, the excellent booklet notes give a fascinating insight into the composer’s approach and wide range of influences, to help tie the whole together.

Goss’s diverse musical sensibility and expressiveness can be clearly heard… [His] works have a unique sense of humour as well as a respect for place and history.

“Goss weaves together an eclectic range of influences – at once retrospective and forward-looking.”

“I was really knocked out by Steve’s Guitar Concerto. I love the music. It is wonderfully orchestrated, wonderfully integrated with the guitar; a whole lot of things that I think are quite original. I don’t know of any guitar concerto which is as consistently successful on all fronts.”

“The Albéniz Concerto is a wonderful orchestral showpiece in which the guitar takes centre stage… Goss’s writing for winds is particularly sensitive and colouristic. This is a strong work that one hopes will become a permanent part of the repertoire’’

“One of the guitar’s finest living composers.”

“Welsh composer Stephen Goss draws on a variety of sources for his eminently listenable music. Despite the eclectic nature of his influences, which range from Beethoven’s late piano music to the films of former Python Terry Gilliam, Goss’s musical language comes across as brilliantly integrated.”

“The Garden of Cosmic Speculation feels timeless – at once prehistoric and futuristic. And despite being inspired by intellectual rigour, the atmosphere is peaceful, even playful.”

“The ambient landscape compositions of Stephen Goss exist in the grey area where ECM chamber-jazz and Hathut minimalism shades into Windham Hill new-ageism… utterly captivating.”

“Stephen Goss brings to each piece a keen musical intelligence that does not preclude the warmth of instinctual response. I believe that these qualities make him one of the most consistently interesting composers in Britain today.”

“Having admired Stephen Goss’s piano music when I heard it in concert, I found it illuminating to see his expressionistic ten-minute piano suite an ideal insomnia in print… This is atmospheric and powerfully crafted music.”